Jimmy McDonough is a journalist who has contributed to such publications as Variety, Film Comment, Mojo, Spin, and Juggs. But he is perhaps best known for his intense, definitive Village Voice profiles of such artists as Jimmy Scott, Neil Young, and Hubert Selby, Jr. Jimmy is also the author of The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
“Jimmy McDonough’s fat, teeming, obsessive, and revelatory
biography of Young is a pure shot of all-access pleasure. . . .
Hugely original.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Just as unmanageable, hard-headed, overzealous, and ultimately
endearing as Young himself . . . A maddening, beguiling portrait of
an elusive maverick . . . A glorious mess.” —San Francisco
Chronicle Book Review
“An exhilarating match-up of author and subject makes Shakey a
great, gripping read. . . . A must-read for anyone who cares about
Neil Young.” —Rolling Stone
“Staggeringly thorough . . . McDonough gets it all: the chaos, the
grandeur, the good times and dreary deaths, the alcohol- and
drug-besotted recording sessions, the broken hearts, and the sheer
unfettered joy of a seriously gifted artist.” —Salon
“The definitive book on the subject.” —The Washington Post
“Exhaustive, quarrelsome, and sometimes maddening . . . there are
revelations in abundance.” —The New York Times Book Review
“Where the average rock-star biography is a tepid, toothless thing,
McDonough has approached his task like a literary Terminator,
steaming ahead with lethal thoroughness. One of the most
penetrative studies of a rock icon ever written.” —Times
(London)
“A mammoth portrait of the artist and lively exhumation of rock n
roll history. . . . [McDonough] traces a rich turbulent career in
vivid detail.” —The New York Times
“Imaginatively written...not only is Shakey an extraordinary
literary feat of research and affection and endurance, it's an
insight into the art of biography itself.”—Fort Worth
Star-Telegram
“Delves further into the life and motives of one of music's most
private individuals than anything previously released. . .
surprisingly comprehensive and thoroughly enjoyable. . . .The most
detailed portrait of this shrouded artist to date.” —San Jose
Mercury News
“Exhaustively researched, impressively detailed. . . The long
passages in which McDonough steps aside to let Young talk are the
most revealing. ‘One day I'm a jerk,’ Young says, ‘the next day I'm
a genius.’ This book argues artfully for the latter.”—People
“Like meeting Brando's Kurtz in a cave at the end of Apocalypse
Now. . . . Young comes across as a Jekyll-and-Hyde loner whose life
has unfolded like a reckless chemistry experiment -- a control
freak on an endless quest for the uncontrolled moment.” —Macleans
(Canada)
“McDonough is an avid fan, music critic and impartial journalist
all in one. . . . [He] deftly weaves Young's life, actions and art
together. . . . What was known of Young's life before was akin to a
series of rough demos. In Shakey, McDonough delivers a full
double-album.” —Rocky Mountain News
“Does what most rock bios don’t: It fails to fawn, it delivers the
juice, it subjects the hero to the scrutiny and disappointment of a
fan. . . A page-turning good read..”—Houston Chronicle
“Fascinating reading. . . McDonough gives us as good a look at
[Young’s] cards as we’re likely to get.” —The Tampa Tribune
“[Shakey's] unprecedented access makes for an entertaining read:
McDonough, more than any music journalist since Peter Guralnick in
his authoritative Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley, has
succeeded in stripping a star of his iconography.”—The Observer
(London)
“Crammed with razor-sharp insights and mind-boggling detail, Shakey
is a rock-solid literary triumph, as inspired and inspiring as the
eccentric figure it evokes with such frustrated devotion.” — The
Guardian (London)
“McDonough . . . pores through Young’s life with vivid prose and
blunt detail, and he is unashamed to insert some stinging opinions.
In his probing conversations with Young, . . . he challenges the
formidable artist in ways that few others would dare.” —Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
“It’s hard to imagine anyone trying to better this book. . . It has
what Young values above all else. . . passion.”—Evening Standard
(London)
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