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| Gary Benchley, Rock Star | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Ford
Publisher: Plume
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $0.01
You Save: $13.99 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (11 reviews)
Sales Rank: 655562
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 0452286638
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780452286634
ASIN: 0452286638
Publication Date: September 27, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
?Before I moved to New York from Albany, I wrote out a careful, step-by-step plan: 1) Rock out; 2) No more data entry.? Gary Benchley, recent college grad and aspiring rock star, left his dead-end life in Albany to seek his fortune in that hotbed of hipsters?Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Earnestly optimistic and completely confident in his fate, Gary writes of his trials and tribulations securing a roommate, a girlfriend, and even a band?the ?world?s most inclusive band??complete with a gay synth player, a hot chick drummer, and a cool black bassist. Calling their not- quite-musical sound ?indie prog,? they combine the most pretentious music of the 1970s with the most pretentious music of today. But after a dozen shows and even an album, the band begins to fall apart, and Gary finds himself increasingly disillusioned with his rock star fantasies. In Gary?s world, though, the glass is always half full. Gary Benchley, Rock Star is a hilarious, satirical debut that grew out of Ford?s popular column on TheMorningNews.org.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 I would rather be home crying March 17, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book would be awsome, if I were still attending junior high school, in the suburbs. Gary Benchley is for kids who aspire to be a cliche. The characters in this book are as original and developed as a Sim. I would rather be home crying than reading this poopie book.
 Clever, current bildungsroman January 4, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This tightly-written and humorous novel uses backdrop of very current (i.e. 2005) musical genres, movements, and bands to tell the story of a young man who moves to New York and starts a fictional band of his own. The book is very funny, but I imagine it would be especially so if you were tuned into current alternative and rock music of that period (as I am). Otherwise some of the in-jokes might have you scratching your head or going over to the library to check out the latest copy of CMJ. And if you don't know what CMJ is, you may still like the book, but you'll miss out of many of the clever editorial asides the writer makes along the way of the narrative about music he obviously either loves or hates. The descriptions of band life on the road are dead on and he's clearly done his homework. This book was apparently first "published" online as a blog under the premise that the narrator was in fact a real person. The fact that many people believed it gives you some idea how specific and accurate the real-life references are. Though I wonder why people didn't catch a clue when the band in the book never seemed to really play anywhere in New York . . . Highly recommended for any alt/pop/rock music fan, especially those of us who've tried our hand at rock stardom ourselves.
Crass Commercialism January 9, 2006
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed reading about The Letters of Gary Benchley, Rock Star when it was in online form on TheMorningNews.org. The book is an extension of the online work with more details about our hero's trials and tribulations in his quest for stardom.
My biggest gripe about the novel is how many unnecessary references to name brands are mentioned here - how much did they pay the author to subsidize this work? I didn't really mind the name-dropping of other bands, at least that gives some pop culture reference to the music scene he's aspiring to join. Its just a bit much when he writes about the can of Coke or the Honda Element, etc. I don't remember getting a discount on the cover price of the book in exchange for product placement. There is a time and place for name dropping especially if it enhances the story, I don't feel like most of them accomplished that.
Sorry for the rant. This is a good read, don't get me wrong. I just felt a bit turned off by the commercialism.
Terrific pseudo-memoir of the ultra-hip indie lifestyle December 26, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Gary Benchley is a hip indie scenester stuck doing data entry in upstate NY. His fictional memoir opens as he moves to New York city with dreams of becoming an indie rock star. He does have to learn more then five chords on his guitar, but he also has to assemble the right cast for his band. He succeeds at assembling his dream lineup-a gay synth player, a hot chick drummer, a cool black bassist, and no lead guitar player. The process of uncovering his stereotypical bandmates makes for deliciously wicked reading (the hot chick can be obtained via ads, but he has to racially profile black men on the street to find his dream bass player).
Benchley's rise and plateau with his band is filled with elements familiar to any NY hipster--a girlfriend whose blog he reads to try to gain insight into their relationship, alternative art and media shows, mindless blogger get-togethers (why do bloggers hand out business cards?), the local music scene, and the name-dropping of ultra-new indie bands (Gary has great fun making up fake names and trying to catch scensters lying). Of course, we also have the process of getting a band to gel, learning to perform live, getting a record deal, and touring. Gary Benchley tries his damndest to be the Rock Star his business card claims his occupation is, and it makes for hilarious reading (especially his quest for groupies). I'm waiting for Volume 2!
great, but was better online with a complete suspension of disbelief December 12, 2005
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
After finding out the the Gary Benchley of themorningnews.org was really Paul Ford I realized how obvious it was; but I also realized that the reason I had bought the whole thing in the first place was because the story and the telling thereof were so damn good that plausibility was pushed well down the requirements list. So why did plausibility become an issue once I read it as a novel? Maybe because before it was pseudo-fiction--a typical Williamsburger adding some ham and cheese to a possibly semi-interesting life (the best blogger EVAR, you might say). Now as a novel, it's total-fiction trying to be a plausible coming of age story.
For the first two sections I felt like I was somewhat laboring through what I had before devoured online. I noticed strange continuity errors and wondered to myself (besides, "who was the editor?") if I had glossed over them when they were presented serialized on screen. And the "blogging party" scene (which I don't remember from the online installments), with its authorial self-reference, had me rolling my eyes while at the same time admitting that I might do the same thing, given the opportunity (although I might cringe at it, post-print).
However, as soon as the third--and previously unwebpublished--section started, I was once again sucked in. It was well conceived and executed story.
The ending was a touch disappointing. It had the feel of every PG-13 coming of age film I've ever seen. Cue end narration: "I may not have {insert dream/girl chased throughout film here}, but you know, life ain't so bad after all..." fade to black with catchy pop song.
Bottom line: I had very high expectations after enjoying the online serialization and having been a long time fan of ftrain.com and Paul's NPR bits. It IS a good book, but I do hope he follows it up with the Guinness to this High Life.
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