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Thursday, March 11, 1982
Daily Ncbraskan
Arts & EBtertamment
I II
I St'
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err Zee Lewis 's biography wild,
insightful rock reading with flair
By Pat Higgins
llellfire - 77? Jerry Lee Lewis Story I Nick Tosches
Dell Publishing Company
"Jerry Lee Lewis is the heart of redneck rock and roll
and maybe the greatest country singer alive. Talk about
rock and roll depravados: Jerry Lee makes them look
like Wayne Newton. Talk about honky-tonk heroes; next
to Jerry Lee they re a bunch offrat-party pukers. "
-Nick Tosches
llellfire is the definitive biography of Jerry Lee Lewis
and one of the best books about rock'n'roll yet written.
Tosches has a great story and he makes the most of it as
he captures the explosive music and lifestyle of the Kil
ler and does it with a great deal of flair and style.
"Interviewing Jerry Lee Lewis is a lot like dealing with
a wild animal except Jerry Lee can talk," said biographer
Nick Tosches in a Daily Ncbraskan phone interview.
Tosches wrote for Rolling Stone back when that meant
something and now contributes to Penthouse among other
periodicals. He also wrote Country: The Biggest Music
in America, a brilliant, irreverent history of country which
featured a crazed section on Jerry Lee.
"I've always enjoyed his demonic persona and music,"
he said. "He always struck me as someone who was firmly
rooted in the hills. I think he'll make great music to the
day that he dies."
Elvis and Jerry Lee ruled the rock'n'roll world of the
mid-'50s. They are the only two artists to have simultan
eous number one hits on the pop, country, and rhythm
and blues charts. Elvis was the good boy who went in to
Flutist to perform
Flutist William Bennett will perform at Kimball Recital
Hall March 17, at 8 pjn.
Bennett began his artistic career at an early age and
thought seriously of becoming a painter. He began playing
the flute at the age of 12, studying with Geoffrey Gilbert,
the first English flutist to embrace the French style of
flute playing. Bennett continued studying with Gilbert
through his years at the Guildhall School of Music and
Drama and his three year's service in the Scots Guards
Band. After this he went to Paris, studying with Rampal
and Cartatge as a result of winning a French Government
Scholarship. At 22, he won first medal in the Geneva
Flute Competition.
Bennett's ability to translate his musical ideas into ver
bal concepts has long been appreciated. He was a pro
fessor at Guildhall School, from 1967 until 1976. He was
then selected to succeed his mentor, Marcel Moyse, as the
teacher of flute for the masterclasses at the International
Summerschool, a position he still holds. He gives master
classes in the United States every summer at Wildacresin
North Carolina and at Asilomar in Califormia. He also
has given masterclasses in England, Scotland, Norway,
Italy and Canada.
Bennett's principal positions have included the BBC
Northern Orchestra 'in Manchester, Sadler Wells, London
Symphony and the Royal Philharmonic. In 1976 he made
the decision to pursue a solo career, giving up his post
with the London Symphony. He now plays with the En
glish Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of Saint
Martin-in-the-Friends, with which he has recorded exten
sively. His work with these orchestras allows liim more
time for solo engagements and the playing of chamber
music.
the army and subsequently became the definitive pop
icon.
Rock'n'roll creation
"I think Jerry Lee has always been jealous of Elvis'
success and fame," Tosches said. "I did steal a good anec
dote from Elvis' hairdresser that I put in the book."
The most fascinating sections of llellfire deal with the
creation of rock'n'roll at the Sun Studios in Memphis.
Tosches has tapes which he prints verbatim of conversa
tions between Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins and the other
demented Southern boys who put country into wedlock
with rhythm and blues. Jerry Lee fell from popular grace
when he married his 13-year-old cousin in 1957.
"Myra Gale (the cousin) is thinking about marrying
Jerry Lee for the tliird time," he said. "She wouldn't
talk to me because she is writing her own book."
Tosches' extensive research on the Lewis clan (which
includes cousins Mickey Gilley and evangelist Reverend
Jimmy Lee Swaggart) traced back to the original Lewis to
immigrate to the United States in 1790 and found that
they have always been wild and particularly fond of gam
bling and drinking. Jerry Lee is the last of the Lewises
and he more than upholds the family tradition.
"Jerry Lee is in favor of any means of excess," he said.
When I went in to interview him I brought some beer.
He was already drinking Seagrams 7 but he demanded my
beer'
' In llellfire, Jerry Lee is shown as a creature of great
talent and many contradictions. He had fundamentalist
religion drilled into him which caused guilt about playing
the devil's music, i.e. rock'n'roll. Yet he also is willing to
use pills and booze constantly while continually invoking
the Holy Ghost.
Guilt over music
"Periodically he finds Jesus but he really believes that
he is playing the devil's music," Tosches said. "His cousin
the Reverend Jimmy Swaggart says that he doesn't believe
in exorcism except for Jerry Lee. Mickey Gilley told me
that with Jerry Lee there is a fine line between a genius
and an idiot," Tosches said.
Jerry Lee is quite open and unabashed in interviews
with Tosches. This is perhaps due to the fact that Jerry
Lee has an ego the size of the Grand Canyon. Particularly
amusing are conversations with Elmo Lewis, Jerry Lee's
father.
"Elmo was a great old guy," Tosches said. "He really
could drink. Jerry Lee is quite open about everything
His doctors have told him that he has to give up liquor
and drugs. The effects of his excesses are starting to
show. The last time I saw him he was making long dream
like speeches about pizza and Nat King Cole."
Jerry Lee has been ill recently and there were prema
ture reports of his demise. Yet he has been released from
the hospital.
Dwells on death
"I had three phone calls asking me to write his obit
uary which showed a lot of class by those people,"
Tosches said. "He is obsessed with death and the Holy
Ghost. One of the first things he asked me was where I
was planning on being buried. I told him North Carolina,
which satisfied him."
Jerry Lee is the quintessential American outlaw as he
combines women, fast cars and guns to create a personal
style that is completely outrageous. However, the key
point that Tosches makes is that it is the Killer's music
which will endure.
"I was immersed in writing this for two years of my
life," Tosches said. "I originally was just going to do a
quick, hack type of effort but my editor fell in love with
the book. I found myself writing a Southern Gothic novel,
only the people were real."
Jerry Lee is in heavy debt and Elektra Record company
has dropped him, Tosches said. However, a live album
recorded with Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash in Germany
will be out soon.
"The last I heard from Jerry Lee was when he told a
photographer friend of mine that he was going to have me
killed," Tosches said. "Jerry Lee has never been one to
use legal recourse."
Si s gW'!fiiiW
Belushi: Gave greatest gift of all
Tlie Compleat Students Guide to the Campus and
Beyond. Chapter Two: "What To Do When Your Mari
juana Plants Develop Spider Mites."
MR.WIZARD: Well, hi there, Tommy. My, you
look down in the mouth today. What's the matter?
Couldn't you find out what to do about spider mites on
Chuck Jagoda
marijuana plants?
TOMMY: Yeah, I did that Mr. Wizard. I called the
Entomology Department and they told me I could use
alcohol on the underside of the leaves.
MR. WIZARD: Of marijuana plants?
TOMMY: I didn't tell them that. I just said house
plants. The reason I'm down in the mouth is because
John Belushi died. I'm afraid it might be a trend.
MR. WIZARD: A trend, Tommy?
TOMMY: Yeah. Like Richard Pryor the summer
before last. Remember when he burned himself up
free-basing cocaine?
MR. WIZARD: Yes I do, Tommy.
TOMMY: Well maybe the comedians are the over
doses of the '80s decade the way the rock stars were in
the '70s.
MR. WIZARD: That's very interesting. Tommy. You
mean like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison?
TOMMY: Saaay Mr. Wizard, you do listen to other
things besides that dull classical stuff.
MR. WIZARD: We have to listen to all the voices
in our environment to know its culture, Tommy.
TOMMY: I know, Mr. Wizard. That's what you
always say.
MR. WIZARD: Where did you get this idea about
the overdose trend in the first place?
TOMMY: Well, last month was the 23rd anniversary
of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper
and Richie Valens, and I started thinking how they all
died in the crash and how rock stars died from overdoses,
and I wondered if there was any connection. And now
they say that they found needle marks on Belushi's
arms. What do you think it all means Mr. W?
MR.WIZARD: Well, for one thing, comedians must
be making enough money to kill themselves as expen
sively as rock stars. Secondly all those physical abuses
and emotional extremes John Belushi displayed so be
lievably on Saturday Night Live and in Animal House
were part of his personality and thirdly, it lends a certain
air of authenticity to those skits he and Bill Murray
used to do where they were backstage with the rock
stars and everybody was doing "tootski." They were
getting their material from experience with the rock as
well as the stars.
TOMMY: What are you saying, Mr. Wizard?!
MR. WIZARD: I'm saying that performing is a perfect
opportunity - in fact performance even requires you -to
open the floodgates of your emotion, to go as far as
you can in an emotional or behavioral direction. The type
of people who are drawn to performing are those who
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