Everyone Loves You When You're Dead.

Pic courtesy Joseph A Ferris III, Flickr

Neil Strauss believes this ideology to be true- so much so he named a book after it. This weighty, eclectic look at the mystique of Celebrity is a fun read, and poignant without being too heavy. Before getting his name known as a pickup artist and penning the 10-million-selling dating guide The Game, Strauss was writing for The New York Times and Rolling Stone. This gave him a fantastic opportunity to meet and interview numerous A-list names, including Tom Cruise, Courtney Love and Madonna. He also found time to interview people who you might not be familiar with, but whose work you DEFINITELY are- like Chet Atkins, the guitarist on Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel, or Raymond Scott, the music composer of most of the Bugs Bunny cartoons.

When you work for a publication, of course, the finished articles you write belong to your employer. Your notes and audio recordings, however, can stay in your posession. Everyone Loves You When You're Dead is a masterfully complied collection of Strauss' interview transcripts with a plethora of Hollywood types. A narrative emerges from the descriptions and the dialogue, which jump in space and time throughout the book, seemingly trying to pin down what we can learn from those who have lived their lives in the limelight- or just behind it. It's an interesting read, particularly for fans of pop music and movies. Some of it is comically banal- shopping for Pampers wouldn't make good journalism, unless you happened to be doing this with Snoop Dogg, for instance- but I like that sort of thing, personally.

There's a good deal to be learned from Strauss' experiences in pop culture journalism, and the conclusion to the book contains advice that can help anyone, whether they intend to become famous or not. An entertaining read.

I got the book signed by the author a few months back. For the writeup, see here.