speed of dark

I don't often review books on Speed of Dark, but I have finished reading the new book by Joyce Raskin of Scarce, Aching To Be, the story of how she came to meet Chick Graning, how they forged and built Scarce, and how it all fell apart just as the dream was about to be realized. It's a fascinating story about what it's like inside a young rock band--the personalities and dynamics, the hard work, the risks, and how much control a record company can have over the lives and futures of the band members.

Joyce's narrative reveals her own insecurities as well as the exhilarating feeling of being on stage as part of the power-packed punch of Scarce's music. She doesn't hold back either about Chick's devastating ordeal and the aftermath that gradually broke the band. She looks boldly back from the perspective of a decade with complete honesty on her own youthful naiveté and what later turned out to be a wrong decision to try to restart the band's momentum before Chick could fully recover.

Female readers will find themselves nodding at her apt descriptions of the inner turmoil of being an outsider teen who finds her calling and grows into herself through the course of the book. Joyce has a gift for reaching into her own thoughts and emotions and finding accurate words to express them.

As a timely addition, Mike at Pocket Full of Chump Change blog has just published a podcast interview with Joyce Raskin and Chick Graning. Over the clatter of plates, the pair talk with Mike about the past and about Scarce's future. It's clear that their friendship has survived the years and the battle scars.

It's great to hear that Scarce, despite being benched for all these years, will now finally be able to grow and develop in the ways that Joyce and Chick originally imagined. They'll be playing shows, and they have written around 15 new songs that will be prepared for release next year, eventually to become a full-length CD. As much as I want a new generation of fans to hear and appreciate Deadsexy, I'm happy that Scarce is not a museum exhibit, frozen in time and doomed to exist only in the shadow of that great album.

Included in the podcast are also three little-known Scarce songs, one of which I had not heard before. It was gratifying to note that this "new" song had the power to excite me more than most of the current music I'm exposed to. Here is one of the songs Mike included in the podcast:

Scarce: Girl Through Me from Deadsexy (Original/U.K. version, 1995)

I was also completely surprised to hear myself and Speed of Dark mentioned in the podcast! I'm too modest to say more--you'll just have to listen. Although the interview goes a few steps beyond the book, it may raise questions that Aching To Be can answer. The two really go hand in hand.

Scarce MySpace | Fansite
Previously on Speed of Dark: Time Travel Tuesday: Scarce Returns
Buy Aching To Be at Lulu.com
Review of Scarce's show at Pocket Full of Chump Change
Photos from this show

Next appearance: November 19 at ZuZu's