Punk rock drummer – ‘American on Purpose’: Craig Ferguson charts odyssey from Scotland to the U.S. – Yahoo! Canada News
'American on Purpose': Craig Ferguson charts odyssey from Scotland to the U.S. - Yahoo! Canada News
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Mon Sep 14, 11:36 AM
By Frazier Moore, The Associated Press
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"American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot"
Craig Ferguson (Harper)
Just who does this chap think he is?
Craig Ferguson, by his own account, is a Scotsman with a brogue and excellent teeth. A former punk-rock drummer. A recovering alcoholic. A sitcom star (well, supporting star) on Drew Carey's show. A film director-writer-leading man. A standup comic and overall "vulgar lounge entertainer."
Ferguson is also, of course, host of CBS' "Late Late Show," where he displays a gift for sly, often silly humour, a range of loony impersonations and a curious mind that, when he's interviewing, puts him in the rare league of Dick Cavett or even Bill Moyers.
Ferguson is also a proud American citizen (as of January 2008).
Any of this would serve as selling points for Ferguson's new memoir, "American on Purpose."
Ferguson also happens to be a fine writer - witty, reflective and candid. (Two years ago he published "Between the Bridge and the River," a novel with a bold autobiographical streak.)
Granted, "American on Purpose" won't come as much of a surprise to any reader who's already a Ferguson fan. For four and a half years on his late-night show, he has regularly drawn on his full and tumultuous life to nourish his monologues as well as the intimate way he connects with his viewers.
In a late-night realm where other hosts typically project themselves as beer buddies, Ferguson - overtly complicated, charismatic and flirtatious - is a guy with whom you might want to go home. Let other hosts keep the world at arm's length, with them cloaked in a layer of affable body armour. Ferguson is a kinetic cutup teeming with foolishness, brilliance, defiance and heart.
All this is captured in his book as an entertaining connect-the-dots journey.
And, like Ferguson, his book never stands on ceremony.
It begins with Ferguson observing former first lady Laura Bush's panties.
He was surprised enough to find the likes of himself, this fresh American, among the fancy and powerful at the 2008 White House Correspondents' Association dinner, for which he was guest speaker. He was further surprised to see that when Bush, in her "elegant silky frock," stood with the light behind her "you could see her undies," which he goes on to describe as "big, comfortable knickers, what are known in enlightened circles as 'passion killers,' in what looked like a floral pattern."
Top that for reportage, Tom Wolfe! And it's only the first page.
Cheap shot? Maybe. But Ferguson spares no one, himself least of all. He doesn't hold back beating up on himself with his troubled, often painfully funny, past.
He reports that he was a bed wetter late into his childhood - then again, as a drunk, off and on until he was 29.
Such was his sense of despair at his alcoholism that, one notable night during a miserable Christmas season, he resolved to kill himself, only to fail in his plan to swan-dive into the Thames River from London's Tower Bridge. A drinking buddy detained him for some holiday cheer and he never got around to leaving the bar.
Fortunately, he later cleaned up his act, with Feb. 18, 1992 familiar to Ferguson followers as the day he got sober.
The high drama of Ferguson's life is counterbalanced by his portrait of evocative ordinariness. A son of a postal worker and a grade-school teacher, he grew up outside Glasgow, Scotland, in a dreary, 1950s-era planned community later named "the second-worst town in the United Kingdom."
He tenderly recalls his beloved uncle, "Gunka" James, with whom he spent a memorable eighth birthday buying his first rock album and getting sick to his stomach on the bus ride home.
From the perspective of his 47 years, Ferguson can chart the crazy logic of a life of odd jobs, hard partying, colourful relationships, and repeated setbacks in his loosely defined career in entertainment. It all seems to have been in the service of escaping the routine existence into which he was born, and finding something more, without wrecking himself in the process.
And all the while, America was sounding its siren call. He always knew that's where he belongs.
"America gave me everything I have today," declares Ferguson on the last page.
It's a robust tale he has put between covers - a life story he continues every weeknight, crowing, "It's a great day for America," on "The Late Late Show."
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On January 20th, we went to The Silo in Reading. The first band to perform was Dicky & The Jerkoffs, a punk band from the Reading area. We talked to Dicky after their set, and he gave us a CD. What happened the next day was what really made us want to meet with them. The band discovered that the kids who came to the show had to pay $9 to get in to the show. They felt it was unfair to charge so much, so they offered a refund!
I contacted the band, who were "amused" at the thought of being interviewed, and we set up a time to meet.
When we walked into Smokie's Diner (which is a great place, by the way, if you want waitresses who ignore you!) it wasn't difficult to spot the band. The 7 of us crowded into a booth and had a chat over an assortment of beer, burgers, coffee and pie.
One thing we definitely discovered while talking to the band - For a bunch of jerkoffs, they're pretty nice guys!
Dicky & The Jerkoffs have been playing together for about a year, and they describe their first show together as "a drunken mess." They snuck onto the bill and played four songs. Tim V, their drummer explains, "But like most of our other shows, everyone loved it. They were like, 'You guys rocked,' and we were like, 'Wow, are you kidding me?'"
Some intriguing stories were shared, of injuries (Josh, their guitarist, told us about a show in Philadelphia, "I had to run backstage once to fix my strap because it broke, I jumped over a chord and hit my head on the ceiling. I landed on my back off the stage and fell to the floor. Then I came out and finished the show, but I had three cracked vertebrae in my back.") and girls in wheelchairs.... I'm not sure I can share that story, but ask the guys about it sometime, and maybe they'll share it with you!
The band describes Alexander's in Fleetwood as their home away from home, and we got to see them perform there recently, with one of their favorite local bands, Black Moon, a punk metal band from Reading. At that show, Corey, the lead singer of another performing band, Before an Empty Throne, was involved in a fight. We were told by quite a few that it was the first fight to happen at Alexander's. The reason behind the attack on Cory was apparently because "he isn't punk."
In a response to this type of thinking, Dicky & The Jerkoffs started The V.P.C. Anti-Label, or The Vampire Penguin Corporation, which strives to bring all forms of music to the "World Stage". It calls for an act of unity between various genres, because the idea of separation and attack on others due to a difference in genre is ridiculous. As the leaders of this movement, Dick & The Jerkoffs explain, "It's the 21st century...There is room for Everyone!"
What we discovered in Dicky & The Jerkoffs is a band that's not afraid of a progressive movement within the local music scene. They (and many of us, as well) are tired of hearing the same old thing, and are calling for harmony among musicians.
Pick up a copy of their full-length debut CD, "American Trainwrecks," because as their new bassist, Adam (the quiet one) described when asked about the band, "They're alright." We couldn't agree more!
Tonia Jordan is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers.
Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/spidergirl so stop by and read for a while.
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