THE HISTORY OF BONES

John Lurie is "a ubiquitous figure in independent and underground film and music culture in the 1980s." (The Washington Post)

This book is a riot to read, not to mention a blast from the past! It is the quintessential depiction of 1980s New York and the downtown arts scene including appearances from all sorts of heavy-hitters; Warhol, Tom Waits, Madonna, David Byrne, Jim Jarmusch (whose movies Down By Law and Stranger Than Paradise Lurie starred in), and especially Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lurie's best friend and an enigmatic artistic prodigy (who spent a year sleeping on Lurie's floor), written by someone who was close to the beating heart of it all: actor, artist, musician, and composer John Lurie. The book is full of grime and frank humorin what feels like Lurie speaking directly to youhe describes the frothy, filthy whirlpool of the East Village and the lively world that existed then of artists and musicians there.

Lurie was the epitome of cool in the 1980s, and this gritty memoir charts his course from his childhood in Massachusetts to becoming part of the beating heart of that time and place in New York. After founding the band, The Lounge Lizards, with his brother in 1978, Lurie quickly became one of the central figures in that world of cutting-edge filmmakers, and cultural rebels.

John Lurie is a musician, painter, actor, director, and producer. In 1996, Lurie's soundtrack for the movie Get Shorty was nominated for a Grammy Award, and his groundbreaking albums have been praised by both critics and fellow musicians. He has recorded twenty-two albums (not including those by his alter ego Marvin Pontiac), acted in nineteen films, composed and performed music for twenty television and film works, exhibited his paintings throughout the world, and produced, directed, and starred in the Fishing with John television series.

Since re-centering his focus on visual art in 2004, Lurie has displayed his work in galleries around the world, including PS1 Contemporary Arts Center in New York, Musee Des Beaux-Arts De Montreal, the Musee d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean in Luxembourg, and the Watari Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo, who gave their entire museum to the presentation of Lurie's work. He was also featured on the final episode of the late Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown. (Bourdain was a fan of Lurie's and purchased one of his paintings shortly before his death.)

Lurie was the subject of a widely read and controversial 2010 NEW YORKER PROFILE: https://bit.ly/3fAWpUp.

Through Lurie's clear-eyed reminiscence, this piece of history comes to teeming, gritty life. And if you're going to ask about the title, it is meant to be a nonsensical, very "him."