Rob Jovanovic Richey book

[manicfan]

Make sure you add elements we haven't all read 50 times before. It would be good if you could actually speak to the MSP about this subject.

[Lone Architect]

If no one wrote books about those who have suffered then most factual books would not have been written.

[River Boy]

Originally Posted by robj

obviously you have a personal insight into a side of this story that i (and most people) could never have.

if you want to contact me off-board i would be happy to hear anything you have to say about your situation to give me some more perspective.

i also want to add that this book isn't just about his disappearance, but an attempt to chronicle his art and his pretty unique position in 1990s music.

i am trying to be sympathetic to any of the family's wishes, but as i can't just go and ask them, things are taking time.

Agree with most of what you're saying but still think you have too many restrictions to be able to reach something that sheds any more light on Richey than anything we have been given so far. Without the family's input there doesn't appear to be anything new or refreshing as to your avenues of research.

My worry is if you need to speculate too much then it risks turning Richey into an urban myth figure and we get further away from who he really was.

[JenniTiger]

Just wanted to say good luck with the project. I like the fact that you've taken the time to come on the forum, despite the potential for abuse!

I just hope that it's a well put together book that's handled sensitively. Richey deserves more recognition, otherwise the rest of the world could just forget all about him, which would be a bigger tragedy than a crap book.

[counterlanguage]

Question : what's more constructive:

a) Getting the hump about there being a Richey book and leaving sarky messages

or

b) Contributing help - or constructive criticism / opinions - in some form so Rob can write the best book he possibly can.

[Takk]

^ Or just not commenting, after all, the author's not asking for permission or advice on whether he should write a book on richey!

[counterlanguage]

Originally Posted by Takk

^ Or just not commenting, after all, the author's not asking for permission or advice on whether he should write a book on richey!

Indeed.

It just seems a bit pointless to me, being sarky - to be blunt the book is coming out so live with it - or don't buy it!!

[River Boy]

Originally Posted by counterlanguage

Question : what's more constructive:

a) Getting the hump about there being a Richey book and leaving sarky messages

or

b) Contributing help - or constructive criticism / opinions - in some form so Rob can write the best book he possibly can.

People will be quick enough to moan if the book comes out and blatantly isn't up to scratch, better to make thoughts and feelings clear straight away I think rather than have someone go to all the effort and be disappointed.

I applaud anyone disciplined enough to write well and would love to read this book if I felt the material was there - my concern is that there isn't anything new to say other than speculation unless Richey's friends and family are more forthcoming. I think they will consider the issue unresolved though and a book unhelpful.

[Takk]

Originally Posted by River Boy

People will be quick enough to moan if the book comes out and blatantly isn't up to scratch, better to make thoughts and feelings clear straight away I think rather than have someone go to all the effort and be disappointed.

I applaud anyone disciplined enough to write well and would love to read this book if I felt the material was there - my concern is that there isn't anything new to say other than speculation unless Richey's friends and family are more forthcoming. I think they will consider the issue unresolved though and a book unhelpful.

But I don't think it's been said anywhere the point of the book is to shed any more light on where he's gone, or solve the mystery.

People write biographies about famous people all the time, even if there are already lots on that person - it could be a good book about Richey without having any new insights into the disappearance, and let's face it, it probably won't have any even with the families' approval.

What's wrong with a book that focuses on richey before he disappeared, without just being overshadowed by the disappearance?

[River Boy]

Originally Posted by Takk

But I don't think it's been said anywhere the point of the book is to shed any more light on where he's gone, or solve the mystery.

People write biographies about famous people all the time, even if there are already lots on that person - it could be a good book about Richey without having any new insights into the disappearance, and let's face it, it probably won't have any even with the families' approval.

What's wrong with a book that focuses on richey before he disappeared, without just being overshadowed by the disappearance?

Apologies if I didn't make it clear but I didn't mean 'shed more light on the mystery' but presumed the book was to shed more light on Richey as a person - his character, personality, mental state - which is only really going over what's been done in Manics biographies so far.

On the other hand, obviously it can't be helped that any new information will colour the interpretation of whether he is alive or dead which is another argument for why there has to be a good reason to write this book - rather than just 'because it's something good to write about'.

[Takk]

Originally Posted by River Boy

Apologies if I didn't make it clear but I didn't mean 'shed more light on the mystery' but presumed the book was to shed more light on Richey as a person - his character, personality, mental state - which is only really going over what's been done in Manics biographies so far.

Ah, fair enough. I'd like to see a book do that as well, which I guess wouldn't happen without some cooperation from friends and family. I can't begin to think what they would say about the project, but I can't help thinking that it might be good to have a book which put across the real richey without being an obsessive biased book about the disappearance.

On the other hand, obviously it can't be helped that any new information will colour the interpretation of whether he is alive or dead which is another argument for why there has to be a good reason to write this book - rather than just 'because it's something good to write about'.

True, it's never going to go away. I'd like to read about the real richey, not a tabloid-esque version of 'that guy from the manics who disappeared'. I'd buy a book like that.

[Abstract Unknown Girl]

Originally Posted by Bach Psychosis

Because no one can let the man rest in peace. A statement that applies whether he is resting in death, or resting in an anonymous life somewhere no one can find him.

Oh come on, biographies are written about dead/missing people all the time. You're not forced to read/buy them and I don't really see how it's stopping him 'rest in peace'.

[raven]

Originally Posted by River Boy

On the other hand, obviously it can't be helped that any new information will colour the interpretation of whether he is alive or dead which is another argument for why there has to be a good reason to write this book - rather than just 'because it's something good to write about'.

I think that's a good point and essentially why the subject of a biography about Richey raises concerns cos with or without the consent of those closest to him it's going to raise up the whole issue of his illness, of his disappearance and revisiting speculation and if it's picked up by reviewers he'll likely be spotted in Goa or somewhere again by someone and someone else will claim to have a postbag full of postcards he's sent over the past 12 years and you wonder to what purpose ... maybe on the other hand a well researched , intelligent and thoughful account (it's possible, David Browne's biography of Jeff Buckley is a very good example) can do no harm.

In my world any biography would focus not so much on him in isolation as on him as a part of a band that at the time injected some intelligence into rock for there's not too many bands introduce topics like the holocaust, American imperialism, existentialism into their music but for all that it was his self harm that got all the attention and attracted some weird fan-wars not that he always discouraged the attention but even so if someone's clearly ill shouldn't there be a point where people back off.

I definitely feel the band are due a good objective biography, I didn't like Simon Price's it was what's the word sychophantic and as regards Richey he more or less admitted to not 'getting' him, not just the self harm but well most of what he ever said or wrote erm well why write their biography then?
And just ... no, I think there's a better book that could come ... from where is a question

[tigerlily37]

Originally Posted by robj

i don't have, and never claimed to have, any great ability at finding anyone.

my comment was meant as a light hearted reply to that posters earlier 'shite' comment which was aimed at me.

sorry didnt mean to be sarcy but maybe it was wishful thinking. when someone you love goes missing your left in a sort of limbo until you find out what happened. you go over the what ifs, ws it something we did etc and every day i will think about where my brother is until he is found or until the day i die. plain and simple and those that are left behind are tortured pretty much until you get some sort of answers. you say you cant contact his family but you must imagine how they will feel if they find out another book has been wrote about their son, maybe forewarning them would be a better idea and you dont know if they will give their approval or not. i,d rather someone tipped off my mam or siblings first before we have to see it on amazon website.

[Mr Inconspicuous]

Well I'm sure Mr Jovanovic has his own ideas on these scores but I thought it might be fun to come up with a few suggestions of our own.
As far as titles go, I just hope he doesn't go for something ghoulish like "Into Thin Air" or "Missing In Action". I've seen the phrase "rock's lost poet" used in a few retrospective articles on Richey and that would be ok. A title derived from a Manics title or lyric might be good too as long as it had specific relevance to Richey: something like "A Design for Life: the story of Richey Edwards" would be really lame. Stay Beautiful would be cool or, if he wanted something a bit more eyecatching, The Boy Who Wanted To Be God. Having said all that, Rob's probably gonna go with "Richey: The Biography".

Assuming that the cover picture will be a head/"upperhalf" shot of the subject, my preference would be for a b/w one from the leopardskin/kohl stylistic era, when I think Richey was at his most beautiful and iconic. Possibly my all-time favourite Manics photo is the very first one in Mitch Ikeda's book, where Richey is standing in front of the rest of the band, gazing at the camera in a defiant yet vulnerable way, so I guess it would be cool to have a crop of this staring out from the bookshelves.
Over to the rest of you...