Power Chord

August 1, 2012
McKenzie loves guitars, knows as much about them as anyone, and has a small collection of them, but he can't play one worth a darn. As far back as he can remember, guitar playersAce Frehley, Mick Mars, Eddie van Halen, and Zakk Wylde, among othershave been his heroes. But over time, and partly thanks to the early-1990s surge in the popularity of grunge, many of the big-haired, kick-ass axemen sort of fell off the radar (MTV, for instance, switched virtually overnight from metal videos to grunge). This very entertaining book chronicles the author's attempts to connect withand perhaps snag a guitar lesson or two fromsome of his childhood idols. McKenzie's quest involved a lot of concertgoing (many of his idols still perform, although frequently in substantially smaller venues than in their heydays), plus a good deal of investigative work, trying to find people no longer on the music map; as he rediscovered them, he also rediscovered himself. Highly recommendable to readers of lighthearted memoirs and to fans of seventies and eighties rock 'n' roll legends.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)