Clarence Clemons vs. Thomas Pynchon

[Dave Monroe]

Clarence Clemons & Don Reo present 'Big Man,' a memoir from the
E-Street sax-player that mostly stays on the surface
November 08, 2009, 3:11PM
By Scott Martelle. Special to The Plain Dealer.

Grand Central Publishing, 363 pp., $26.99


Few friendships in rock 'n' roll are as legendary, or as enduring, as
the one between Bruce Springsteen and "The Big Man," Clarence Clemons,
his sax-playing sideman in the E Street Band.

It's been a good relationship for both men. Clemons freely admits his
life would be radically different -- and much lower-paid -- were it
not for Springsteen. And Springsteen's music and stage performances
wouldn't be the same without the imposing figure and musicianship of
Clemons.

For fans, this bond is part of the magic. So you pick up a memoir like
"Big Man: Real Life and Tall Tales" hoping for insight. But what you
get mostly is Clemons' friendship with co-author Don Reo, a veteran
television producer

The format here is promising, a triptych of short segments by Clemons
and Reo augmented by uneven "legends" vignettes spun out of possibly
real Clemons encounters with Norman Mailer, Kinky Friedman, Thomas
Pynchon and others. Some of these work as satirical takes on music and
rock celebrity -- like a "Shouts & Murmurs" piece in The New Yorker.

[...]

http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2009/11/clarence_clemons_don_reo_prese.html