12 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 13, 2001
eveningsout
From Circus to community service: A long, strange trip
Living and Dying in 4/4 Time by Paul Gallotta
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There have been a lot of homophobic things said by rock stars. From Sebastian Bach of Skid Row being photographed in an AIDS KILLS FAGS DEAD T-shirt to the Guns 'n' Roses song "One in a Million" with its rather ignorant line about foreigners and gay men spreading disease, rock music has not been the most accepting of milieus.
Never mind endless speculation about the sexual orientations of various celebrities in the genre. After Bowie, Elton John and George Michael, it no longer really matters who a rock star sleeps with. A homophobe is a homophobe; if he's a closet case, it doesn't mitigate his status as a schmuck.
Why this discussion of homophobia in rock music? Paul Gallotta, author of Living and Dying in 4/4 Time, used to write for that beacon of rock and roll journalism, Circus magazine. The first third of the book deals a lot with his interactions with musicians. Some are enlightened, and some are dragging their knuckles so much it's amazing they can still play guitar.
The book is the tale of a fourteen-year journey, written from his diaries, taking Gallotta from music journalism to working as a case manager helping people with AIDS get financial and medical assistance. It's a strange trip, made all the stranger by a few
factors.
First, it's true. I went online and found an old Circus article about the heavy metal band Cinderella that Gallotta wrote in 1996. Second, he's a jerk. Okay, maybe not so much now, but throughout most of the book Gallotta is kind of a jackass. His drug use was never on a par with, say, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, but he definitely did more illicit chemical substances than this writer could afford in a couple of decades. And his drinking! The word marathon doesn't begin to cover it.
However, despite the fact that our protagonist isn't exactly lovable, or noble, he somehow found himself dedicating his life to community service. It's very odd. Even in the later years, when working for Center One in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and doing some freelance writing on the side, he never seemed the crusader, nor did his writing reflect a sudden desire to make the world a better place.
To a great extent, his altruism started with his desire for a steady paycheck. The fact that he was far more involved in his clients' lives than his co-workers, or that he felt more of a personal responsibility for those he was supposed to help than the others did, doesn't change the fact that, despite himself, he did become something noble.
Of course, along the course of the book he stops drinking 17 or 18 times, and gives up smoking pot more times than one can easily remember. Of course, whether you're dealing with rock stars or the terminally ill, alcohol and other drugs are common crutches. Helping the dying might be de-
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pressing, but realizing that you're interviewing a selectively-shaved monkey who makes millions of dollars for banging on a drum set or guitar is far more depressing.
The best feature Gallotta has is his sense of humor. It got him through some very difficult times (okay, often the humor and the drugs got him through, but what the hey), and it makes the book almost bearable when it sometimes seems like a string of final paragraphs from other books where a major character dies at the end.
There are definitely times, especially if one is emotionally vulnerable or tired, or feeling sentimental, or remembering lost friends, that the book is very difficult to read. Especially towards the end, when clients of his who have been mentioned repeatedly are dropping like flies. It occasionally seems as though he's numbed by it all; other times, he feels all too much the magnitude of the pandemic in which he is enmeshed. Of course, as could be expected, there is enough name-dropping that it feels like the reader is being transported back in time to have a conversation with Truman Capote, who was supposedly infamous for it. There is mention of Iron Maiden front man Rob Halford, and rumors of his homosexuality (written before he came out); the aforementioned Sebastian Bach and Axl Rose; Poison; Warrant. One could go on for paragraphs naming eighties hair bands, but why bother?
The earliest bits of the book were fun, reading Gallotta getting pissed off about some rock star saying something stupid, or offering him a groupie.
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LIVING AND DYING
+
IN 4/4 TIME
PAUL GALLOTTA
Later, he moves to Florida with his lover at the time, Dick (a fitting name for this man). They try to launch a magazine, which works for a while and then dies. Gallotta takes more freelance assignments, and things seem to be coming together, but then he must return to New York to nurse his dying father.
Such fun.
I swear, if it weren't for Gallotta's sense of humor and divine justice, this would be one of the most depressing books ever written. Having an author write that "Life is like a box of chocolate Ex-Lax, and there's no toilet paper, definitely improves the mood of things.
On a scale of one to ten, this book would probably be around a seven. There are two things that cost it points; one of those might just be in my head.
The first real problem with the book is the copy-editing. There are typos galore in this puppy, and it's very distracting.
The second, perhaps imagined, problem is the timing of references. Some of the bands he describes as "just about to hit the big time" seem to me to have hit it big before the diary listings would have one believe. Of course, that was a long time ago, and I can't even remember when EMF's Unbelievable was a big hit, at least not within a year. So he might be right; of course, some of the entries could have been re-written well after the fact. Who knows? Who cares?
Anyway, it's a good book, an interesting book. It's definitely worth reading, and Dostoyevsky it isn't. Had all high school reading assignments been this easy, maybe more kids would read the books the teachers assign.
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