An exceptional and comprehensive overview of the life of Pa Ubu himself! This book is very well researched and written (and illustrated!) with a sense of humor that Jarry would have appreciated. "Man With An Axe" is by far the best source of biographical info on Jarry in English. Jarry fanatics (especially those that cannot read French) should look no further.

Although I have not read this work yet, having only read "Being Frank" by Nigey Lennon, which was a breeze read and quite fun, due in equal parts to what she went through as well as how she put it into words... I just wanted to comment that even though a purple sock-centered sexual relationship with Frank Zappa is no firm indication either way, Nigey is chromosomally confined to a biological committment to "catch" and not "pitch" in a strict reproductive sense... which is to say she is a "she" and not a "he" as the previous reviewer of her work on Sam Clemens has alluded.

I found this little number at the library, and I suggest that if your even remotely compelled to read this strange bit of fact/fiction/fantasy, you should get a free copy that can be returned also. I find plenty of these accounts plausible and probably just a groupie account of some wonderful events that meant more to her than anyone else. There is nothing wrong with that but it does'nt warrant a book. Perhaps Mike Keneally could offer some insight on this book. He did a great job at picking apart Ben Watson's self-indulgent/ highly laughable "Dialectics of Poodle Play".

Being Frank: My time With Frank Zappa
Expanded From The Original Classic

Since his untimely death from prostate cancer in 1993, the legend of iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa has continued to grow. The decade following his passing has seen the publication of a number of books, both sacred and profane, which examine his life and work, but the best, and only, up-close-and-personal account of the man and his music remains the original: Nigey Lennon's Being Frank: My Time with Frank Zappa. Musician/author Lennon maintained a personal and professional relationship with Zappa during the period which is generally agreed to have been the composer's most creative, and she invests her recollections with considerable musical and emotional insight.

"....Being Frank can be viewed as a cautionary tale, a cinema verite' rock-and-roll moral fable, an historically accurate emotional portrait of one of America's most enigmatic modern musicians during an important transitional period in his life when he was free of the emotional/financial baggage of the original Mothers of Invention and could do as he creatively wished...what makes Zappa such a quirky individual and his music so irresistible...is precisely what Nigey has patiently and passionately documented...between the two of our books is a valuable portrait of one of the more intriguing and enigmatic cultural figures of the Twentieth Century, god help us all.
--From the Introduction by David Walley, author of No Commercial Potential: The Saga of Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

This edition is a reaffirmation of Being Frank's validity as a "must read" book and hell, even a "must re-read" book! Just like Frank's music, the deeper you get into this book, the more you will get out of it.
--From the Foreword by Greg Russo, author of Cosmik Debris: The Collected History and Improvisations of Frank Zappa

"irreplaceable...is the word to describe Being Frank...[Lennon's] memoir is both spiky and musically literate...Lennon's previous books were on Mark Twain and Alfred Jarry, which indicates the kind of cultural perspective required to get a grip on Zappa: something brighter than rock-journo pedantry."
-- Ben Watson, author of Frank Zappa: The Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play

This book is an accurate, funny, and well-observed portrait of one of the most enigmatic figures on the American music scene.
It is most of all a portrait, warts and all, of a human being trying to deal with a human universe, something which Zappa held at a great distance from himself, and despite his protestations to the contrary had difficulty in dealing with. It will and has ticked off many members of Zappa Anonymous who've been fed a steady diet of well... publicity which Zappa in his lifetime encouraged and ironically and inevitably became its victim after his death. I highly recommend this book for those who are interested in historical and sometimes hysterical accuracy. She was there at a crucial time in Zappa's life as a confidant, a lover, and a working member of his band when he was recuperating from a grievious accident which nearly cost him his life. This book is part sociology, part auto-biography and describes her coming of age and the influence that one of America's great enigmatic figures had on her life. She writes well with a great sense of ironic detachment, which is as idiosyncratic as the person whose life for a time she shared.