IN PRINT



BOOK REVIEW:
Tasteful Nudes...And Other Misguided Attempts At Personal Growth And Validation
Dave Hill
St. Martin’s Press 
Tasteful Nudes is a collection of memoirs and humorous stories from the life and times of the author, Dave Hill.  The subjects are wide ranging: from growing up in Cleveland to being a starving artist in New York City, odd jobs and career aspirations, and adventures (good, bad, and in-between) encountered while pursuing a career as an entertainer.  I think aspiring entertainers and artists will relate to some of the accounts in the book where Mr. Hill tries his hand at performing in a rock band, stand up comedy, and writing for television.  The chapter on the rise and fall of his band from the 1990’s, Sons Of Elvis, rang familiar to so many other experiences I have witnessed in the music biz,  either personally or watching a band I liked almost make it big, and it was refreshing and enjoyable to get a humorist’s account on the matter. 
In one lighthearted recollection from the book, the author answers the phone, “Hi, this is Dave Hill...from show business.”  This moxy-of-the-ages attitude casts many of the stories in an entertaining and endearing light.  The essays on being an entertainer are the most engaging in the book, especially those regarding music, where tales are recounted in a “look what I survived and it was worth all the hard knocks” kind of way.  Other moments reveal the joy found in that even the slightest success as an artist is valuable because it is so fleeting and hard to attain on any level.  For example, at the end of the road for the Sons Of Elvis, Mr. Hill, having found himself working as a painter instead of touring the country with the band whose latest single had been enjoying moderate rotation on radio and MTV notices a sticker for his one-time group while painting a bedroom of a house.  These accounts are balanced by tales of family and friends and ordinary circumstances with some humorous twists along the way.

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