[U2V]∎ Read The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall A Fairytale of Grimm Art Ki Longfellow Ben Wickey 9780975925584 Books

The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall A Fairytale of Grimm Art Ki Longfellow Ben Wickey 9780975925584 Books

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The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall A Fairytale of Grimm Art Ki Longfellow Ben Wickey 9780975925584 Books

If Humor was recognized as a mode of artistic expression at least as deep and potent as the more sullen / solemn varieties, and if the boundaries between music, painting, performance, poetry, etc were rightly ignored as arbitrary; if success was measured less by celebrity than the magnificence of accomplishment, then Vivian Stanshall would be recognized as one of the great artists of the 20th Century. If that happened, though, we'd need another him to mock the pretense of it all, and alas, there will not be another Vivian Stanshall.
But, thank heaven for us and for Vivian, there is a Ki Longfellow, and it's a great monument to the memory of this Genius - & a gift to his admirers - that the man's partner, lover, collaborator and, now, biographer has brought her own abundant brilliance and aching heart to this utterly unprecedented and unclassifiable book, a free-roaming, passionate sacrament to the life they shared.
Instead of familiar tales of debauchery with famous friends, or the usual illustrations of his "eccentricity," this time-skipping, deceptively stream-of-hyper-consciousness love story shares agonizing glimpses of near-redemption, shining moments of creative triumph, heartbreaking snapshots of family pain and passion. Waste and wonder. Ecstasies and despair told by a writer whose love saturates every page and whose talent matches her subject's.
Ben Wickey's art harmonizes beautifully with Vivian's own writhing, slashing art (numerous examples of which are enough to justify purchase) and complements Ki's remarkable prose, recommended to anyone eager to chew on just plain great writing, Vivian fan or not. Photos and reminiscences from old friends, fans and family, rare slices of Stanshall's private musings fill the pages... a trunk of new-found treasures.
I've read and re-read this book with abject wonder, and only wish I could construct a spiel worthy of the work at hand. I'll leave it like this: this book is unlike any memoir I've ever seen, as suits an artist no category is adequate to contain. It is every bit as beautiful, funny, sorrowful and richly rewarding as Vivian Stanshall's work, and that's saying something. Bravo, Ki, and thank you.


Tags : The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall: A Fairytale of Grimm Art [Ki Longfellow, Ben Wickey] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Twenty three years ago Vivian Stanshall died in a fire, trapped in a north London flat. Drunk, he slept through his own death. Vivian was the ineffable,Ki Longfellow, Ben Wickey,The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall: A Fairytale of Grimm Art,Eio Books,097592558X,Rock musicians - England,Stanshall, Vivian,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Artists, Architects, Photographers

The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall A Fairytale of Grimm Art Ki Longfellow Ben Wickey 9780975925584 Books Reviews

Ki Longfellow stanshall has put together a heartfelt loving portrait of the master poet,comic,artist ,bonzo that is Vivian stanshall..love this book..big,glossy and full of everything for ginger geezers...ki Longfellow stanshall's hard work and commitment has paid off and we need this book in the continuing story of Vivian's legacy...now read on ..
I bought this book as soon as I noticed that it was available. It's a great big book and it's simply beautiful. Ki Longfellow is a wonderful storyteller, which made this book a very easy and compelling read. Loved every paragraph. Definitely recommended.
This book is breathtaking and heartbreaking. It is quite an achievement that Longfellow is able to convey what made Vivian so special and so difficult with such love and empathy while making her own voice so strongly heard. I am very honored to have contributed in a small way to the telling of the tale. (And what a tale she tells!) I respect musicians and writing most of all in the world, and she has succeeded in bringing the one back to life with the other.
“Hello, and how did you find yourself this morning? / Well, I just rolled back the sheets, and there I was.”

Wow, “The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall A Fairytale of Grimm Art” by Ki Longfellow gives us a rare insight into the life of a very talented artist with very many flaws. It is not so much a biography as it is a love story written, as a promise fulfilled, by Ki Longfellow Stanshall the widow of the late Vivian Stanshall. In her book she ”pulls back the sheets” to reveal many stories from her shared life with the great man who brought so much joy and laughter but wanted to be known as a serious artist and “Big Boy”.
Ki met Vivian on a blind date (no, they did not meet at Waterloo) in 1977. So, since she came along long after the halcyon days of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, there is less emphasis on this part of his career. But as she tells us, Vivian Stanshall was not so interested in the past as he was in the present. “I’m still looking forward to what used to be. No time like the future.”
She paints a vivid picture of the last 18 years of Vivian’s life. This portrait is drawn from her memories and the many letters posted between them.
Ki readily admits her memories are subject to the Rashomon effect but by including the letters we feel we are living the story in real time. The tales she tells are totally unvarnished and “the cracks are showing”. There is no whitewashing, only white knuckles. This not a romanticized telling of a life although there is plenty of romance. This is the tragic/comic rock opera of the portrait of an artist as a young man and aforementioned “Big Boy”.
It is a lament to the lost. Not only of the loss of the great man himself, but of so much of his lost art. We learn about lost songs such as one about the stranded South Pole explorer, Shackleton, playing his gramophone to an audience of penguins.
In telling us their story, Ki takes us down the rabbit hole from Vivian’s house boat, to their shared life on a ship turned into a performing arts “showboat”, and to his final solitary days in a death trap of a flat on Muswell Hill.
In this love story we learn Ki tried everything possible to keep Vivian Stanshall alive even though he was hell -bent on self destruction with alcohol and prescription meds. There is a certain irony in that his personal stationary was embossed with the phrase “VIVIAN STANSHALL PRESERVATION SOCIETY”
Ki Longfellow is not just Vivian Stanshall’s Boswill. She was also his muse, partner, and even sometimes rival for much of his later work and their joint projects.
The book points out many of Vivian’s flaws and shortcomings. He could be insecure, greedy, jealous, a thief, and a liar. Yet none of this diminishes his greatness. It instead shows us that geniuses are human too.
In thinking of Vivian Stanshall’s brief life, one is reminded of Brian Wilson and his song “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times”. But Linda Thompson states it better when she says; “The World was too small to contain him”.

The book is well written with sly references to Vivian and his influences such as; “The letters riding off the page like cowboys” and “plenty of room to swing a lobster”. Ki also deserves the Simile of the Year Award for describing someone to be “as beautiful as the Horse Head Nebula and as spirited as an Arabian mare”.
Some have mentioned the high cost of the book as a deterrent. However, it is wonderfully put together, chock full of rare photos and examples of Vivian’s art work making it well worth the price.
The inclusion of the great illustrations by artist Ben Wickey lift up the book in the way that E.H. Shepard added to A.A. Milne’s “Winnie the Pooh” and John Tenniel added to Lewis Carroll’s “Alice” stories. I especially like the one on the cover. Vivian is depicted taking off his octagonal eye glasses while holding his paint brushes and long lost ukulele and, as he stares out to the sea, the Thekla Showboat cuts through troubled waters. It is only much later that I noticed the photo of Vivian’s eye (from the Tadpoles album) staring out at us from the top much like the eye on the top of the pyramid depicted on the back of a U.S. dollar bill.
In one of their many letters Ki predicts Vivian’s death and foreshadows this book when she writes; “Your death ought to be epic. I hope I don’t have to write it”. But written it she has and we are thankful she has shared this writing with us.
Ki also writes “We failed at being together and we failed at being apart (but) our love was work of art. “ I found the book to be a work of art AND a success. 23 years after his death, the arc of this diver still produces ripples on both sides of the pond. I say Long live the art of Vivian Stanshall and with “The Illustrated Vivian Stanshall” I know it will.
This book is not so much a biography as it's a diary of a love story and a family story . Ki does not just allow us a peek through the curtains , she throws the window wide open with bits of phone calls we never heard , letters we never read . All of this is illustrated with plenty of Vivian's art work that we have never seen , with poems written by both of them , meant for only each others eyes . This is not a history of The Bonzo Dog Band , nor his antics with Keith Moon . Ki came along after all that . You know those stories anyway . Get the book , its honest without being lurid . Meet Ki Longfellow Stanshall , and the man she and Silky so obviously loved and still love with all their hearts . And set some time aside to enjoy the visuals !!
If Humor was recognized as a mode of artistic expression at least as deep and potent as the more sullen / solemn varieties, and if the boundaries between music, painting, performance, poetry, etc were rightly ignored as arbitrary; if success was measured less by celebrity than the magnificence of accomplishment, then Vivian Stanshall would be recognized as one of the great artists of the 20th Century. If that happened, though, we'd need another him to mock the pretense of it all, and alas, there will not be another Vivian Stanshall.
But, thank heaven for us and for Vivian, there is a Ki Longfellow, and it's a great monument to the memory of this Genius - & a gift to his admirers - that the man's partner, lover, collaborator and, now, biographer has brought her own abundant brilliance and aching heart to this utterly unprecedented and unclassifiable book, a free-roaming, passionate sacrament to the life they shared.
Instead of familiar tales of debauchery with famous friends, or the usual illustrations of his "eccentricity," this time-skipping, deceptively stream-of-hyper-consciousness love story shares agonizing glimpses of near-redemption, shining moments of creative triumph, heartbreaking snapshots of family pain and passion. Waste and wonder. Ecstasies and despair told by a writer whose love saturates every page and whose talent matches her subject's.
Ben Wickey's art harmonizes beautifully with Vivian's own writhing, slashing art (numerous examples of which are enough to justify purchase) and complements Ki's remarkable prose, recommended to anyone eager to chew on just plain great writing, Vivian fan or not. Photos and reminiscences from old friends, fans and family, rare slices of Stanshall's private musings fill the pages... a trunk of new-found treasures.
I've read and re-read this book with abject wonder, and only wish I could construct a spiel worthy of the work at hand. I'll leave it like this this book is unlike any memoir I've ever seen, as suits an artist no category is adequate to contain. It is every bit as beautiful, funny, sorrowful and richly rewarding as Vivian Stanshall's work, and that's saying something. Bravo, Ki, and thank you.