Three pianos A memoir
Book - 2021
From beloved indie musician Andrew McMahon comes a searing, honest, and beautifully written memoir about his childhood and his career, told through the lens of his three pianos. The lead singer and songwriter for such bands as Something Corporate and Jack's Mannequin grew up in Southern California as a talented child prodigy, learning to play piano and write songs at a very early age, stunning schoolmates and teachers alike with his gift for performing as well as his unique ability to emotionally connect with his audiences. But behind this incredible pop talent lurked a darker tale, a child dealing with a father prone to opioid addiction and a mother whose own fragility enabled a worsening situation for Andrew and his sister, Kate. Upr...ooting the family numerous times as a fallout of his own drug abuse, Andrew's father miraculously saved the one treasure that would keep his son connected to hope, creativity, and solace: the family piano. Told through the lens of his connection to three pianos-as a child, then as a newly established adult musician, and then as a father Three Pianos takes readers on a beautifully rendered and bittersweet American journey, one filled with hope, heartbreak and an unwavering commitment to shedding away our past in order to create a better future.
- Subjects
- Genres
- Autobiographies
- Published
-
New York :
Princeton Architectural press
2021.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Edition
- First edition
- Physical Description
- 238 pages ; 23 cm
- ISBN
- 9781648960208
- Piano 1.
- 1. Half-Formed Bell
- 2. Lake Effect
- 3. Losing Days in the Ravine
- 4. Fire and the Miracle of Flight
- 5. Don't Bother Unpacking
- 6. The Ghost of South Ardmore
- 7. Saltwater, Birthday, and Two Useful Sets of Wheels
- 8. Some Flowers Grow from Bone
- 9. The Prodigal Father
- 10. Japanese Screens
- 11. Drive-thru Saturday Night
- 12. Young Love, Let's Get Stoned
- 13. The Architect and the Arsonist
- Piano 2.
- 14. Slingshots at Dawn
- 15. Teenage Rock Star
- 16. Teeth Cutters in the Parking Lot
- 17. Tin Cans, Tires, and Wings
- 18. Glittering Exits
- 19. From the Platform, Launch the Submarine
- 20. Everything in Transit
- 21. Grief for the Living, No Really, I'm Fine
- 22. Walls of Rain
- 23. Dark Blue
- 24. So Long Mr. Invincible
- 25. Women
- 26. Crewcuts and Pneumonia
- 27. The Junk of Blood and Healing
- 28. The Jungle
- 29. Our House in the Trees
- Piano 3.
- 30. Bulletproof Frankenstein
- 31. The Family You Choose
- 32. The Glass Passenger
- 33. Floating with the Dead
- 34. Tarantula Mating Season
- 35. I Was the Diver, It Was Our World
- 36. People and Things
- 37. The Vampire on Melrose
- 38. New Friends and a Night in Las Vegas
- 39. Wrecking Ball, Rest in Peace
- 40. The Wilderness Years
- 41. Peace in the Desert
- Acknowledgments