Melanie: The First Lady of Woodstock

By John Lambo

Melanie Safka (known by millions simply as Melanie) was the first woman to perform at The Woodstock Music Festival in the summer of 1969. Now, more than 40 years later, the first comprehensive Melanie... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1461177235
• ISBN13: 9781461177234
• Release Date: December 2011
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Excruciating!

Melanie is a terrific subject for a biography. Unfortunately, John Lambo wrote it. There is very little "Melanie" in this book. The amateur writing is so often unintentionally funny that I had to put the book down for a day or two so I could return to it to read on. Lambo doesn't know the difference between bring and take. His repetition of nouns, instead of using pronouns, is often hard to take seriously. He doesn't overdo the thing all that much, but just enough to remind the reader, "Hey, look, I'm not a WRITER, for gosh sake." Organization is hideous. In one paragraph Melanie is alone, cut off from her extended family. Two paragraphs later her aunt is sewing clothes Melanie designed. In one paragraph, she is beginning to write her own songs. Two or three paragraphs on we are getting quotes from reviewers about how well she covers others' songs. She hasn't graduated high school yet, but that isn't important to Lambo. What IS important is his pre-teen gushing about how great Melanie is. "Wonderful" is the most often used adjective and the one with almost no meaning after its first use. Melanie deserves at least a writer for her biography, and preferably a good one who can sketch in her personality, thoughts, and maturation. I consider myself an admirer of Melanie. I regard her career as important and unfairly overlooked. But even I can't get past just how badly this book is written. I read it only to find out basic facts and, actually, that's all one gets, albeit out of order, usually.