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Fiddling With Disaster: Clearing the Past

Average customer rating:

For Me It Was Not A Good Read
Fiddling With Prices
Fiddling with Love
Fiddling with his past
Powerful and gripping. Deserves to be read.

Fiddling With Disaster: Clearing the Past
Ashley Macisaac , and Frank Condron
Manufacturer: Warwick House Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

With dark humour and sometimes brutal honesty, Celtic musician Ashley MacIsaac tells of his rise from fiddle-playing prodigy in the village of Creignish, Cape Breton, to worldwide success with his unique mixture of traditional and contemporary sounds.

By his late teens, MacIsaac was on tour and making big money. He describes the highs (of various kinds) of playing to thousands of fans; of performing with renowned artists like Paul Simon, Philip Glass, and the Chieftains; and of hearing his Gaelic-language hit "Sleepy Maggie" blast from a radio in Los Angeles.

But he doesn't shy away from the downside of fame, such as money problems, unwanted media scrutiny and an addiction to crack cocaine.

The unusual twist in these familiar challenges of early stardom is MacIsaac's struggle with his sexuality and with public attitudes towards a gay performer.

The strongest undercurrent, however, is MacIsaac's abiding connection to his Celtic culture. His descriptions of his musical training and development reveal his commitment to his art and the depth of tradition in Cape Breton on which it is based.

Customer Reviews:

For Me It Was Not A Good Read.......2006-05-27

It left me depressed. I dislike writers who use excessive profanity and seem to enjoy it.

Fiddling With Prices.......2003-09-20

$18.95 is the Canadian list price, not the US price. Buy it in a book store, at a fair and correct price. Amazon.ca has made a mistake on the price of this (most enjoyable, and shocking!) book.

Fiddling with Love.......2003-09-10

There is nothing disasterous about this novel. Ashley MacIsaac was raw, edgy and above all truthful when re-telling his life. A book that is the best autobiography I have ever read.
If you know who Ashley MacIsaac is, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Fiddler, gay, crack addict, and East Coast. Chances are you thought of all four. Mr. MacIsaac does not dispute any of these and at long last was able to have his say on his life. A poignant look at his life, his way.
His thoughts on fame by 18, being the first to break the East Coast music mold, MacLeans crashed and burned his 'high' by plastering across the country he was gay. He discusses in depth how this made him and how he dealt with it.
His book is very prolific and tells everything about him in a realstic yet controversial in some ways, too. He admits to disliking to do most shows he does but that he relished every show he did pre-fame with hi how are you today.
Many people will read this and probably still think he is a nutcase but I still beleive he is an incredible musician. No one can ever dispute that. He put East Coast Music on the map and made it 'cool' and he has fused the fiddle and rave music together . . . something no one has ever done before, and probably never will. The drugs made Ashley destitute but it was the music that lifted him above it, and put him back on track.
Want to know the real Ashley MacIsaac, the one outside the media? Read this book, it may just change your mind.

Fiddling with his past.......2003-09-06

The book is an eye opening look at what goes wrong when a Scottish boy from the Eastern most edges of Canada take his fiddle out of the small world he grew up in, and into the big universe that surrounds Cape Breton. The battle for Ashley MacIsaac's soul began when he was young, when everyone discovered what a genius he was. Yes, he could've been called a child prodigy. From the time he was a champion dancer to his unwavering talent at the fiddle, Mr. MacIsaac was destined, I think, to end up where he did. Some was his fault, which he readily admits, but I think the entertainment industry itself will suck anyone who has a talent dry. Obviously, he should've never gone to New York at the age of 17 all by himself. It was that miscalculation from all parties involved that lead him down the road of self-destruction.
MacIsaac has a brilliant talent, and the world fell in love with it. But the people who were listening to his music, who went to his shows, expected one thing, while in reality, he was giving them something completely different. Tradition is a dangerous word sometimes, and because he played traditional type Celtic music, everyone presumed MacIsaac was just like his music. But if his history could be used as a barometer, he was nothing but unpredictable. I commend him for being open about his sexuality, but he discovered the hard way that being to open could cost you. While I want to believe the world is ready to except their gay children, the entertainment industry just doesn't know what to do with them. While Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang have a large fan base that buy's their CD's, most of their live shows have more lesbians than straight in the audience. MacIsaac wanted to be known as a fiddler player who happened to be gay, and not gay fiddler, Ashley MacIsaac. But with a combination of drugs, guilt, ego and raw talent, he became something that was far removed from reality. He certainly deserves more credit than he gets, but once you become a pariah of the press, no matter what you do, you're doomed to be reminded of all your past digressions. Fiddling offers nothing new in one sense -another biography about a superstar undone by fast life of drugs and more drugs - but it also shows clearly why sometimes becoming a music superstar is very dangerous career. MacIsaac admits that his drug addiction sprung mostly from boredom, with the endless touring, and with too much downtime. One can learn from his experience. If you want to be a music star, make lots of money, find something to occupy your time between gigs. Drugs, like pot, may help expand your "reality" but drugs like cocaine and crack lead nowhere but to a boulevard of broken dreams. And bankruptcy. I love his music, I enjoyed the book. I hope and pray that Ashley has finally put his demons behind him. He nearly lost his soul, but he found the courage in himself to change his destiny. He did it on his own terms -just like everything else - and discovered that once in a while, you can go to hell, and still survive.

Powerful and gripping. Deserves to be read........2003-08-31

Ashley MacIsaac's autobiography titled "Fiddling With Disaster: Clearing the Past," is a gripping, powerful read. Ashley is severely honest as he tells his story to writer Francis Condron.

The book is absolutely a page turner from beginning to end. I've basically put my life on hold the last few days to indulge myself totally in Fiddling With Disaster.

Ashley shares the struggles and highlights of being famous and rich, and then being famous and poor. Ashley should be applauded for telling his story as frankly as he does. He takes responsibility for his own actions, but readers will decide for themselves if the world dealt him a good or bad hand.

Ashley leaves no stone unturned. He talks about unsafe sex, HIV, what he thinks of Anne Murray, his thoughts of Cape Breton, other famous people, drugs, fame, and the list goes on and on. There wasn't a page to the 279 page book that I didn't enjoy totally.

After closing the book, I think some day on Ashley MacIsaac's headstone that it could truthfully read: I DID IT MY WAY.

I highly recommend this book. It is the best autobiography I've read to date. You won't want to put it down.

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