"A poignant and hilarious oral history of a (fictitious) musical phenomenon. Celebrated music critic and cultural historian David Hajdu unravels the mystery of a one of-a-kind artist, a pianist with a rare neurological condition that enables her to make music that is nothing less than pure, unmediated emotional expression. Her name is Adrianne Geffel, praised as "the Geyser of Grand Street" and the "Queen of Bleak Chic." Yet despite her renown, she curiously vanished from public life, and her whereaboutsremain a mystery to this day. Hajdu pieces together her story through the memories of those who knew her, inspired her, and exploited her-her mother, father, best friend, producer, critics, teachers-in this slyly entertaining work of fiction. Adrianne Geffel is at once a piercing satire, a vividly twisted evocation of New York in the 1970s and '80s, and a strangely moving portrait of a group of characters both utterly familiar and like none we've ever encountered"--
Decades after a music artist with a rare neurological condition transforms American pop culture with her pure sensory masterworks, her surviving loved ones piece together what they have come to understand about her life, work and exploitation by others.
herDavid Hajdu cuts through the noise to tell, for the first time, the full story of Geffels life and work, piecing it together through the memories of those who knew her, inspired her, and exploited herher parents, teachers, best friend, manager, critics, and lovers. Adrianne Geffel made music so strange, so compelling, so utterly unique that it is simply not to be believed. Hajdu has us believing every note of it in this slyly entertaining work of fiction.Adrianne Geffel
A poignant and hilarious oral history of a (fictitious) musical phenomenon.
