leoalive

Just A Few Seconds: A Story From The Hidden World Of Music And Beyond is one man's memoir. Derek Newark dreamt of being a professional musician. His first taste of the limelight was while performing in a talent contest, in his youth, which turned out disastrous. His friends had faith in his goals; however, along the way, a person must survive and sometimes life throws you curves you had no idea were coming. The story begins with Derek, a.k.a. Nemo James, and his struggles to find a band that not only played his kind of music, but one that had as much drive for success as he, himself, did. Grazing from one band to another, from one music genre to the next, Derek follows his dream while finding his niche. Derek has traveled the world to follow his dream, sharpening his strengths and his skills to the point where he could almost play with anybody. From country to classical, Derek has taken his talent to the homes of the rich to the lowliest dives on the planet. The reader is shown the choices that Derek makes on his life's journey and groan when you realize he has made the wrong one, as in the instance of Peter Gabriel from Genesis wanting to talk to him and because, at that time, Peter was unknown, Derek choose to go off with another band who he had heard of. However, just going on the name of that particular band, I'm sure I would've chosen to introduce myself to Peter, as we all know what became of Genesis!! I thought this was an interesting book, however, I found it to be dry in places. The dialogue came across as being forced and sometimes the direction of the story was confusing and distractive. I thought the perserverence of Derek and his goals was astonishing and commendable. His passion and his focus as a musician was remarkable to read and you could feel the heart of the man who is determined to find his way through the musical world. It is not easy to break into music, the world is full of talented artists and you come to realize its all about being at the right place at the right time, for Derek, he seemed to have a huge hit and miss ratio that would've made the average person give up and settle for another way of life. I would give Just A Few Seconds a three out of five stars. I enjoyed the stroll down Derek's memory lane but I felt there were times that failed to get the desired emotion out of me as I read his story. I found the book lacked wit, which would've make it an outstanding read, however, if you enjoy memoirs, especially those on struggling artists, then you will be sure to enjoy Just A Few Seconds.

2022-11-14 14:13