sence of any ideological soapboxesnor lurid sensationalism,nMindspell can depend on escapingnthat fate. DnFrom the World of RodericknHaig-Brown: Writings andnReflections; Edited by Valerie Haig-nBrown; University of Washington Press;nSeattle.nCanada is a marvelous country,nPierre Trudeau—to saynnothing of Ma^e—notwithstanding.nIts beer is excellent;nToronto is certainly one of thenbest cities in North America; itsnscenery—from the Atlantic to thenPacific—is astonishing. More importantiy,nit is a free country.nRoderick Haig-Brown (1908-nWASTE OF MONEYnWallowing in RocknJames Howard Kunstler: ThenLife of Byron Jaynes; w. w.nNorton; New York.nby Larry WilUamsnD. H. Lawrence was among thenfirst of the post-World War Innovelists to explicitly condemnnwhat he called “the counterfeitnemotions: drink, drugs, jazz,nqjeed, ‘petting”, all modem formsnof thrill.” Lawrence perceivednthat these impulses would leadnto a subtle inversion of valuesnbased upon increasingly contrivednand mechanistic jolts tonthe physical sensations. But notneven Lawrence could have predictednrock ‘n’ roll or the spate ofn”rock journalism” •wWch, by conceitnand misdirection, has creatednMr. Williams writes fromnBaltimore.n40inChronicles of Culturen1976), although bom in England,nwas a Canadian. He came to settlenin the country during what maynseem like not the most propitiousntime: the Depression. However,nearly on Haig-Brown discoverednthat self-reliance existed amongnthe people: “So we made our ownnjobs, jacking logs oflf the beaches,nsetting out traps (fur prices heldnup well), trolling for salmon,neven guiding occasional fishermennand hunters.” An understandingnof the place of man innNature—the give and take—ngrew in Haig-Brown; he capturednthat knowledge in thoughtful,nbrief essays. He was a very civilizednman—^at times a soldier, anuniversity chancellor, a judge; alwaysna husband and a family mann—a cultured man in the bestnsense of the word. Dna foundation of sand for an edificenof suet.nThe Life of Byron Jaynes is utterlyncounterfeit. The book representsna failure not only of technique,nbut of character. Manynwriters before Kunstler havenlacked judgment but he—a staffnwriter for Rolling Stone—^is onenof the few actually to pride himselfnupon it. Byron Jaynes is essentiallyncheap entertainment, ancollection of cliches that is lessndangerous for what it says thannfor what it &ils to say.nByron Jaynes, a “legendary”nrock ‘n’ roll singer, supposedlyndead for over a decade, is discoverednin a small-town supermarket.nRick Sears, the man whondiscovers him, just ha^jpens tonbe the Rolling Stone writer whoninterviewed Jaynes at the heightnof his career. What follows isnevery rock journalist’s dream: antaped interview with the livingnghost of a bona fide rock legend.nThere are parallels between ByronnJaynes and Jim Morrison, singer/npoetaster of The Doors. Morrisonndied of a drug overdose morenthan a decade ago and was buriednin Paris. Yet to this day his mostnardent fans maintain that he isnalive and well and living as anpainter in the jungles of Africa.nKunstler’s hero has been leadingna hermetic existence in the backnwoods of New England since hisnfeigned overdose in the laten1960’s.nByron faynes purports to explorena significant theme: the relationshipnbetween rock singing,negomania, and self-destructiveness.nBut in fact it merely glossesnover it. The novel’s primary concernnis with drug-overdosed parties,ncheap sex, and downhillnslides. There are only two kindsnof characters, those who manipulatenand those who self-destructnLike many third-rate novelists,nKunstler possesses a realistic eyenbut lacks ironic distance. In thisnhe is as limited as his creations,nall of whom are characterized byna hopelessly cynical immanence.nThis immanence is defined bynthree vulgar assimiptions: thatnthe pressures of rock stardomnturn even the most talented performersninto junkies; that thenworld is fiill of lost children readynto idolize anyone who can sellnenough records; and that thenrock-music industry is not a blatantncommercial venture but anvalid artistic enterprise. In its implicitnsupport of this last assumption,nByronjaynes attains fercicalnproportions. Self-interest forcesnnnrock journalists to attribute motivesnof high art to entertainersnwho are quite willing to denynsuch motives. Readers who supposenthat rock journalists eventuallynouigrow their enchantmentnwith the youth cultures are in forna rude awakening. In America,nwhere people fear aging evennmore than dying, rock ‘n’ roll isnassured of steadily increasingnpopularity among “mature” audiences.n(Indeed, many of rock’snmost successfiil practitionersnhave long since crossed thenboundary of age 40—^a boundarynthat was once set at 30.)nNot that Kunsder sees a halonabove rock journalists. A characterncandidly admits that rock ‘n’nroll is not a revolutionary act,nbut “just an act.” Throughout thennovel, Kunstler vacillates betweennhis economic instinct andnhis better judgment; the formernwins out Thus, rock is maintainednas a valid, if quirky, cultural formnwhich exerts, with obvious exceptions,na positive influencenupon the young. The exceptionsnare chronicled in gory, clinicalndetail. The covert theme cAByronnJaynes is that decadence is exhaustingnbut fun, rather like anmarathon. The novel’s nominalnclimax depicts Byron Jaynes’sn”appearance” at Woodstock, anpathetic scene in which thensinger, after imbibing himdreds ofndollars worth of dmgs, mountsnthe catwalk to the stage wearingnnothing but a pair of boots. (Henhas been playing strip jxiker withnJanis Joplin.) Althou^ Kutistierndeigns, at rare intervals, to makenan implicit moral judgment, hendepicts the general aura of drug-nTv 3^^n