Mikel Rouse Knihy

Mikel Rouse's memoir offers an exuberant glimpse into the life of a groundbreaking composer known for blending pop and avant-garde music. Through witty storytelling, he recounts his journey from the vibrant 1980s New York art scene to a successful forty-year career, highlighting the challenges and joys of artistic creation. Rouse candidly explores the realities of being a working artist, emphasizing how external factors, like reliable air conditioning, can impact a project's success. This unique account blends humor and insight into the creative process.

One of the most innovative composers of his generation, Mikel Rouse is known for a trilogy of operas that includes Dennis Cleveland and a gift for superimposing pop vernaculars onto avant-garde music. This memoir channels Rouse's high energy personality into an exuberant account of the precarity and pleasures of artistic creation. Raconteur and starving artist, witty observer and acclaimed musician, Rouse emerged from the legendary art world of 1980s New York to build a forty-year career defined by stage and musical successes, inexhaustible creativity, and a support network of famous faces, loyal allies, and high art hustlers. Rouse guides readers through a working artists' hardscrabble life while illuminating the unromantic truth that a project's reception may depend on a talented cast and crew but can depend on reliable air conditioning. Candid and hilarious, The World Got Away is a one-of-a-kind account of a creative life fueled by talent, work, and luck.