Denise's Reading Blog: July 2020

Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys by Lol Tolhurst
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

View all my reviews

Notes & Highlights

I underlined these quotes with my purple pen, by the way.

I bought this from Walmart.com!

“We were bound by blood and obligation” (11).

“I remember, as I got older and started to hang out more at my friends’ houses, being baffled by the levity and love between the parents to their children, and not just on special occasions but during the course of daily life” (12).

“Robert’s eyes sparkled with recognition. ‘Me too!’” (15).

“I can hear my mother’s voice even now, gently urging me along. ‘Hold Robert’s hand now and look after each other’” (16). So cute!

“I remember sitting on my couch at home with my mother, watching this spectacle unfold, and at the point where Bowie sang the line ‘I had to phone someone so I picked on you,’ he pointed directly at the camera, and I knew he was singing that line to me and everyone like me. It was a call to arms that put me on the path that I would soon follow” (19). So motivational!

“... existential tomes of Camus and Sartre" (38).

"The Sensational Alex Harvey" (39).

"Mahavishnu Orchestra's second album, Birds of Fire...Nils Lofgren's Cry Tough...Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and The Stones...Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica" (44).

"Ray Charles's 'Hit the Road Jack'" (45).

"I have a theory. There comes a day when every single one of us is confronted with the abyss. Sometimes it's a heart-wrenching breakup. Sometimes it's the loss of a loved one. Some have it early and some people get it late, but we all have that moment when we look down and there's nothing fucking there. People want their rock stars to go further out on the edge and hang out there for a bit, take a good long look at that abyss, and then transmit what they find there through their art" (61).

"Chestnut Studios in Haslemere, West Sussex…’Boys Don’t Cry,’ ‘It’s Not You,’ ‘10:15 Saturday Night,’ and ‘Fire in Cairo’” (72).

“I think they were just appreciative of the fact that someone would acknowledge their existence. I think that's true of most of us, really" (88).

"’Killing An Arab’ was inspired by the novel The Stranger (L’Étranger), written by the French existentialist writer Albert Camus” (92). I read that book just because of this song lol

“It was the kind of story he liked. People were always underestimating us, Robert especially, and we thrived on it. Yes, indeed, I could imagine him saying, a mischievous smile lurking behind his beer glass. Sold out by some poofy blokes from bloody Crawley…” (95). So cute! :)

“Frank Bell, the Cult Hero singer” (98).

“...during the Troubles...The Undertones' 'Teenage Kicks,'" (105). I wanted to search what the Troubles was.

"...improvised version of their [Siouxsie and Severin from Siouxsie and the Banshees] song 'The Lord's Prayer'" (107).

"Both Robert and I really loved David Bowie's Low album, and Robert was also a fan of Nick Drake's music" (117).

"That was the real purpose, if there ever was one, of The Cure: to serve as the template for a kind of emotional therapy we created with our sounds and fury” (118).

“I think Parry understood (or at least hoped) that the band was like a plant that you might kill if you fussed over it too much with overcare, but that if left alone, we just might flourish. Although he would still drop by the studio to hear what we were up to, he rightly surmised that too much attention might kill off the beautiful flowers about to burst forth" (120). Interesting metaphor for the band

"Looking up, he pronounced his sentence" (121). Interesting way to phrase it

"...brave new world" (121). Lol XD Lol's talking about NYC

"Many years later Robert told me he still had one [a Twinkie] from our first trip in his kitchen drawer. Perfectly preserved!" (122). OMG lol really?

"...danced to 'Ready, Steady, Go' by Billy Idol" (123).

"...shape of Mission of Burma...Sonic Youth...The Specials" (124-125).

"...and Simon looks suitably hunky and young" (126). Lol k 😉 *raises eyebrows* 🤨😏

"’Grinding Halt,’...stashed a large bucket to enable me to pee… Lol wtf?!

outsized shadow of yours truly peeing into a bucket” (129). OMG NO!

“The Associates, The Scars” (135).

“We had been on the road constantly, switching between recording an album and touring. It needed to end, but we didn't know how to get off the roundabout" (137). I like how Lol worded these sentences.

"Zerra One...he said in his broad Irish brogue” (158-159).

“That night, however, it felt like death. It was the death of that version of The Cure...At the end of our performances it had become a habit to play a free-form song that we generally called 'Forever'" (161).

"It was a liberating journey in a way that I've always found wonderful. … In it I found a kind of hopefulness to combat my inherently depressive side that was exaggerated by alcohol. … the warm Mediterranean sunshine on the golden rocks made it a unique and beautiful place beside the sea” (164-165).

“And Also The Trees, producing their first full-length album...a French band called Baroque Bordello, producing their three-track EP Today" (167).

"'Ariel' … 'Watching the Detectives' by Elvis Costello" (169).

"It was a new beginning for the band in more way than one" (169).

I fixed this sentence, so it should read like this:

"It was a new beginning for the band in more ways than one"

"Adam and the Ants" (170).

"The video ['Let's Go To Bed'] was really good and clever in a way that let people see both sides of The Cure, the funny and the absurd. Contrary to popular belief, we were not pale-faced Goths who sat in dark rooms with candles and cried all the time. Although we did have some fans like that--two very sweet Japanese girls used to just stand and cry in front of us whenever they managed to come into contact with us. We named them Doom and Gloom. In the nicest way, you understand" (172). Of course! XD OMG LOL XD

"SPK...Steve Nye...Tin Drum by Japan...copied New Order's 'Blue Monday' with 'The Walk'" (173).

"...The Clash's Joe Strummer…

'Lol, you know what that needs?'

'No?'

'RFM, mate.'

I asked him what RFM meant and he replied, 'Read the fuckin' manual!'" (175).

"Robert told me he had to close his eyes while he sang, because there was a bloke about six inches in front of the mic singing along with him, which was a little off-putting” (176). lol, just a little? XD Also, why was he six inches away from his mic?

“The place exploded with girls screaming at us like we were The Beatles! It was amazing. I looked over to Robert and he simply smiled” (177). So cool! Those screaming girls are me! LOL XD

“[The Love Cats music video]...hiding behind mailboxes and street signs pretending to be a cat, albeit a six-foot cat. It was all a little surreal, to say the least. I actually terrified an old Rastafarian who was walking along the street at about 6 a.m. He was minding his own business, and suddenly out of nowhere I appeared dressed as a very large cat. He must have thought he was hallucinating, poor fellow" (178). Lol

"...Dave Allen...engineer of the Rushent-produced Human League album Dare" (178).

"...the way he played his leather trousers with his hands…'The Caterpillar' that sounds like butterfly wings beating: Mr. A.'s leather trousers...band Ten Years After" (179). Lol I hear it!

"...which was mighty unfriendly... swearing blue murder" (181). XD lol, blue murder???

"...The Psychedelic Furs...The Thompson Twins" (182).

"'Six Different Ways,'...'Police and Thieves' was not just a Clash version of the Junior Murvin song to me...Culture Club, and Depeche Mode" (189).

"Echo and the Bunnymen" (190).

"The rainstorm ceased the moment we walked onstage, which allowed the lightshow to sparkle in the night sky with eerie, greenish-tinged water drops. Magical!" (194). Yes! Quite magical!

"10,000 Maniacs...entente cordiale...[Floyd] Live at Pompeii" (194-195). Entente Cordiale: A series of formal political agreements signed in 1904 that negotiated the peace between England and France. French for “warm understanding,” the Entente cordiale of 1904 settled more immediate disputes between England and France in Egypt, Morocco, and elsewhere in Africa.

"The Cure in Orange film" (197).

"Robert’s car, a white jeep, was the recipient of many messages of love and loyalty to its owner--some written in black Sharpie on the actual vehicle!” (200). Oh hell nah! >:(

“After our late breakfast, Porl and I went over to the small and deserted pool and sat by the side, dangling our legs in the blue water, the air filled with the fragrant smell of the Mediterranean foliage all around, and looked across the water at the long autumnal shadows flitting about on its surface" (204). Beautiful scenery!

"I had been bandying the name of the health farm--what Americans call a health spa--around vainly and weakly, expecting that, as if it were holy water, to be splashed by its name would produce results" (204).

"Despite my best intentions, I couldn't get off the crazy roundabout of violent emotional twists and turns, and what made things worse was the knowledge that I was doing it to myself" (219).

"I was caught a vicious circle with no end in sight" (219).

I thought that this sentence was supposed to be like this:

I was caught in a vicious circle with no end in sight.

"Eyemou" (222). Film of Robert's lips and eye

"But happiness cannot be manufactured, nor can it be pursued as a goal" (224).

"'Merry Christmas Everybody' by Slade" (224). I thought that this particular section of this chapter was so sad. :'( Chapter 18 Broken

"I was unable to see that I was in fact the architect of my own demise” (241). This hits me extra hard, man.

“...returning to the smell of cleaning fluids and tobacco smoke” (249). Yes! That is exactly how a motel/hotel smells! Thanks for narrowing it down, Lol!

“The scorching sun...into sandy desert dust at the edges” (249-250). This whole page. I could literally hear this scene. It was like I was in a trance. And I know exactly how he feels because I live in Arizona.

See picture below.

“Presence [band]...Inside and Closer [albums]” (257).

“Morton Subotnick...Levinhurst [Lol’s band]...Perfect Life [album]...DJ set as Orpheus” (258-259).

“House by the Sea” (260).

“At the start of the second encore I heard Robert call out, 'This is for Lol! This is 'The Figurehead!''" (264). That was so sweet of Robert to do for Lol!

"Lockjaw" (267). band

"Sham 69, U2, and XTC" (269). bands

"Robert and I stood on the soft sand slightly apart from the others. He had just come out of the water after a late-night dip. He had his arms around my shoulders and talked quietly into my ear.

‘We are older men now, and now that we are older men …’ his voice trailed off.

I looked up into his face and in that way that old friends have I understood his meaning. Like another late night a million miles away in our youth at Milton Mount Gardens, we understood each other. It was a different day and all that had gone before was quietly fading from our memories. The raw emotions that had forced us apart were forgotten, all the hurt and the pain had evaporated, and all that was left was Robert and me in the predawn hour, two Imaginary Boys, standing on a beach” (280).

This absolutely warms my heart! :’(

I drew a sad face in my physical copy of the book and I forgot to draw the mouth lol

“We boarded the plane and, as we took off into the autumn sky, I had the strong realization that none of this--the book, the journey back from destruction--was about me or even Robert. It was about the thing that we had been given that had changed so many people’s lives and had once again changed me. The Cure. I understood that no matter what happened now, no matter where I went on this planet or what I might be doing, the dream of a band we had so long ago, the key to our escape out of our boring humdrum lives, was always going to be in me, a part of me. I understood at last that by recapturing that long-ago feeling, I could banish despair. I could forgive everybody everything, including myself. I could finally be cured” (282-283).

I love the ending paragraph! So well put together. It really puts it all into perspective really. (lol I said really twice 😁)

Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys by Lol Tolhurst Spotify Playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/02gnXOR65DYaGOcv9XGinL?si=Qdd7-GTxQS-_tLvampXxrQ

Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys by Lol Tolhurst YouTube Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYL0fUO8zjtZN1nR6GYE3ke613PJsAGRc