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Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Cedric Hendrix - I Can't Be the Only One Hearing This: A Lifetime of Music Through Eclectic Ears



Now it’s been a good while since I wrote another book review. On my blogsite, Music from the Other Side of the Room that has been going on for 11 years. I’ve done two book reviews which might be true or not. The first one I did was back in 2011 of Mark Powell’s Prophets & Sages: An Illustrated guide to Underground and Progressive Rock 1967-1975. And Anil Prasad’s book, Innerviews: Music Without Borders. So it’s time to do another book review. And this one is a real special treat for you.

Cedric Hendrix is a name you may or may not recognize. But for all of us, music has always been a part of the soundtrack of our lives. Cedric has always provided the music in his life also. For nearly four decades, Cedric is more than just a geek, but he’s always searching for real good music that will be his next cup of coffee.

And his new book released last year entitled, I Can’t Be the Only One Hearing This: A Lifetime of Music Through Eclectic Ears, he takes us on a journey that makes us want to go through our CD/Record collection that has been with us for the rest of our lives. Published by Global Publishing Group, the book travels through 449 pages of the bands/artists he grew up on.

From the realms of XTC, King Crimson, Genesis, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, and Joni Mitchell, Cedric takes the reader through a trip down memory lane. Born in Arkansas and settling in St. Louis, Hendrix grew up with his parents collection of listening to the soul/R&B sounds of Motown, Stax, and the Philly sound they would listen to the radio and then buy the song from the stores after liking what they heard.

When he was five years old, after getting his first record player and listening to the stories of Jack and the Beanstalk and Rumplestiltskin, he discovered perhaps one of the true visionaries which was the late great David Bowie. After hearing Space Oddity, his life changed. But for him, its more than just a trip down memory lane. He talks to people including Radio DJ Randy Raley, and his discussion of various record stores and the subject matter on downloadable music.

Not only that, but he talked to musicians from Markus Reuter, Adrian Belew, Chick Corea, and journalist Anil Prasad. When you read some of the topics he talks about, you can understand why its been going on during the times now with commercial radio, his brief period working in a record store and the changes between Best Buy and F.Y.E., and what is happening now, you could understand that Cedric is giving the readers a chance to open their eyes right now.

And after reading the book, it shows that Cedric shows no sign of stopping of listening to real, real good music. So if you’re sick and tired of watching and hearing things that are on MTV, VH1, and on commercial radio nonsenual bullcrap, then this book is worth checking out. He also runs his own blogsite entitled CirdecSongs in which he does interviews, stories on the open road, and reviewing classics and new gems. So in the words of Jack Kerouac, “There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars.

Please check out his website CirdecSongs:

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