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| Category: Entertainment |
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| About the Book | |
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A Pause in the Rain is a biography/memoir/narrative nonfiction book about the author's husband, the Grammy Award-winning musician Chuck Greenberg, and the relationships he had with his friends, fans and family. It comprises 250 pages, 60,000 words, 28 black and white photographs, 22 chapters, three appendices, a foreword, a preface and an epilogue. The foreword is written by Will Ackerman, the founder of the seminal New Age music recording label, Windham Hill, for whom Chuck and his band Shadowfax recorded in the early 80s. The introduction is a discussion of why the author decided to write this book and why she structured it the way she did (chronologically), plus the challenges she faced in so doing. Each chapter takes its name from one of Chuck’s compositions, as does the title of the book itself. The first chapter shows how the author met Chuck in Venice, California, in 1980, when he was a struggling musician newly arrived from Chicago, and she was escaping a failed relationship in New York City and mourning the death of her mother. Each successive chapter of A Pause in the Rain details how her relationship with Chuck develops, culminating in their marriage in 1981 and the births of their first son in 1983 and their twin sons in 1985. Chapters about their personal lives together alternate with chapters about the development of Chuck’s professional career as a musician and producer for Shadowfax, the first band ever signed to Windham Hill Records, in 1982. Amusing anecdotes about life on the road with the band as they tour to support the releases of their four records for Windham Hill and their successive six albums for four other labels are included, along with comments from music reviewers, fan responses, black-and-white photographs from the author's personal archives; and details about Shadowfax concerts at such notable venues as Montreux Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, Red Rocks and Universal Amphitheater. Chuck’s professional singularity as the foremost Lyricon player is highlighted, along with a story about the Lyricon, the first synthesized wind instrument. Besides Chuck’s burgeoning abilities as a musician and producer, he demonstrates a business savvy not normally seen in artists; it is primarily through his hard work developing relationships with record label personnel that Shadowfax is able to achieve the success that they do, culminating in a Grammy Award for Best New Age Recording in 1989 for their Capitol Records album Folksongs for a Nuclear Village. Unfortunately, the other band members handle fame differently—some of them resent Chuck for his success and undermine his efforts. This leads to defections from the band, which goes through several personnel changes from the early ’70s until Chuck’s death in 1995 and the concomitant demise of Shadowfax.
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| About the Author | |
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In 2004 Joy Greenberg completed her M.F.A. in creative writing with a focus in creative nonfiction from CSU Chico, for which her first book, A Pause in the Rain, formed the final project/thesis. Her latest challenge is a doctoral program in Mythological Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, CA. |