Never Mind The Hack
Neal Pollack is a hack. There. I said it. Many years ago while working in a bookstore (slowly running their music department into the ground) I scored a advance copy of his book, Never Mind the Pollacks, wherein this charming hack re-imagines himself into pivotal points in the historical fabric of rock. I thought the book sucked a bag of dicks but I did find something positive to write for the publisher. (Yes, I realize the intent of the book is to lampoon, but still.) A few years later I received a bag o’ galleys from a dear friend who still works in the bookstore. In the stack was the book AlternaDad by….gasp…Neal Pollack.
I never finished the book, but I did give it a try. There is one section of the book that sticks with me in my old age, and that is the segment when Mr. Pollack (from now on referred to as “The Hack”) has Music Listening Time with his son. I only remember two of the artists he mentions: the Ramones and the Aquabats. The Hack fashions himself a hipster and he is trying to pass on his hipster tastes to his son. This I can relate to.
