88x50: A Memoir of Sexual Discovery, Modern Music, and The United States of America

by Adam Tendler

Overview

A music school misfit escapes to the highway with a ramshackle recital tour called America 88x50—eighty-eight piano keys by fifty states—winging it from the front seat of his Hyundai and bringing free performances of seldom-heard, modern American music to some of the country's most isolated corners. It's an all-American road trip with a modern music twist, but behind the public façade is a musical Johnny Appleseed desperate to find himself and spiraling into a secret life that could lead just as easily from ultimate self-acceptance to ultimate self-destruction. In this pedal-to-the-metal literary debut, complete with a free online companion offering nearly 200 multimedia features, Adam Tendler takes readers for an unforgettable ride into the classical music odyssey that beat the odds, shaped an artist, and shook this nation one piano at a time.

Lambda Literary Award Nominee 2014
Kirkus Indie Book of the Month, May 2014: "An honest, searching exploration of the artist as a young man."

Product Details

BN ID:	2940149811595
Publisher:	Dissonant States Press
Publication date:	12/09/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	225
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

"An exuberantly expressive pianist" who "vividly displayed his enthusiasm for every phrase" (Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times), a “maverick pianist” (The New Yorker), a "modern-music evangelist" (Time Out New York) who "has managed to get behind and underneath the notes... living inside the music and making poetic sense of it all. If they gave medals for musical bravery, dexterity and perseverance, Adam Tendler would earn them all." (Tim Smith, Baltimore Sun) Nominated for the 2012 American Pianists Association Classical Fellowship Award, and a finalist for the 2013 American Prize, Tendler first made national headlines with America 88x50, a completely independent recital tour organized from the front seat of his Hyundai that brought free concerts of modern American music to underserved communities in all fifty states. He has gone on to perform in some of the country’s most distinguished halls, universities and concert series, directing modern music initiatives across the country and serving as an announcer and new music liaison for NPR and Pacifica stations nationwide. Since 2007, Tendler has toured with a memorized performance of John Cage’s complete Sonatas and Interludes, including a sold-out recital at the Rubin Museum and a Symphony Space festival performance on Cage’s 100th birthday listed by New York Magazine as one of the Top 10 Classical Music Events of 2012. He has spoken and performed at Columbia University, Princeton University, NYU, Kenyon College, Boston Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Portland State University, University of Nebraska, University of Alaska and Rice University, among others. An outspoken GLBTQ advocate, he was an election-season keynote speaker for the Human Rights Campaign, and has regularly performed for clients at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis Center in New York. He maintains the blog The Dissonant States and recently published the memoir, 88x50, a 2014 Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and Lambda Literary Award nominee. Recognized as a leading interpreter of modern American music, Tendler is developing an album of music by Robert Palmer for his 2015 centenary, and just recorded the premiere release of Edward T. Cone’s 21 Little Preludes for piano. He lives in New York City and serves on the faculty of the Third Street Music School Settlement. “One doesn’t expect pornography at a serious music concert...” raves Art Leonard Observations.

What People are Saying About This

Kevin Brannon

...part travelogue, part coming out story, [88x50] is an unsentimental and at times harrowing self-portrait of an artist in the act of self-becoming. Tendler uses the book as an opportunity to rethink the very nature of memoir with web links to photographs, performance clips and journal entries that draw the reader even deeper into the experience of the America 88x50 tour. --Kevin Brannon, Lambda Literary

Greg Sandow

...this isn't the usual music entrepreneurship story, the kind you usually read, the kind people guest-post on my blog. Those stories mostly are triumphant. Someone had a great idea, figured out the best way to make it a reality, and then made it real, advancing both their own career and the greater cause of music. But Tendler lurches... -- Greg Sandow, Music in the Midst of Life, ArtsJournal

Rick Whitaker

..a harrowing, moving, glowing book... 88x50 is one of the finest memoirs by any performing artist, and a powerful testament to the great American project of self-invention and mastery. Adam Tendler thrives on challenge, an astonishing pianist and a brilliant writer, altogether in a class of his own. - Rick Whitaker, author of An Honest Ghost and Assuming the Position: A Memoir of Hustling

Cassandra Garbus

With exquisite candor, Tendler charts his own brave journey across America to wrestle with the truth of his sexuality and his potential as a musician. Nothing less than the failure of a life-long dream is at stake. It is impossible not to be moved by the intensity and honesty of this author's voice as he practices his way to self-revelation.
...part travelogue, part coming out story, [88x50] is an unsentimental and at times harrowing self-portrait of an artist in the act of self-becoming. Tendler uses the book as an opportunity to rethink the very nature of memoir with web links to photographs, performance clips and journal entries that draw the reader even deeper into the experience of the America 88x50 tour. --Cassandra Garbus, author of Solo Variations

Michael Carroll

Tendler is bold both as an author and narrative presence, his mission refreshing and brave in its honesty, and his love for what he saves his greatest passion is heartbreakingly familiar if you are a great artist. In these pages he is baldly and nakedly tender, exposing our own need to express ourselves while combining aesthetic emotion with humor (the mark of a true genius). Tendler only pauses occasionally to reflect upon himself, but when he does the artist is merely reaching out to make us more comfortable with the unfamiliar. - Michael Carroll, author of Little Reef and Other Stories

Editorial Reviews

"...part travelogue, part coming out story, [88x50] is an unsentimental and at times harrowing self-portrait of an artist in the act of self-becoming. Tendler uses the book as an opportunity to rethink the very nature of memoir with web links to photographs, performance clips and journal entries that draw the reader even deeper into the experience of the America 88x50 tour."

Lambda Literary - Kevin Brannon

"With exquisite candor, Tendler charts his own brave journey across America to wrestle with the truth of his sexuality and his potential as a musician. Nothing less than the failure of a life-long dream is at stake. It is impossible not to be moved by the intensity and honesty of this author's voice as he practices his way to self-revelation."

author of Solo Variations - Cassandra Garbus

Indie Book of the Month, May 2014: "An honest, searching exploration of the artist as a young man."

Kirkus - Kirkus Indie Reviews

"..a harrowing, moving, glowing book... 88x50 is one of the finest memoirs by any performing artist, and a powerful testament to the great American project of self-invention and mastery. Adam Tendler thrives on challenge, an astonishing pianist and a brilliant writer, altogether in a class of his own."

author of An Honest Ghost and Assuming the Position: A Memoir of Hustling - Rick Whitaker

"Tendler is bold as an author and narrative presence, his mission refreshing and brave in its honesty, and his passion for his music is heartbreakingly familiar if you are a great artist. He is baldly and nakedly tender, exposing our own need to express ourselves while combining emotion with humor (the mark of a true genius). Tendler only pauses occasionally to reflect upon himself, but when he does the artist is merely reaching out to make us more comfortable with the unknown."

author of Little Reef and Other Stories - Michael Carroll

...a transnational musical exploration by an unsettled self and soul, from the newest enfant terrible to arrive on our music scene.

Outsmart Magazine