Out of their heads A novel tackles the Rolling Stones, Manson murders and Kenneth Anger BY MICHAEL GTLTZ, lhe year 1969 was bleak.</p><p> The Rolling , cross paths as both Beausoleil and the Stones I Storles stood by helplessly as their found- i appear in Anger's landmark "Invocation of I er Brian Jones drowned in a swimming i My Demon Brother." pool and a fan was killed at Altamont.</p><p> The i Lazar -whose first novel, "Aaron, Approx- tunatic Charles Manson urged his follow- i imately," was set in the '70s and '80s - might ers to slaughter "piggies" chosen at random. i easily have fallen under the sway of a rush of t_).1 Md experimental filmmaker Kenneth An- i adjectives.</p><p> Surely if any milieu encourages' 3 ger tapped into dark forces with . f . .. words to come tumbling out in ---strange, subterranean experi- ' <l r^v : a mad psychedelic haze it is the rl mental works. :"^' . , '60s world of rock 'n' roll. --*"N;;;iirt 2""n.w rrrar tack- ' By Zachary Lazar , eut Lazar opts for cool- iesthaterawithhisslimbutam- , Little, BfOWn, ; nesr,u.".".u"thatpaysdivi- -/ citious second novel, "Sway." : $23.99 ; dends at some points, such as Everyonehereisunderthesway i".... -.. .r......-... "....r thepatheticdeathofJones, rf something: Mick Jagger and r who seemingly drowned in P feitfr Richards are under the sway of mu- .i ;ic and their hypnotic power on oihers, Bri- ! ln Jones is under the sway of drugs, devitish- a- iy handsome hippie Bobby Beausoleil is under - -, :he sway of his own beauty and ultimately *{ Manson, while Anger is under the sway of the magnetic, dismissive young men he worships coth physically and cinematically.</p><p> They allI the midst of partygoers at his home either ; through indifference or disdain. : Yetl-azar's invocation never quite com- ; pletes the spell he's hoping for.</p><p> Mick Jag- I ger and Keith Richards are too present in our : mina to come alive yet as characters in a work r offiction (thoughlazardoes nailthe needy i flirtafiousness of a star).</p><p> It doesn't help when"-4? magnetic figures like Marianne Faithfull come across as ciphers - that makes us trustLazar less.</p><p> On-ly the unfamiliar tale of Anger and his work comes fully alive, presumably because we know so little about it.</p><p> Ironically, a high point of the book under- mines it.</p><p> Lazar does a wonderful job of show- ing the Stones work through early versions of the sinuous classic "Sympathy for the Dev- il." But talking about the song simply sends you to the song.</p><p> Unfortunately for Lazaq those dn-rms, the "woo-woo" background vo- cals, that screechy, frightening guitar work and Jagger's dismissive, conspiratorial vo- cals capture the danger and magnetlsm ofthe '60s far more incisively than "Sway" can ever hope to do.</p><p> I-.\: $ "$,$ ilr{x,$' ,, ili. ,,: ., $,',:i N"",t ',,,$!i ,,1:: : .si: '::]l: : .iN :: .$i ri!: ' i'ij,::
