EXOTICA: Review Adrian Street, the author
“EXOTIC” ADRIAN STREET has been many things over the decades: an innovative professional wrestler who was ahead of his time in many ways, a rock musician, a movie actor…and an author.
In recent years, the English-born grappler – who enjoyed some
success in America in the 1980s with his outrageous, punk/androgynous ring
persona – has been penning a series of autobiographies (he’s up to Book Six and
counting).
But his first stab at writing was 28 years ago with the
oddball, semi-autobiographical novel Shake, Wrestle ‘N’ Roll, the first
book ever to be published on pink paper (according to Adrian).
It’s interesting to compare this book with 2012’s My
Pink Gas Mask, Adrian’s first instalment of his autobiographical
series.
Shake, Wrestle ‘N’
Roll tells the story of Adrian, the lead singer of English rock band The
Orange Milk Bar. During a gig in the USA, he comes to grief at the hands of
three security guys – Krusher, Killer and Krippler – who are also vicious
wrestling heels, better known as The KKK.
From his hospital bed, the battered singer vows vengeance
against the evil trio. Luckily, Adrian’s also a trained wrestler, who never
went into the mat game in England, instead joining a band.
Returning to the gym, Adrian trains like a demon and
challenges The KKK, one by one, to matches. Taking on a camp persona to
befuddle and upset his homophobic enemies, they accept his challenge and do
their best to destroy him.
However, through skill, pseudo-gay shenanigans and sheer
luck, our hero vanquishes them all. Meanwhile, thanks to his success in the
wrestling ring and nationwide TV exposure, his band – renamed Adrian And The
Pile-Drivers – become a huge attraction.
Everything ends well for our hero, except for one quirky
twist right at the end, which I’ll leave for interested readers to find out for
themselves. Let’s just say that evil sometimes can triumph in the weirdest of
ways.
Shake, Wrestle ‘N’
Roll is a fun-but-strange read. Having read his REAL autobiography (well,
part one at least) certain chapters are truthful descriptions of Adrian’s
childhood and how he became a professional wrestler. In one chapter, which on
the surface is describing Killer’s teenage years, he brags to his mates about
all the women he’s bedded (which is a lie). When one lass takes him up on the
offer to have sex, Killer blanches and runs away. I recognised this anecdote as
I’d also read it in My Pink Gas Mask…except
the true story was that it was ADRIAN who was the braggart who got caught out by
a girl and fled in embarrassment. I found it fascinating that a true incident from
his life had been appropriated for a different character in his novel.
Other chapters, however, come across as wish-fulfilment
fantasy. Adrian – who in real life did well in the territories era, but never
got a significant run in the big leagues such as WWF or WCW – is portrayed here
as a wrestling and rock’n’roll superstar on a Hulk Hogan/David Lee Roth level.
And why not? It’s his novel after all.
Still, the storytelling is a bit suspect. Apart from his
initial thrashing at the hands of The KKK, there’s never any sense our hero’s
in any real danger after that. The book moves steadily from one ring encounter to
another where he outwits and/or out-wrestles his foes. The outcome – Adrian’s
total and utter victory – is never in doubt.
The casual racism and homophobia jars in 2015, but one has
to take in account when the book was written, and Adrian in his own way
champions the gay cause throughout the book. Still, calling this book un-PC
would be an understatement.
By comparison, My Pink
Gas Mask is a comprehensive examination of Adrian’s childhood from his
birth in 1940 to his leaving his family home in a rough’n’tough Welsh mining
town in the late 50s to move to London
and become a pro wrestler. It’s a compelling read, if a tad disturbing.
The one theme that runs through the book is VIOLENCE.
Adrian’s parents were violent, his brother was violent, his friends were
violent. Not surprisingly, Adrian was a violent child who grew up to be a
violent teenager. From the outside, his childhood seems terrifying, but it’s
portrayed as quite normal in the book.
His father was a Japanese POW and Adrian goes into horrific
detail on what he endured while in captivity. It seems pretty obvious he was
suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he returned home from the
war. His behaviour towards Adrian is distressing to read at times.
But it’s not all street fights and domestic abuse. There are
some genuinely funny anecdotes throughout the book. Adrian has a way with words,
that’s for sure.
The one thing both books have in common is the unfortunate,
inevitable consequences of self-publishing: they are riddled with grammatical
and spelling errors. I’m a magazine subeditor by trade and I found it extremely
frustrating seeing commas, full stops and capital letters constantly being
misused. I’m not sure whether regular punters would be as annoyed as I was, but
it certainly made both books a little harder to read.
Adrian, if you’re ever looking for a good proofreader to
work on future instalments of your autobiography, drop me a line on Facebook.
I’ll do it for free copies of your books.
That bugbear aside, if you’re a fan of
“Exotic” Adrian Street, English wrestling or 1980s American “rock’n’roll”
rasslin’, I would recommend both Shake,
Wrestle ‘N’ Roll and My Pink Gas Mask.
These books and others can be ordered direct from Adrian at www.bizarebazzar.com/books.htm.
posted by Dann at 12:35 AM
1 comments
