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The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar Hardcover – 18 Aug. 2016

by Franz Nicolay (Author)

4.4 41 ratings

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In 2009, musician Franz Nicolay left his job in the Hold Steady, aka "the world's greatest bar band." Over the next five years, he crossed the world with a guitar in one hand, a banjo in the other, and an accordion on his back, playing the anarcho-leftist squats and DIY spaces of the punk rock diaspora. He meets Polish artists nostalgic for their revolutionary days, Mongolian neo-Nazis in full SS regalia, and a gay expat in Ulaanbaatar who needs an armed escort between his home and his job. The Russian punk scene is thrust onto the international stage with the furor surrounding the arrest of the group Pussy Riot, and Ukrainians find themselves in the midst of a revolution and then a full-blown war.> While engaging with the works of literary predecessors from Rebecca West to Chekhov and the nineteenth-century French aristocrat the Marquis de Custine, Nicolay explores the past and future of punk rock culture in the postcommunist world in the kind of book a punk rock Paul Theroux might have written, with a humor reminiscent of Gary Shteyngart. An audacious debut from a vivid new voice, The Humorless Ladies of Border Control is an unforgettable, funny, and sharply drawn depiction of surprisingly robust hidden spaces tucked within faraway lands.

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Print length

384 pages
Language

English
Publisher

The New Press
Publication date

18 Aug. 2016
Dimensions

15.24 x 2.54 x 19.69 cm
ISBN-10

1620971798
ISBN-13

978-1620971796
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Product description

Review

Praise for The Humorless Ladies of Border Control:
A pleasing romp: punk in attitude but literary in execution and a fine work of armchair travel for those unwilling to strap on an accordion on the streets of Rostov for themselves.”
Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Franz Nicolay is a New York musician who has played with myriad acts including the Hold Steady, Against Me!, and the Dresden Dolls and was a founding member of the composer/performer collective Anti-Social Music. "Dying Scene" recently named him #1 of Punk s 10 Best Accordion Players. He teaches at Bard College and this is his first book."

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press (18 Aug. 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1620971798
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1620971796
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.54 x 19.69 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 561,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 535 in Russian Historical Biographies
- 2,027 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
- 5,590 in Travel Writing (Books)

Customer reviews:
4.4 41 ratings

About the author

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Franz Nicolay

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Franz Nicolay is a musician and writer living in New York's Hudson Valley. His first book, "The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar," was named a “Season’s Best Travel Book” by the New York Times; his second, the novel "Someone Should Pay For Your Pain," was called "a knockout fiction debut" in Buzzfeed and named one of Rolling Stone's "Best Music Books of 2021." He has taught at UC Berkeley, and is currently a faculty member in music and written arts at Bard College.

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4.4 out of 5

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Jon Curtis

in all the best ways. Highly recommended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2016

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An incredible insight into punk rock communities around the globe, and their place in the world. This book is part history, part memoir and part Maximum Rock n Roll, in all the best ways. Highly recommended!

2 people found this helpful

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last year's girl

Gripping, vivid writing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 May 2018

Let’s not talk about how long it took me to get through this eastern European travelogue/tour diary from one of my favourite musicians, because it’s certainly not a testament to the gripping, vivid writing. Nicolay’s first book made me desperate to start promoting his Glasgow shows again – but also unsurprised if he ultimately decides to jack in life on the road for writing.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 December 2016

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Recipient is enjoying reading this. Arrived in good time

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Robert Rose

One of the Top 10 Favorite Books in my Lifetime - For Real

Reviewed in the United States on 13 August 2016

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Full Disclosure: This book combines my two loves, indie/DIY/punk music and indie/DIY/Raw Travel. I've read a plethora of books and viewed documentaries about punk music and touring (Henry Rollins - "Get in the Van", "Another State of Mind") and I've read many, many travel books in my time, including the classics when travelogues were more in vogue (before EVERYONE who has ever jumped on a plane had a blog, Twitter or Instragram trying to replace the sacred experience of authentic travel with "bucket lists" of vapid destinations in an attempt to show their cool factor). This book ranks as one of the most entertaining I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time and I'm a voracious and very picky reader. Life is too short to read a bad book and this book has me wishing for two lifetimes. This aptly titled book has me flipping "just one more page" deep into the night and my only complaint is that it's severely killing my sleep patterns. No exaggeration, for me at least, t's that entertaining and it rings true (I've been to some of the same destinations as the author. Indeed, we missed crossing paths by a matter of months in some cases). The other places I've yet to visit are brought alive with a unique and well researched historical and everyday anthropological context missing in news reports and media today. The author is funny, depreciating, humble and in short, a great character to root for. His descriptions of life on the road for an indie musician, the colorful cast of characters and off the grid "destinations" are authentic, empathetic and thought provoking, not malicious or overly opinionated. This is seriously one of the top 10 or maybe top 5 best books I've EVER read and I've read hundreds by now. Get it, read it and be enthralled.. I may even read it again.. something I've done only a handful of times in my life.

4 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

As a Ukrainian myself it was quite interesting to read ...

Reviewed in the United States on 10 January 2017

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As a Ukrainian myself it was quite interesting to read a view from a foreigner's point of view. Especially when this person is a musician touring around all the post-soviet block.

Philipp Pelz

Hilarious travel through Eastern Europe

Reviewed in the United States on 11 June 2021

Verified Purchase

This is a book for travelers and travelers to be! Franz writes about his extensive travels through Eastern Europe, mostly by train, as a musician. He is a great observer, pointing out hilarious and funky, crazy and simply weird situation and telling them with the driest humor ever. I literally laughed until I cried at times.
Having lived and traveled in Eastern Europe myself, I often felt like Franz put words to feelings I had but couldn't express as well as he does. Also, if you want to learn about the Punk Scene, this is your book!

Michael A. Ostrov

Nicolay's talents translate and flourish from albums to books

Reviewed in the United States on 12 August 2016

Verified Purchase

Over the course of many albums, tours, zines, and essays, Franz Nicolay has built a body of work any writer would be lucky to claim. His writing in whatever genre is always vigorously alive, sparked by surprising diction, sharp humor, and an unfailing awareness. It's wonderful to have a full book in which all of those talents have room to bloom. The book excels in all its terms-- as a document of a musician at a crossroads of his career, as a book about punk in general, eastern European punk specifically, as a snapshot of the area's recent political and social tumult with insight from several generations of people effected, as a meditation on travel itself, and as an updating of previous academic travel literature about the former eastern bloc. Nicolay balances the historical context, contemporary action, and personal narrative perfectly. Recommended for any fan of travel literature, European/Asian history, punk history, and music writing in general.

Amazon Customer

This book is an excellent view into a world many people in the DIY/Punk ...

Reviewed in the United States on 12 September 2016

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This book is an excellent view into a world many people in the DIY/Punk scene never get to experience. Franz Nicolay's writing is entertaining, thought provoking, and highly intellectual and well researched. It is an incredible first hand account of the struggles and rewards of being a touring solo artist in countries where people barely know who you are. This book has been the favorite part to my day and has opened a whole new world of learning for me. Nicolay's personality truly comes through in his detailed story telling, and has been a pleasure to get a glimpse into a part of the punk scene that is often overlooked.

2 people found this helpful

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The Humorless Ladies of Border Control: Touring the Punk Underground from Belgrade to Ulaanbaatar Hardcover – 18 Aug. 2016

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