DAVID GREENBERGER is the editor and publisher of "The Duplex Planet". An artist and musician, he also writes on music for "Pulse", "Spin", and other publications. His essays are regularly heard on National Public Radio's "All Things Considered".

PETER GREEN: FOUNDER OF FLEETWOOD MAC

by Martin Celmins (Sanctuary Music Library, 240 pages, $19.95)

Don't be misled by quasi-trippy Photoshop hijinks on the cover of this book. It is, in fact a well researched and reported account of the life thus far of Peter Green, clearly written by an articulate fan of the man's work. It's astonishing that the same band who recorded "Green Manalishi" also gave us "You Make Loving Fun." Well, the same rhythm section anyway. Martin Celmins has the vision provided by hindsight, coupled with an awareness of the nature of inter-personal conflict and the power of inner demons, and he's used it all to view Peter Green's erratic behavior with a sort of kind honesty. Sometimes the monsters were on the inside, sometimes they were on the outside. And sometimes it was all just a lot of smoke and mirrors. Strange behavior can often be a breeding ground for rumors and myths (Green barging into a record company office with a shotgun demanding they stop sending him checks, being a case in point) -- Celmins succeeds in coming up with highly credible underlying truths. Reading this new edition (which chronicles Green's return to performing since the book's original appearance in '95) made me realize how Fleetwood Mac's first three albums have been buried under the commercial onslaught of everything that came after. You'd do well to get the key recordings at hand as an accompaniment to this read. The book will help you turn the telescope the other way around, and listening to Peter Green's band, you'll want to keep it that way.

I HATE THE MAN WHO RUNS THIS BAR!

by Eugene Chadbourne (Mix Books, 200 pages $29.95)

This nicely oversized book is subtitled "The survival guide for real musicians." Herein Eugene Chadbourne has channeled his years of performing and recording experiences into a read that's both hilarious and helpful. Chadbourne's shows and voluminous discography are legendary for good reason: he has skills aplenty which he uses at all times for his own greater purposes. He's cut a path for himself from early on that could be his and his alone. Having been in attendance for a good number myself throughout the past two decades, I've never left a show without being dumbstruck by the constantly shifting landscape, touched by moments of personal compassion and community concern, and always with sides aching from laughter. Writing is nothing new for Chadbourne. Music reviews began appearing in his late teens while living in Canada. His tour diaries started being added bonuses to Shockabilly albums and his book Draft Dodger was published a few years ago. This time out he's configured a format which allows him to offer up his travels as cautionary tales: you can learn from his misadventures --and learning was never this much fun. He takes obvious delight in articulating all manner of wrong-doings but a formidable cast of weasels, charlatans, hucksters, and crooks. The bottom line is that Chadbourne has survived it all and made a living in the process. Whether or not anyone else can make a living is dependent on the particular path they cut for themselves as an artist, but your survival need not be in question with this volume in hand. Don't leave home without it.