Fiddling with Disaster: Clearing the Past

"My goal in life has been the same from the beginning: to become a Cape Breton fiddle player. And if you were to ask someone on the street who Ashley MacIsaac is, I think probably quite a few would describe me as just that -- although some would probably insist on tacking on a few extra things, like crazy Cape Breton fiddle player, or gay Cape Breton fiddle player, or stoned Cape Breton fiddle player -- or crazy-gay-stoned Cape Breton fiddle player. I can't complain though, as long as they add the fiddle player part." So begins this often hilarious, often brutally honest autobiography. Celtic-punk musician Ashley MacIsaac hails from the tiny village of Creignish on rural Cape Breton Island, the Eastern-most region of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia -- one of the most remote and impoverished regions on the continent. This being said, Cape Breton is also the home of a vibrant Scottish and Celtic music scene known to fans of this style of music the world over. Famous as a child, MacIsaac was, by 17, living in New York City, working with composer Phillip Glass, and earning $1,000 a week -- a long way from Creignish. By his mid-20s, MacIsaac had appeared on The Conan O'Brien Show (famously scissor-kicking in a kilt during his performance to reveal exactly what a Scotsman does wear underneath), had toured North America with the Chieftains to standing ovations and rave reviews, and had several major label releases with sales in the hundreds of thousands. His image of a combat-booted, kilt wearing Celtic punk -- as comfortable with a Ramones song as with a traditional reel -- was widely recognizable. From this point things begin to unravel. An unfortunate sequence of interviews andappearances had thrust his unconventional sexuality into the public eye and also -- highlighted by bizarre and unpredictable public behavior -- his addiction to crack cocaine and his penchant for marijuana. He bounces through various record labels -- each one less prominent than the last -- flirts with bankruptcy, insults audiences, loses his house to fire, and is arrested for marijuana possession. By the summer of 2000 he hits bottom. Broke, suffering from severe substance abuse, and unmanageable -- he has literally been spit out of the industry that used him up by the age of 26. This book spells out MacIsaac's tale with bleak humor and equally bleak honesty. The result is a riveting read. Today Ashley MacIsaac is on the mend. A new record deal and an upcoming new release, an autobiography set to be published, and tour plans for North America for spring '03 all signal a return to the vibrant creativity of his past.