by Ben Greenman
The Foxxes were a popular Bay Area rock and soul band led by the Rock Foxx (born Robert Franklin). The group made its name in the late sixties with a pair of ebullient anthems, ‘Make It Better’ and ‘We All Need a Place in the Sun.’ ” So reads an encyclopedia of rock and roll owned by Franklin’s estranged wife in this fictional history of the Foxxes’ ascent to psychedelic superstardom. Alternating between her perspectives and Franklin’s, Greenman maintains a playful and elastic style, as if every line had come from a Foxxes song. Pauses are not just pregnant; they are “carrying twins.” As the band becomes embroiled in drug culture and the marriage starts to dissolve, we are reminded that “you can only paint the town red so many times before you begin to bleed.” From The New Yorker ©2008
