Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies

Stewart Copeland

Harper Collins, Sep 7, 2010 - Biography & Autobiography - 336 pages

When Stewart Copeland gets dressed, he has an identity crisis. Should he put on leather pants, hostile shirts, and pointy shoes? Or wear something more appropriate to the tax-paying, property-owning, investment-holding lotus eater his success has allowed him to become? This dilemma is at the heart of Copeland’s vastly entertaining memoirin- stories, Strange Things Happen. Most people know Copeland as the drummer for The Police, one of the most successful bands in rock history. But they may not know as much about his childhood in the Middle East as the son of a CIA agent. Or be aware of his filmmaking adventures with the Pygmies in the deepest reaches of the Congo, and his passion for polo (Brideshead Revisited on horses). In Strange Things Happen we move from Copeland’s remarkable childhood to the formation of The Police and their rise to stardom, to the settled-down life that followed. It’s a book of amazing anecdotes, all completely true, that take us backstage in a life that is fully lived.

Contents

• LEBANON 195767: 8
• MUSIC 1968: 15
• CURVED AIR 1975: 28
• TAGGING LONDON 1977: 34
• A QUICK HISTORY OF THE POLICE 197678: 46
• LEARNING TO BE NORMAL: 57
• HORSES 1987: 75
• HOLY BLOOD CRESCENT MOON: 90
• BAKEOFF IN FORT WORTH 1990: 103
• OYSTERHEAD April 2000: 115
• HALL OF FAME March 2003: 131
• THE HYBRID December 2004: 151
• DANCING WITH THE POLLSTARS February 2004: 157
• CONTENTS: 168
• GIZMO 2005: 178
• JUDGE HARD PLACE AND THE BBC 2006: 195
• THE GRATEFUL DAD 2007: 208
• SUNDANCE 2005: 214
• ABNORMAL AGAIN: 223
• WILL THIS FLY? 2007: 231
• A MIGHTY WIND IN THE MAGIC STINGDOM May 2007: 237
• CONQUERING HEROES June 2007: 245
• MALIBU FEY CHOIR June 2007: 251
• TUBA IN TURIN October 2007: 263
• FOUR BEERS AND THE PRESIDENT October 2007: 270
• RAGING KUMBAYA January 2008: 277
• BURNING THE GOLDEN GOOSE 1984: 286
• TOAST IN THE MACHINE August 2008: 293
• ELVIS IS LEAVING THE BUILDING August 2008: 302
• THE GREEN FLAG 2009: 309

About the author

Steward Copeland counts himself fortunate to have been a founder of the most played and successful trio of the 1980s. His ongoing travels in search of exotic rhythms and musical celebrations have taken him all around the world. Copeland is the father of seven children. He lives with his wife and three daughters.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies
• Author: Stewart Copeland
• Publisher: Harper Collins, 2010
• ISBN: 0061791512, 9780061791512
• Length: 336 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts