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The Grand Illusion. A review by Mistress M.
Styx was an immensely popular band while I was growing but not necessarily a band that I grew up with, so I didn’t really know a lot about them. The Grand Illusion is a look into the life of Styx’s bass player Chuck Panozzo. Written by the bass player along with Michele Skettino, it gives you a chance to see not just the usual rock star antics and bravado but to experience what it’s like to be gay in Rock and Roll. Which in that time, and still now, is fairly unheard of.
A world of, I guess groupies you don’t want, bonding over jokes you can’t relate to and not really knowing or wanting to admit why. Mr. Panozzo shares his lonely world in almost diary fashion, like the writings of a teenager. This, however only adds to the sincerity of what he’s telling you. His codependency with his alcoholic brother, the guilt through his mothers sickness and the honesty to admit that he used these things to distract himself from basically dealing with himself.
You also learn about the band and their troubles, egos, record labels, tours all the things you would expect from the biography of a bass player that was in one of the biggest selling bands of their time.
His denial, distraction and hiding come to an end when he falls gravely ill due to AIDS complications. Only being on the brink takes away his shame and fear and allows him to give the people around him a chance to enter his world. As death comes closer he finally allows himself to live.
It wraps up on an uplifting note of triumph, love and hope, that had it been fiction might come off as sappy or contrived. Since this is a real person though, a person who shared their story without pretense, it allows you to come out the other side with Mr. Panozzo. Where he is living openly with his partner, fighting his disease one day at a time, as well as continuing a crusade that will help others to embrace life without shame.
It also reminds us that the truth shall set you free.