In Brief

* * “There and Back: The Roy Porter Story,” Roy Porter with David Keller, Louisiana State University Press ($24.95). Porter, an ex-drummer in Los Angeles, goes beyond the familiar litany of alcoholism, addiction, imprisonment and regeneration to recount some useful memories of L.A.’s Central Avenue scene in the 1940s. The illustrations are intriguing; the editing is careless, containing such absurd statements as “Stan Kenton died in a Synanon house” (he died at Midway Hospital in Los Angeles) and “Donte’s is still going pretty strong” (the club closed almost four years ago). Readable but expendable.