Background: Tin Machine were an Anglo-American hard rock group formed in 1988, notable for being fronted by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. The band consisted of Bowie on lead vocals, sax and guitar, Reeves Gabrels on guitar, Tony Fox Sales on bass, and Hunt Sales on drums. Both Tony and Hunt are the sons of comedian Soupy Sales. Guitarist Kevin Armstrong was an unofficial fifth member of the band, playing on the first studio album and both tours.
Context: The band's self-titled first album was recorded in late 1988 and early 1989. It produced mixed but generally positive reviews upon release in May 1989, picking up favourable comparisons with Bowie's two more recent solo albums. Commercially, the album initially sold well, reaching No. 3 in the UK Albums Chart, but sales quickly tailed off. Gabrels claimed in 1991 that album sales from the first album were "ten times better" than he had anticipated. At the time of the release of the album, Bowie was enthusiastic about the band and the work they'd done, and felt that band had in them "another two albums at least."  Contrary to common reports, the band's first live performance together wasn't at the International Rock Awards Show on 31 May 1989. Prior to that show, the band played an unannounced show in Nassau. Bowie recalled "We showed up at a club in Nassau where we were recording and did four or five songs. We went down to the club and just did 'em." Added Gabrels, "We just walked up on stage and you could hear all these voices whispering, 'That's David Bowie! No, it can't be David Bowie, he's got a beard!'"  The band recognized that some fans and critics didn't like Bowie's new role in the band. Said Tony Sales, "Mainly, people are pissed off because David's not doing 'David Bowie.'" Bowie confirmed that Tin Machine live shows would be "non-theatrical" in contrast to his most recent tour.  The band undertook a low-key tour in small venues between 14 June and 3 July 1989, before further recording sessions in Sydney, Australia. During these sessions Tin Machine contributed to a surfing compilation album, Beyond the Beach, with a new instrumental song titled "Needles on the Beach".
Question: and where else did they play?
Answer: International Rock Awards Show

Background: Vladimir Tismaneanu (Romanian pronunciation: [vladi'mir tism@'neanu]; born July 4, 1951) is a Romanian and American political scientist, political analyst, sociologist, and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. A specialist in political systems and comparative politics, he is director of the University of Maryland's Center for the Study of Post-Communist Societies, having served as chairman of the editorial committee (2004-2008) and editor (1998-2004) of the East European Politics and Societies academic review. Over the years, Tismaneanu has been a contributor to several periodicals, including Studia Politica, Journal of Democracy, Sfera Politicii, Revista 22, Evenimentul Zilei, Idei in Dialog and Cotidianul. He has also worked with the international radio stations Radio Free Europe and Deutsche Welle, and authored programs for the Romanian Television Company.
Context: Outside the realms of history, political science and political analysis, Vladimir Tismaneanu is a noted author of memoirs. This part of his work is centered on the volume Ghilotina de scrum ("The Ashen Guillotine"), also written on the basis of interviews with Mihaies. The book offers an account of his complicating relationship with Leonte Tismaneanu, postulating a difference between the everyday father, who has earned his son's admiration for being marginalized by his political adversaries, and a "political father", whose attitudes and public actions are rejected by Vladimir Tismaneanu.  This approach earned praise from two influential intellectual figures of the Romanian diaspora, critics Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunca, whose letter to the author read: "the distances you take from your own background are of most-rare authenticity and tact. You accomplish a radical break, being at the same time participative, negating things only after you have understood them, being dissociated from both roles of judge and defense counsel." Cioroianu also notes: "He is not the only son of (relatively) well-known communists; but he is one of the few to have reached the level of detachment needed in order to X-ray, in a cold and precise way, a political system. Does this seem easy to you? I do not know how many of us would be capable of introspecting with such lucidity our own parents' utopias, phantasms and disappointments". The historian opposes Tismaneanu's approach to that of Petre Roman, Romania-s first post-1989 Premier, whose attempts at discussing the public image of his father, the communist politico Valter Roman, are argued by Cioroianu to have "failed".  Tismaneanu has contributed the screenplay for Dinu Tanase's documentary film Condamnati la fericire ("Sentenced to Happiness"), released in 1992. With Octavian Serban, he has also authored a series about Communist Romania, which was showcased by the Romanian Television Company.
Question: Was his book successful?
Answer:
This approach earned praise from two influential intellectual figures of the Romanian diaspora, critics Monica Lovinescu and Virgil Ierunca,