Judging by this New York Times' book review of Clarence Clemons' long-awaited autobiography, Big Man, a newly added coauthor, Don Reo, and the book's editors really hacked up the initial galleys that Rock Town Hall was granted exclusive rights to review in November 2007. Back then the book was entitled No Small Parts for The Big Man, and excitement was in the air. Beside cutting out all the gripping stuff about the recording of The Boss' classic records, the galleys we received had none of the fantasy stuff described regarding the likes of Thomas Pynchon and Norman Mailer.

Let’s not even get into this book’s fictional “legend” chapters, printed on gray paper, in which Mr. Clemons has extended imaginary run-ins with people like Thomas Pynchon, Norman Mailer, Richard Brautigan and the surfer Laird Hamilton. It’s too painful. - Dwight Garner, The New York Times

Thanks to Townsman dbuskirk for tipping us off to the book's delayed release and eventual review in this obscure publication.

The subject line pretty much asks all I want to know: What are you looking for most when you read a rock biography?

• Is it technical/musical insight - what gear the musicians played, how things were mic'ed, stories about the development of favorite arrangements and performances?
• Is it dirt: who slept with Jackson Browne, who slept with David Crosby, who could have slept with Yoko first?
• Is it something deeper, like what is the key to a great artist's greatness?

You may answer in the present, in your rock bio-reading peak, and all points in between.

Read more

Doors shmoors man, we're talkin' Eagles babies!

The Movie: The Eagles

You: Casting Agent.

Mission: Cast it. Duh.

Who plays who? Not just The Eagles but any relevant player in the scene, man.

Wiley, the publisher of the Don Felder bio-tome discussed here, was unable to secure us an interview with the man (missed it by this much) but has been kind enough to offer 10 free copies of Heaven and Hell: My Life In The Eagles (1974-2001) by Don Felder and Wendy Holden.

Soooooo. Here in The Back Office we have assembled an anonymous team of judges who will select the top 10 responses. You will be awarded points based on; creativity first and foremost, historical accuracy and neatness.

You have until I say you have to stop.

Ready....begin.

Read more

Wiley Publishing recently contacted The Back Office with a request that Rock Town Hall review their upcoming release of Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) by Don Felder and celebrity biographer Wendy Holden. Our request for an interview with Mr. Felder (we even told them we had a correspondent in Australia) was politely responded with an offer for a free review copy of the book. We don't even have to return it!

RTH lurker, avid rock bio reader and spouse of The Back Office, took on the task of summing up this Topanga-tinged tome.

There is suffering even if you are a '70s rock star …well, in a rock band in the '70s…Don Felder was never really allowed to be the star of The Eagles because Don Henley and Glen Frey sucked all of the oxygen out of that jar.

Heaven and Hell is Felder’s co-written autobiography of his rise from dinky Florida house without air conditioning to Malibu Beach House and then back again to one-bedroom, post-divorce apartment. I've read almost every rock autobiography and biography that I come across, and many share the same cycle:

• Rags to riches.
• Then rags again for awhile.
• Then, not so many rags.
• Many riches.
• Lose all the riches, usually due to blow or legal fees.
• Then Reunion tour.

Don Felder got fired in 2001, though, after Hell Froze Over. His manager, who also managed all the other Eagles, let him know over the phone that his services wouldn’t be required anymore. Ewww…almost like he was temping at Manpower.

Life in the Eagles sounds like hell. They shoulda all been banking their massive paychecks and counting the days until retirement arrived. Various forms of anesthesia helped everyone through the moments they were required to spend together.

Felder says that a good home life with a wife and kids helped him gain something to return to when he wasn’t touring or recording, but I couldn’t help but imagine how independent a wife would have to be to raise four kids without him around. When he was at home it must have been like having a guest in the house. His wife got a life, so he called her and fired her over the phone. Ewww…almost like she was temping at Kelly Girl.

Read more

I first met Tom Kitts at a meeting of the Popular Culture Association. Tom and the late, great Mike Kraus used to host sessions where people presented papers on The Kinks, and I attended five of these sessions over the years, presenting and also listening to papers by Tom, Mike, and a rotating group of Kinks scholars. It’s more fun than it sounds like, and it’s always great to be around other music fanatics.

Tom has now published his magnum opus, a critical biography, Ray Davies: Not Like Everybody Else (Routledge, 2008). Tom is a professor of English at St. John’s University in New York City, and he took time out of his busy schedule for an interview about the book and more generally Ray Davies and the Kinks. If interested, click on this Amazon link to get your copy of the book. I’m sure any Kinks fan will find it a great read.

In general how has the feedback on the book been?

While formal reviews are just now starting to appear, the feedback has been very positive. Kinks fans seem to appreciate the focus on Davies' work -- even if they don't always agree with me. I have done a series of readings and discussions and I have to say that I have been very pleasantly surprised by the positive response I have heard not only at the readings but also in emails from readers across the country and in Europe.

Any reaction from anyone connected with Ray or the Kinks?

I did hear from Grenville Collins and Peter Quaife, who both liked it very much. Both liked the emphasis on the art, which both were a part of and which both are very proud of. I spoke to Ray briefly after his recent show in New York and he seems pleased by the publication. We joked about how long it took for me to get it out. He has a copy, but he said that he hadn't had a chance to read it yet.

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7

The Sound of Man

After opening my presents on Christmas morning my wife confessed to a gift she nearly bought me. The confession was a closing to an aside she had made a couple of weeks earlier, when she mentioned having consulted with Townsman Andyr on a possible gift for me. For the next couple of weeks I tried to imagine what she might have discussed with him and what his advice would have been. I'd browse lists of box sets and new rock bios, hoping that my friend would not steer her wrong. Little did I know, as my wife confessed that morning, that it was a tongue-in-cheek gift she had in mind: the Eric Clapton autobiography, Clapton. Would you believe my oldest friend in the world suggested that she not play into our typical "slave to humor" dynamic? (It's cool, though, 35 years of friendship do not evaporate over one such bum suggestion.) Would you believe that later than day another family member, with no knowledge of my wife's prior consideration, gave me the book as a Christmas gift?

I tore through this autobiography in a week's time. Not because I'm a big fan of Eric Clapton but because, as I waded through the early chapters, I was fascinated at the sober, straightforward self-portrait of a man that was developing. As boring and unsatisfying as the autobiography could be - much like the man's music - the story was refreshing in its departure from the typical rock star story of Rise and Fall and Rebirth With the Help of a Strong Woman. Ralph Fiennes can hold off on those guitar lessons. This autobiography may be second to Bob Dylan's excellent Chronicles, Vol. 1 on the Hollywood Screenwriters Guild's "Pass" list.

Pages: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6

After weeks of negotiations, Rock Town Hall has obtained exclusive rights to run excerpts from E-Street Band legend Clarence Clemons' forthcoming autobiography, No Small Parts for The Big Man. In our first installment Clarence recounts the day The Boss presented him with a new assignment.

By The River Danny was already getting half of my "touches" with that rinky-dink Farfisa organ. Some folks couldn't leave that wheezy thing back in the garage. The garage rock contingency in the E-Street Band was always trying to make itself heard above he more complex, subtle members of the band, like Roy and Max. God bless 'em! I always saw myself as the bridge among the musicians, and it goes without saying that all roads led to The Boss himself. Now I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I was all-state footballer long before anyone outside Norfolk County, Virginia had heard me blow my horn. The Big Man was a lineman, so "touches," that is, opportunities to carry and catch the football, were not in my repertoire. I was in the trenches, making the quarterback and all the other pretty boys look good. These may not have been my glory days, but The Big Man could play. Attended Maryland State College (now the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore) on an football athletic scholarship. Thought I was headed for the show, the National Football League.

As it was, the Man with the Plan had another show in mind. My parents gave me the gift of my first saxophone, but the Lord gave me the breath to blow down any walls set in my way. With the spiritual guidance of our Maker and as many King Curtis records as I could lay my hands on, I was prepared for that first time The Boss called for "Big Man!" to step forward and take it home with a solo.

Bruce called us together for the first rehearsals toward an album he said would take us in a new direction. "My Daddy said to me the other morning at breakfast, 'Bruce, when you gonna grow up and play some real music?' I said, 'Pops, whaddaya talkin' about? I been playin' real music..." Well, you know how Bruce can get on a roll about his breakfast chats with his dad. Long story short, according to him the old man sold him on the idea of streamlining his sound and putting out an album that would once and for all move beyond his comfort zone of middle class kids from the Northeast corridor. Sounded good to me.

Bruce began by walking us through a new song called "Born in the USA".

Read more

Don't know about you, but I need a good rock read. It's been a long time since I've picked up anything I could really sink my teeth into. The last tome that really flipped my wig was Revolution in the Head, which came out about 10 years ago. I think we can help out here. I consider it our duty to let the pop intelligensia know what issues are worthy of exhaustive research. My hope is that one of those nuts will find this desperate group on google and dig away at one our proposed projects.

Mine are as follows:

1) King Records, or a biography of Syd Nathan. I don't get it. There's a Sun book, a Chess book, hell, there's even a Trumpet, and Duke/Peacock book. Still, nothing on King! The guy that ran the show, the aforementioned Nathan was a legendary prick, but still had the smarts to sign up James Brown, Billy Ward and the Dominoes, Hank Ballard, Charlie Feathers (WAY overrated in my book, but nonetheless considered one of those biggies by the Nu-Nile crowd), Wynonnie Harris. . . .We're talking about artists that influenced just about anyone who ever tried to form a band. Peter Guralnick, where are you? In college, I actually dropped out of a class to have more time to read Albert Goldman's Elvis book (yeah, I know that's frightening, but it was good and gossipy). Know that I would collect unemployment checks for 6 months to eat up whatever you found worthy enough to flop on the plate.

2) Brian Jones - His actual contributions to Stones recordings. Mark Lewisohn (or whatever the fuck his name is, the guy that wrote the Beatles Recording Sessions). I want you to revisit all those tapes with Mick, Keith, Charlie, and Bill to find out what contributions Brian actually made to each song. I have a feeling the results will be very surprising to those Jones die hards who swear is input is what made the Stones the greatest rock and roll band ever.

3) Curtis Mayfield - An exhaustive biography nothing short of the Stax accounting that came out about 6 years ago. I want it all. Every nook and cranny of info about his stuff as well as all his contributions to those incredible Vee Jay, Okeh, Windy C, and Mayfield singles. And here's something neat -I've got an old fart buddy named Dennis Brennan, who used to be in a Magnificent Men kinda thing called the Intentions who recorded for Philips, a Mercury subsidiary, in the '60s. He told me that he actually went to a mid-60s recording session where Mayfield was actually the drummer! If it so turns out that Mayfield is indeed the drummer on those Okeh records, the finding will be nothing short of the discovery of the dead sea scrolls. Stax guy, again whatever your name is, this one's for you!

Well, that's a start! I'd try to help out with the research myself, but there are too many roadblocks ahead: work, the raising of insufferable fearless brats, and daily visits with my rehab counselor.

Post those ideas!
E. Pluribus

One of my favorite rock biographies that I've ever read is a dog-eared copy of a book penned by former road manager Johnny Green & Garry Barker called, A Riot of Our Own: Night and Day with the Clash. I've passed this one on to friends and gotten it back by mail with compliments more than a few times in the past from touring bands, giving it out with the promise of a (hopeful) return. Each time someone spots it, I have the urge to give it away just so that it can be read and enjoyed by someone else.

A Riot of Our Own: Night and Day with the Clash by Johnny Green, Garry Barker

It's made it into my all-time favorite rock biographies because of its ability to grab hold of my imagination no matter what part of the book I open a page to - The Clash in the late 1970s. Watching Rude Boy always kind of gave me that feeling too and I think that's where this book got me as well - it sucked me right in through the eyes of Someone Who Was There, possibly getting spit on, sweat on and kicked, but there - sleeping in the tour bus, and knee-deep in the chaos. It made me feel like I was part of the crew, along for the ride. No BS, and a really strong narrative!

The Replacements' Let It Be (33 1/3) by Colin Meloy

Another cool collection that I highly recommend, not necessarily all "rock biography" per se, but still worth a mention, are the books from the 33 1/3 series. I've only read The Replacements' Let It Be, by Colin Meloy (lead singer for The Decemberists), but thoroughly enjoyed it, and I plan to pick up others. Meloy's touching and personal essay detailed how hearing The Replacements album Let It Be impacted his life and that of his best friend in his early teens.

Read more