Even if you’ve never picked up a guitar, you can’t help but admire the pictures in Dave Hunter’s latest book. This coffee table-sized book takes a look at some of the most storied guitars in Rock, Country and Blues, from the stat Jimi Hendrix famously burned on stage to Springsteen’s classic Fender Telecaster (as seen on the covers of several of his albums including Born to Run, Human Touch and…
It may actually be the most important question you ever answer. Forget where you stand on politics, religion, abortion… gun to your head, who do you choose, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones? The answer pretty much defines who you are: Are you an outwardly rebellious badass with attitude to spare (The Stones) or are you the seemingly good guy (or girl), accessible to all, who is actually a rebellious…
The Dead Boys have always been the Rodney Dangerfield of punk rock. They had the chops, but never really got the respect or credit they deserved for their role serving on the front lines of the New York punk scene in the late 70’s. They shared stages, groupies and drugs with The Ramones, but never quite got the amount of fame that their buddies achieved.
Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil is pretty blunt about his reasons for penning his autobiography. It has little to do with setting the record straight, though there is a little of that, and not much to do with settling scores, though his feelings about his fellow band members and managers are pretty clear as well. Neil sees Tattoos & Tequila as simply another way to “build his brand” as his…
Samuel Steward crammed more living into his 84 years, than most, juggling a handful of careers, often keeping each job a secret from his colleagues, meanwhile helping pioneer everything from tattooing to gay pornography. In the fascinating bio Secret Historian, Justin Spring paints a complete picture of a renegade and pioneer who was barely known outside of the world of gay erotica, despite being friends with everyone from Gertrude Stein…
It may not have the mass appeal of modern day mafia stories like The Sopranos, but Nathan Ward’s Dark Harbor, his true crime expose on the gangs that ran the New York waterfront in the late 1940’s is every bit as exciting and has the benefit of being realistic.
With his latest book, Sebastian Junger has done the nearly impossible: written a truly compelling book about war without taking a strong side politically. The reason, according to Junger, is that most of the American soldiers on the front lines of the war in Afghanistan aren’t discussing the politics behind the decisions that led them out to the dessert, carrying around 60 pounds of armor and supplies, while dodging bullets.…
John Hughes has been given God like status by hordes of Gen X 30-somethings like me. His movies spoke to teenagers, not at them, in a way that had never been done before or since. In her completely engrossing study of Hughes and the actors that surrounded him, Susannah Gora has managed to turn a researcher’s eye to a topic that few would have bothered to tackle. In doing so,…
Originally released in the late 80’s Cherie Currie’s memoir Neon Angel has been repackaged and updated slightly to coincide with the biopic of her teenage band The Runaways. The movie may not have done as well as expected, but the book is still every bit as entertaining and shocking as when it was first released. Though the bulk of Neon Angel deals with Currie’s time as front woman for the…
Tommy James may best be known for boarder-line clean cut pop hits like “Mony Mony†and “Crimson and Cloverâ€, but in realty his life was more Henry Hill from the Good Fellas, than squeaky clean pop singer. Me, the Mob, and the Music, details the early childhood of Tommy James (born Thomas Jackson), his discovery by a Pittsburgh DJ and through his career at Mob-run Roulette Records. The book focuses…
