Blood, Sweat, and My Rock 'n' Roll Years

Blood, Sweat, and My Rock 'n' Roll Years PDF Author: Steve Katz
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 149301742X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
On paper Steve Katz’s career rivals anyone’s except the 1960s’ and ’70’s biggest stars: the Monterey Pop Festival with the legendary Blues Project, Woodstock with Blood, Sweat & Tears, and even producing rock’s most celebrated speed addict, Lou Reed. There were world tours, and his résumé screams “Hall of Fame” — it won’t be long before BS&T are on that ballot. He has three Grammies (ten nominations), three Downbeat Reader’s Poll Awards, three gold records, one platinum record, and one quadruple platinum platter (the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album), not to mention three gold singles with BS&T. All together, he’s sold close to 29 million records. He had affairs with famous female folk singers, made love to Jim Morrison’s girlfriend Pam when Jim was drunk and abusive, partied with Elizabeth Taylor and Groucho Marx, dined with Rudolf Nureyev, conversed with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tennessee Williams, hung out with Andy Warhol, jammed with everyone from Mose Allison to Jimi Hendrix, and was told to get a haircut by both Mickey Spillane and Danny Thomas. But his memoir is more Portnoy’s Complaint than the lurid party-with-your-pants-down memoir that has become the norm for rock ’n’ roll books. It’s an honest and personal account of a life at the edge of the spotlight—a privileged vantage point that earned him a bit more objectivity and earnest outrage than a lot of his colleagues, who were too far into the scene to lay any honest witness to it. Set during the Greenwich Village folk/rock scene, the Sixties’ most celebrated venues and concerts, and behind closed doors on international tours and grueling studio sessions, this is the unlikely story of a rock star as nerd, nerd as rock star, a nice Jewish boy who got to sit at the cool kid’s table and score the hot chicks.

Blood, Sweat, and My Rock 'n' Roll Years

Blood, Sweat, and My Rock 'n' Roll Years PDF Author: Steve Katz
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 149301742X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book

Book Description
On paper Steve Katz’s career rivals anyone’s except the 1960s’ and ’70’s biggest stars: the Monterey Pop Festival with the legendary Blues Project, Woodstock with Blood, Sweat & Tears, and even producing rock’s most celebrated speed addict, Lou Reed. There were world tours, and his résumé screams “Hall of Fame” — it won’t be long before BS&T are on that ballot. He has three Grammies (ten nominations), three Downbeat Reader’s Poll Awards, three gold records, one platinum record, and one quadruple platinum platter (the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album), not to mention three gold singles with BS&T. All together, he’s sold close to 29 million records. He had affairs with famous female folk singers, made love to Jim Morrison’s girlfriend Pam when Jim was drunk and abusive, partied with Elizabeth Taylor and Groucho Marx, dined with Rudolf Nureyev, conversed with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tennessee Williams, hung out with Andy Warhol, jammed with everyone from Mose Allison to Jimi Hendrix, and was told to get a haircut by both Mickey Spillane and Danny Thomas. But his memoir is more Portnoy’s Complaint than the lurid party-with-your-pants-down memoir that has become the norm for rock ’n’ roll books. It’s an honest and personal account of a life at the edge of the spotlight—a privileged vantage point that earned him a bit more objectivity and earnest outrage than a lot of his colleagues, who were too far into the scene to lay any honest witness to it. Set during the Greenwich Village folk/rock scene, the Sixties’ most celebrated venues and concerts, and behind closed doors on international tours and grueling studio sessions, this is the unlikely story of a rock star as nerd, nerd as rock star, a nice Jewish boy who got to sit at the cool kid’s table and score the hot chicks.

Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards

Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards PDF Author: Al Kooper
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 1617745367
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
A rock 'n roll classic back in print updated and revised. One of the funniest rock memoirs ever Al Kooper's legendary Backstage Passes is available again] Al's quirkly life from would'be teenage rocker to crashing Bob Dylan's recording session an

Backstage Passes

Backstage Passes PDF Author: Al Kooper
Publisher: Scarborough House
ISBN:
Category : Rock musicians
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description


The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock & Roll (Enterprise)

The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock & Roll (Enterprise) PDF Author: Rich Cohen
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393352501
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
"Brilliant; the best book I have ever read about the recording industry; a classic."--Larry King On the south side of Chicago in the late 1940s, two immigrants; one a Jew born in Russia, the other a black blues singer from Mississippi; met and changed the course of musical history. Muddy Waters electrified the blues, and Leonard Chess recorded it. Soon Bo Diddly and Chuck Berry added a dose of pulsating rhythm, and Chess Records captured that, too. Rock & roll had arrived, and an industry was born. In a book as vibrantly and exuberantly written as the music and people it portrays, Rich Cohen tells the engrossing story of how Leonard Chess, with the other record men, made this new sound into a multi-billion-dollar business; aggressively acquiring artists, hard-selling distributors, riding the crest of a wave that would crash over a whole generation. Originally published in hardcover as Machers and Rockers. About the series: Enterprise pairs distinguished writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the modern worlds; the institutions, the entrepreneurs, the ideas. Enterprise introduces a new genre; the business book as literature.

I Live Inside

I Live Inside PDF Author: Michelle Leon
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
ISBN: 087351999X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Babes in Toyland burst onto the Minneapolis music scene in the late 1980s and quickly established itself at the forefront of punk/alternative rock. The all-female trio featured a shy, seventeen-year-old Jewish teen from the suburbs on bass guitar—an instrument she had never played before joining the band. Over the next few years, Michelle Leon lived the rock-and-roll lifestyle—playing live concerts, recording in studios, touring across the United States and Europe, and spending endless hours in stuffy vans, staying in two-star motels, and sleeping on strangers’ couches in town after town. The grind and drama of life in the band gradually wore on Leon, however, and a heartbreaking tragedy led her to rethink her commitment to the band and the music scene. Leon’s sensitive, sensory prose puts readers right on stage with Babes in Toyland while also conveying the uncertainty, vulnerability, and courage needed by a girl who never felt like she fit in to somehow find her place in the world. “A crucial and compelling account of what it was to be a woman making music in the nineties. . . . Fantastic and ferocious.”—Jessica Hopper, music and culture critic and author of The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic “Profound, poetic, badass, tender, and inspiring.”—Will Hermes, author of Love Goes to Buildings on Fire “I Live Inside feels as real and personal as reading your own memories. . . . Parts read like a fairy tale while others are so haunting they will never leave you.”—Kelli Mayo, musician (Skating Polly) “Leon draws you right into the Babes in Toyland van, shows you the after party tensions and what is in the mind of this particular girl in a band.”—Darcey Steinke, author of Sister Golden Hair: A Novel and others “[Leon’s] prose is stunning, her eye is wry, and her heart enormous; the result is a compelling memoir filled with pop culture, travel, intrigue, and a young artist’s quest to find her voice.”—Laurie Lindeen, musician (Zuzu’s Petals) and author of Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story “By the end of this lyrical, tough, and moving memoir, you’ll not only feel like you know Michelle Leon, you’ll also want to talk and dance and listen to music with her.”—Scott Heim, author of Mysterious Skin and We Disappear “A vivid, poetic memoir.”—Mark Yarm, author of Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge “This is Planet Leon.”—David Markey, filmmaker, author, and musician

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Blood, Sweat and Tears PDF Author: David Clayton-Thomas
Publisher: Penguin Books Canada
ISBN: 9780143175995
Category : Singers
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Rock legend Clayton-Thomas tells his story from prison to packed stadiums around the world; "an amazing story of triumph against all odds."

Petal Pusher

Petal Pusher PDF Author: Laurie Lindeen
Publisher: Star Baby Books
ISBN: 1950349632
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
Long ago, in a time before cell phones and the internet, three young women in Minneapolis, Minnesota formed a band in the late 1980s after their bad perms grew out. They called themselves Zuzu’s Petals. The band name was lifted from Frank Capra’s obscure-at-the-time movie It’s a Wonderful Life. Though never a household name, Zuzu’s Petals made some glorious indie label records and toured all over the US and the UK all without the assistance of GPS. Creating a following of loveable dorks unable to resist their infectious lack of pretension and finding their punk/pop harmonies an elixir in the time of grunge, the Petals hit their stride in 1992 with the release of their first album When No One’s Looking. But there were complications, illness, love affairs, sexism, secrets, and heartbreak. Here’s a story about music obsession, intense creativity often fueled by intense partying, all originating in the center of the Minneapolis music renaissance in the age of Prince, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, and Babes in Toyland (to name a few). Originally published in 2007, now a new generation of readers can inhabit the world of indie rock in the late 80s-mid 90s.

Levon

Levon PDF Author: Sandra B. Tooze
Publisher: Diversion Books
ISBN: 1635767024
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
The life of the legendary drummer and singer is explored through extensive research and personal interviews with family, friends, and fellow musicians. In the Arkansas Delta, a young Levon Helm witnessed “blues, country, and gospel hit in a head-on collision,” as he put it. The result was rock 'n' roll. As a teenager, he joined the raucous Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, then helped merge a hard-driving electric sound with Bob Dylan's folk roots, and revolutionized American rock with the Band. Helm not only provided perfect “in the pocket” rhythm and unforgettable vocals, he was the soul of The Band. Levon traces a rebellious life on the road, from being booed with Bob Dylan to the creative cauldron of Big Pink, the Woodstock Festival, world tours, The Last Waltz, and beyond with the man Dylan called “one of the last true great spirits of my or any other generation.” Author Sandra B. Tooze digs deep into what Helm saw as a devastating betrayal by his closest friend, Band guitarist Robbie Robertson—and Levon’s career collapse, his near bankruptcy, and the loss of his voice due to throat cancer in 1997. Yet Helm found success in an acting career that included roles in Coal Miner’s Daughter and The Right Stuff. Regaining his singing voice, he made his last decade a triumph, opening his barn to the Midnight Rambles and earning three Grammys.

As I Recall ...

As I Recall ... PDF Author: Larry Steele
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530443024
Category : Jacksonville (Fla.)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A reflective look at some of those responsible for the placement of Jacksonville, Florida on the universal map of rock and roll. This autobiographical account of personal and professional triumph and tragedy takes the reader through the formative years of both Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special, recounting those days when making records was only a dream. Former 38 Special stage manager and co-writer, Larry Steele, gives a first-hand account of growing up on the Westside of Jacksonville, of forming his first band with Allen Collins, and of the journey they each pursued, where scores of novice musicians sought a better way of life. Steele describes his own experiences as a musician, along with the friendships that would endure the rivalry which existed between his own band and those who would eventually become Lynyrd Skynyrd. After years of performing with various bands in the North Florida area, including a brief stint with Skynyrd in 1973, Steele would begin his employment with 38 Special in January, 1980. From here is chronicled the 38 story from its very beginning; the frustrations of living in the shadow of Skynyrd while trying to perfect a sound of their own, and the decision to push forward after the tragic loss of their friend, brother and mentor, Ronnie Van Zant. From the rehearsal hall, to the recording studios, to headlining the most renowned concert venues of North America, Europe and Japan, take a ride on the buses, planes and bullet trains that took them all the way there.

I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie

I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie PDF Author: Pamela Des Barres
Publisher: Omnibus Press
ISBN: 1787590755
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
First published in 1987, New York Times bestseller, I’m With The Band has been reprinted throughout the years, all over the world. This is the stylish, exuberant and sweetly innocent tale of one of the most famous groupies of the 1960s and 70s. Beginning with Pamela Des Barres’ early obsession with Elvis, her own Beatlemania madness, and her fierce determination to meet the musicians who rocked her world, I’m With The Band illuminates the glory days of scintillating encounters with musical gods including Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger and Keith Moon. A girl just wanting to have fun, Des Barres immersed herself in the drugs, danger and ecstasy of the freewheeling 1960s. As a member of The GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously), an all-female group masterminded by Frank Zappa, Des Barres was in the thick of the most revolutionary renaissance in the history of modern popular music. She travelled with Led Zeppelin; lived in sin with Don Johnson; turned down a date with Elvis Presley; and was close friends with Robert Plant, Gram Parsons and Ray Davies. She had affairs with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Waylon Jennings, Chris Hillman, Noel Redding, and Jim Morrison, among others. A woman in possession of her own destiny, Des Barres blazed a trail for women’s life-writing, standing up for female voices and experience everywhere. From original diaries, told with great warmth, chutzpah and joie de vivre, this is a frank memoir that wears its heart on its sleeve, and recalls one of rock ’n’ roll’s most thrilling eras. This edition contains new material from the author, including her response to the vitriolic shaming of groupies, and a foreword by Roisin O’Connor, rock journalist and music correspondent for the Independent.