Author Michael Gray is this episode’s guest to talk about the brand new three-part 50th anniversary edition of his highly acclaimed book Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan . The first edition of Song & Dance Man was the first book to seriously examine the work of Bob Dylan, originating the realm of scholarship that put Dylan on the road to the Nobel prize. Fifty-years and hundreds of Dylan books later, many still consider it one of the very best: Rolling Stone called it “Monumental, ...
Jan 17, 2024•53 min
Author Richie Unterberger is this episode’s guest. His latest book is Bob Marley and the Wailers: The Ultimate Illustrated History. Illustrated with photos and memorabilia from all phases of their journey, the book illuminates the lives and times of Bob Marley and the Wailers. From their early 60s Jamaican ska beginnings, to international stardom by the end of the 70s, right up to Bob Marley’s untimely death in 1981, it’s all covered in this book and Richie is here to share some of what’s inside...
Jan 13, 2024•1 hr
Janet Symmons is on the podcast to talk about her new book The Rise of the Fox: 1950-1982: The Extraordinary Life of KISS's Second Drummer (Eric Carr Revealed) . The Rise of the Fox is part of the Eric Carr Revealed series - a comprehensive and unauthorized biographical series that explores the life and times of KISS's second drummer, Eric Carr. It’s an essential read for KISS fans, hard rock fans, and anyone who loves a compelling rags-to-riches story. It digs deep into the life and career of t...
Jan 03, 2024•59 min
It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series - A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, musicians, and more. Our guest is Pop Culture Historian Mark Arnold. He’s the author of several books about comic books, music, and animation. Among the books he’s released - The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times! , focused on the comic book publisher Harvey Comics, Created and Produced by Total TeleVision productions: The Story of Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo and the Rest , If You're Cracked, You're Hap...
Dec 27, 2023•1 hr
Ken Womack's latest book titled Living The Beatles Legend: The Untold Story Of Mal Evens . This is the first full-length biography of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ beloved friend, confidant, and roadie. A towering figure in horn-rimmed glasses, Evans loomed large in the Beatles’ story, contributing at times as a performer and sometime lyricist, while struggling mightily to protect his beloved “boys.” He was there for the whole of the group’s remarkable, unparalleled story: from the Shea Stadium triump...
Dec 20, 2023•51 min
Legendary record producer Tom Werman is this episode’s guest. His new book is called Turn It Up!: My Time Making Hit Records In The Glory Days Of Rock Music (Featuring Mötley Crüe, Poison, Twisted Sister, Jeff Beck, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, And More). As an A&R man at Epic Records, Werman helped introduce the world to REO Speedwagon, Boston, Ted Nugent, and Cheap Trick; he also discovered KISS, Rush, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, but his record label passed on all of them. As an independent producer, ...
Dec 13, 2023•51 min
Simon Price is the author of the brand-new book Curepedia: An A-Z of The Cure. This is the complete biography of Robert Smith and The Cure. It chronicles the band’s 40-plus year history with hundreds of entries in A to Z fashion. Acclaimed journalist Simon Price has crafted a first-of-its-kind history of this band so let’s get into the book and a great discussion of Cure past, present and future with Simon Price! Purchase Curepedia: An A-Z of The Cure Follow Simon Price : Facebook Instagram X Ep...
Dec 06, 2023•57 min
Steven L Jones is the author of Murder Ballads Old and New: A Dark and Bloody Record. The book is an exploration of an age-old topic— our human need to document the horrors of the world around us. Steven talks about the origins of the murder ballad, what makes up a horror ballad and some of the murder ballads recorded in punk, post-punk, alt-country, and folk by artists including Johnny Cash, The Smiths, Bob Dylan, The Clash, the Drive By Truckers, Lou Reed, and some obscure songs with stories t...
Nov 30, 2023•56 min
It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series - A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, musicians, and more. Two very special guests joining us: Stacy Widelitz and John DeNicola. Widelitz is an Emmy nominated composer and songwriter. He co-wrote the smash hit from the soundtrack to the 1987 film Dirty Dancing – “She’s Like The Wind” sung and co-written by the film’s star Patrick Swayze. Widelitz was nominated for an Emmy for his contributions to ABC’s World of Discovery, and has written c...
Nov 25, 2023•56 min
It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series. A chill ‘n chat with musicians, authors, fellow podcasters, listeners, and more. Our guest is Frank Meyer. Frank is an award-winning musician, director, and author from Los Angeles. He's best known for his vocal work with Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer James Williamson (Iggy and the Stooges), his rock band The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, and his studio and road work with cult legends Wayne Kramer (MC5), Cherie Currie (The Runaways), Sylvain Sylvain (New York...
Nov 17, 2023•1 hr 2 min
Rik Emmett of Triumph is this episode’s guest. He’s just released a new book titled Lay It on the Line: A Backstage Pass to Rock Star Adventure, Conflict and TRIUMPH . Rik talks about how Triumph formed and rose to fame and the reasons that led to his departure from the band by the end of the 80s. He shares his songwriting process, his favorite songs, making the transition to solo artist in the 90s, why he turned down an offer to join Boston in the early 90s and more! Purchase a copy of Lay It o...
Nov 10, 2023•56 min
Ray Robertson is the author of All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows . Ray listened to and wrote about fifty of Grateful Dead’s most important and memorable concerts in order to better understand who the Grateful Dead were, what they became, and what they meant – and what they continue to mean. He’s here to share some of the stories from the book with us! Purchase a copy of All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows Episode Playlist RayRobertson.com BookedOnRock.co...
Nov 07, 2023•58 min
KISS fans, there’s a brand-new book out called KISS @ 50, and this is one you will want to get! Part of a phenomenal @50 series from Motorbooks, this is a trip through 50 years of “The Hottest Band In The World”. It’s beautifully packaged and produced in a hardcover format, with stunning photos of the band on and off stage, much of them never before published. There are images of memorabilia, including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, ticket stubs, and more. If there was ever a book that des...
Nov 01, 2023•57 min
Caroline Stafford is this episode’s guest. Caroline and David Stafford are authors of the brand-new book Anymore for Anymore: The Ronnie Lane Story . This is the biography of British singer/songwriter Ronnie Lane. In the 60s he co-founded Small Faces, who recorded several hit singles including “Itchycoo Park”, “Lazy Sunday”, “All or Nothing”, and “Tin Soldier”. But before long, singer Steve Marriott left the band to form Humble Pie, and the band would morph into Faces with Rod Stewart on lead vo...
Oct 25, 2023•41 min
Kevin Armstrong's brand new book is called Absolute Beginner: Memoirs of the World's Best Least-Known Guitarist. David Bowie said of Armstrong, “Kevin does what I pretend to do. Kevin’s a proper musician.” Iggy Pop said, “Kevin Armstrong has been around, and around.” In the early 80s, Armstrong signed to EMI Records as a solo artist, but fate had other plans for him. He’s gone on to carve out a career as a producer, songwriter, and guitarist, performing live and recording with Thomas Dolby, Davi...
Oct 18, 2023•50 min
It’s another chapter in the Dialogue Series. A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, listeners and more. Brian Colburn is the host of one of my favorite podcasts My Weekly Mixtape . Brian invites fellow music fans, along with the artists themselves, to collaborate with him, in an attempt to curate the ultimate playlist based on a different artist, band, or topic each week. Brian is on the podcast to talk about his favorite bands and artists, the books on rock he’s read, wants to read, a...
Oct 13, 2023•58 min
It’s another chapter in The Dialogue series. A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, listeners, and more. Author Jeff Apter is this episode’s guest. He is the author of over 30 books about Australian music and musicians and was on staff at Rolling Stone for several years. He’s here to talk about his books on AC/DC, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cure, Neil Finn of Crowded House (now with Fleetwood Mac), Jeff Buckley, and his brand new book just released Keith Urban: His Amazing Journey ...
Oct 04, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Ben Apatoff's latest book Body Count’s Body Count - part of Bloomsbury Academic's 33 1/3 series - is an exploration and look back at the 1992 self-titled debut album from Ice T’s heavy metal band Body Count. On Ice-T's 1991 classic O.G. Original Gangster , he introduced his all-Black hardcore band Body Count with lead guitarist Ernie C, bringing them on the first-ever Lollapalooza tour that summer. The next year, Body Count's self-titled debut album, rounded out by rhythm guitarist D-Roc the Exe...
Sep 29, 2023•53 min
Geoff Harkness is a first-time guest. He’s here to talk about his latest book Rain King: The Life and Music of Adam Duritz and Counting Crows . This is the complete story of Counting Crows - one of the most successful bands of the last three decades and their charismatic vocalist and songwriter Adam Duritz. Counting Crows have sold 20 million albums, led by several hit singles including “Mr. Jones”, “A Long December”, and “Accidentally in Love”. Harkness chronicles the writing and recording proc...
Sep 24, 2023•1 hr 1 min
James Campion is a returning guest. He’s here to talk about the life and career of the late great Warren Zevon and his 2018 book Accidentally Like a Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon. It’s hard to believe but it’s been 20 years since Zevon passed away. For nearly four decades, spanning 12 studio albums and 32 singles, no artist expressed the duality of life, the light and dark, the ugliness and the beauty better than Warren Zevon. As Warren’s ex-wife told James in his book: “If you’re loo...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr
Alex Anesiadis is the author of Heroes of the Metal Underground: The Definitive Guide to 1980s American Independent Metal Bands. This is the only encyclopedic and definitive book on American indie metal! These bands borrowed a page from punk’s DIY handbook and did it all themselves. Regional favorites. Hometown heroes. Tour van veterans. Bands who invested their life-savings into recording and pressing their songs onto albums for a shot at immortality on vinyl. Alex is here to share some of what...
Sep 14, 2023•57 min
Adam Steiner is a returning guest. His latest book is called Silhouettes and Shadows: The Secret History of David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) . David Bowie’s 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) marked a pivotal point in his career. A new decade had arrived, he was coming off the experimental albums Low , Heroes , and Lodger known as the Berlin Trilogy, and had yet to release his commercially successful 1983 album Let’s Dance . On Scary Monsters , Bowie sought to bury the g...
Sep 08, 2023•59 min
We’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of one of the best-selling albums ever - The Who’s classic 1973 album Quadrophenia . Returning to the podcast to talk about the album and his brand new book titled The Who & Quadrophenia is veteran rock journalist Martin Popoff. Martin leaves no stone unturned in this book, which is beautifully packaged with stunning photography and rare memorabilia. He takes apart the 17 tracks on the album and their themes of identity, anxiety, and mental health, alo...
Sep 05, 2023•54 min
Daniel Bukszpan is this episode’s guest. He's the author of the brand new book on Ozzy Osbourne Ozzy @ 75! Seventy-five career accomplishments and life events of Ozzy are celebrated by Daniel in this book, which comes in a slip-cased hardcover format. Photos from both on and off stage, images of memorabilia including gig posters, 7-inch picture sleeves, ticket stubs, and more. It also includes a gatefold Ozzy timeline with artwork depicting Ozzy through the years. Key studio albums are featured ...
Aug 31, 2023•56 min
Greg Prato is back on the podcast. Greg has released I Love Grunge: 'Grunge Is Dead' Outtakes , a follow up to his 2009 book Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History of Seattle Rock Music . It's one of Greg’s most popular books, packed with quotes from the people who were there when the Seattle music scene exploded in the early 90s along with some amazing photos. Greg shares some of what’s in the book in this episode! Purchase a copy of I Love Grunge: 'Grunge Is Dead' Outtakes through Amazon HERE Purcha...
Aug 26, 2023•56 min
Legendary Billy Joel drummer Liberty DeVitto is this episode’s guest. In 2020 he wrote his memoir titled Liberty: Life, Billy and the Pursuit of Happiness . We get into Liberty’s 30 year career with Billy Joel and the stories behind the endless stream of hits from Billy. Liberty’s grooves are heard on 13 platinum Billy Joel albums that have sold over 150 million copies. He wrote and performed the drum parts on 22 of Billy’s 23 top-40 hits and all six Grammy-award winning recordings. In 2006, aft...
Aug 24, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Lisa Torem is a returning guest. Her latest book is another from the Sonic Bond On Track Series. It's Suzanne Vega: Every Album, Every Song. Suzanne Vega’s career spans nearly 40 years. She rose to prominence in the mid 80s with the hit singles “Marlene on the Wall”, “Left of Center”, and “Luka”. Her song “Tom’s Diner”, originally released as an a cappella in 1987, was remixed in 1990 as a dance track by the English electronic duo DNA with Vega and went on to reach the Top 10 in over five countr...
Aug 17, 2023•40 min
Hank Rosenfeld's book The Jive 95: An Oral History of America’s Greatest Underground Rock Radio Station, KSAN San Francisco is an oral history of KSAN in San Francisco, America’s first hippie underground FM station. Rock gods, political stars, and literary celebrities, including Jerry Garcia, Ken Kesey, Sly Stone, and John Lennon were all interviewed by founder Tom Donahue and his cohorts, whose listeners “tuned in and turned on” to bands like Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin,...
Aug 09, 2023•59 min
It’s another edition of The Dialogue. A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, listeners and more. My guest is Jon Lamoreaux, the host of one my favorite podcasts "The Hustle". Jon gives the when, why and how he launched the podcast, the meaning behind the name "The Hustle", his favorite interviews, his most awkward interviews and his favorite books on rock. Listen to "The Hustle" with Jon Lamoreaux HERE Follow Jon Lamoreaux: Twitter Facebook Email Jon Lamaoreaux at thehustlepod@gmail.co...
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Tamsin Embleton is the author and editor of the book Touring and Mental Health: The Music Industry Manual . This book is a must-have for anyone who works in or around the live music business. It’s also a fascinating read for those who want to know what life really is like on the road. It’s not all glamorous. The grueling life on the road can take its toll. Often times musicians find themselves without the knowledge to handle the physical and psychological stresses that can mount over time. This ...
Jul 27, 2023•56 min
