Tom Werman

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

New Mexico

Making Hit Records in the Glory Days of Rock and Metal, Featuring Mötley Crüe, Poison, Twisted Sister, Cheap Trick, Jeff Beck, Ted Nugent, and More

Growing up in the Boston suburbs, Tom Werman was deeply affected by pop music from a young age. He long dreamed of a career in music--first as Elvis, then as the next George Harrison--but it almost didn't turn out that way. Dutifully following the path his parents had laid out for him, he obtained an MBA from an Ivy League university and took a plum job in an industry he came to despise. Then, in 1970, a chance letter sent to CBS Records boss Clive Davis led to a new opportunity . . . and a place in rock'n'roll history. 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. Then, as an independent producer, he oversaw landmark albums by Mötley Crüe (Shout At The Devil), Twisted Sister (Stay Hungry), Lita Ford (Dangerous Curves), Jeff Beck (Live With Jan Hammer), Poison (Open Up And Say ... Ahh!), and many more. All in all, his record-making résumé includes twenty-three gold- or platinum-selling albums and cumulative sales of more than fifty-two million copies. After bearing witness to several sea changes in the music industry, Werman retired from producing in 2001 and reinvented himself as an award-winning innkeeper in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts. And that might have been that--until an off-the-cuff rebuttal to a disparaging critique of his role in making the Mötley Crüe album Girls, Girls, Girls on a music website led to a fortnightly column and now this book--an honest and engaging insider account on how some of the best-loved albums of the 1970s and 80s came to be. A must for anyone interested in the glory days of rock and metal, Turn It Up! offers valuable insights into the recording process, the recording studio, the role of the producer, and the production values that are essential to the creation of a hit record.

Turn It Up!

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And other rock and roll shenanigans 

Tales From the Gutter

Saul Austerlitz

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Peace, Love, and Tragedy with the Rolling Stones at Altamont

“The most blisteringly impassioned music book of the season.” —New York Times Book Review A thrilling account of the Altamont Festival—and the dark side of the ‘60s. If Woodstock tied the ideals of the '60s together, Altamont unraveled them. In Just a Shot Away, writer and critic Saul Austerlitz tells the story of “Woodstock West,” where the Rolling Stones hoped to end their 1969 American tour triumphantly with the help of the Grateful Dead, the Jefferson Airplane, and 300,000 fans. Instead the concert featured a harrowing series of disasters, starting with the concert’s haphazard planning. The bad acid kicked in early. The Hells Angels, hired to handle security, began to prey on the concertgoers. And not long after the Rolling Stones went on, an 18-year-old African-American named Meredith Hunter was stabbed by the Angels in front of the stage. The show, and the Woodstock high, were over. Austerlitz shows how Hunter’s death came to symbolize the end of an era while the trial of his accused murderer epitomized the racial tensions that still underlie America. He also finds a silver lining in the concert in how Rolling Stone’s coverage of it helped create a new form of music journalism, while the making of the movie about Altamont, Gimme Shelter, birthed new forms of documentary. Using scores of new interviews with Paul Kantner, Jann Wenner, journalist John Burks, filmmaker Joan Churchill, and many members of the Rolling Stones' inner circle, as well as Meredith Hunter's family, Austerlitz shows that you can’t understand the ‘60s or rock and roll if you don’t come to grips with Altamont.

Just a Shot Away

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A. E. Hotchner

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

The Rolling Stones and the Death of the Sixties

A somewhat sensational look at the Rolling Stones and the death of band member Brian Jones.

Blown Away

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Philip Norman

Never read .  Purchased new and went on shelf 

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

The Life

The definitive Paul McCartney biography, written with his approval by bestselling biographer Philip Norman.

Since the age of twenty-one, Paul McCartney has lived one of the ultimate rock-n-roll lives played out on the most public of stages. Now, Paul's story is told by rock music's foremost biographer, with McCartney's consent and access to family members and close friends who have never spoken on the record before.

Paul McCartney reveals the complex character behind the favßade and sheds new light on his childhood -- blighted by his mother's death but redeemed by the father who introduced him to music. This is the first definitive account of Paul's often troubled partnership with John Lennon, his personal trauma after the Beatles' breakup, and his subsequent struggle to get back to the top with Wings -- which nearly got him murdered in Africa and brought him nine days in a Tokyo jail. Readers will learn about his marriage to Linda, including their much-criticized musical collaboration, and a moving account of her death. Packed with new information and critical insights, Paul McCartney will be the definitive biography of a musical legend.

Paul Mccartney

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Lisa Robinson

A Life in Rock and Roll

Lisa Robinson has interviewed everyone from John Lennon to Bono to Patti Smith, Eminem to Lady Gaga to Jay-Z and Kanye West. She's talked nail polish with a 12-year-old Michael Jackson, hosted The Clash at Studio 54, and introduced Lou Reed to David Bowie over filet mignon in a Manhattan restaurant. She helped Elvis Costello and The Clash get their record deals and was there for the punk scene at CBGBs. She was on a private plane with the Rolling Stones during a storm and with Led Zepplin when their manager pulled out a gun. The story of rock and roll from the last 40 years.

There Goes Gravity

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J. Randy Taraborrelli

For more than six decades she has been part of our lives. An American icon, Elizabeth Taylor has been surrounded by fame and notoriety since childhood. Now acclaimed biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli looks past the tabloid version of Elizabeth's life to the person she really is -- and how she evolved from a child star to a woman in her own right. At the heart of this impeccably researched work is the first fully realized portrait of Elizabeth Taylor's family: her canny, controlling mother, who, from the moment she laid eyes on her baby, began plotting her success; and her father, often portrayed as distant, but whose connection with his daughter was far more complex than people knew. As Taraborrelli brings to life the people around Elizabeth and her rise in 1940s Hollywood, he reveals the qualities that made her a star, the associations that put her at the right place at the right time, and the ways in which she was singularly unprepared for life out on her own. While Elizabeth's eight marriages to seven men have been widely publicized, this author examines the psychological and emotional roots of each relationship, including her abusive marriage to Nicky Hilton, her attraction to swashbuckling Mike Todd, and the complex, incendiary Taylor-Burton love affair that continued for decades and never truly died. Finally, Taraborrelli chronicles Elizabeth's most bravura performance of all. Despite the highly public battles with substance abuse and chronic illness, she achieved new success and sustenance in family, friendships, and philanthropy. With never-before-published family photos by Taylor historian Tom Gates, as well as rare family photos, Elizabeth is the story of a woman you thought you knew -- and can now finally begin to understand.

Elizabeth

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Chrissie Hynde

My Life As a Pretender

By the time she was 14, Chrissie Hynde knew she had to get out of Akron, Ohio. Her perfect '50s American childhood upturned by a newly acquired taste for rock 'n' roll, motorbikes and the 'get down boys' seen at gigs in and around Cleveland - Mitch Ryder, the Jeff Beck Group, the Velvet Underground and David Bowie among the many. Wrapped up in the Kent State University riots and getting dangerously involved in the local biker and drug scenes, she escaped - to Mexico, Canada, Paris and finally London where she caught the embryonic punk scene just in time not only to witness it first-hand, but more importantly to seize the opportunity to form her own band, the Pretenders. Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Vivienne & Malcolm, Ray Davies ... on every page household names mingle with small town heroes as we shift from bedroom to biker HQ; from squat to practice room; from pub gig to Top Of The Pops - the long and crooked path to stardom, and for the Pretenders, ultimately, tragedy. That Chrissie Hynde is alive to tell the tale is, by her own admission, something of a miracle. Throughout she is brutally honest, wryly humorous and always highly entertaining. She has written one of the most evocative and colourful music memoirs to be published in recent years.

Reckless

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Ronnie Spector

Vince Waldron

Keith Richards

A Memoir

"Do I have to tell you that Ronnie's got one of the greatest female rock-and-roll voices of all time? She stands alone."
--Keith Richards

Be My Baby is the behind-the-scenes story--newly updated, and with an especially timely message--of how the original bad girl of rock and roll, Ronnie Spector, survived marriage to a monster and carved out a space for herself amid the chaos of the 1960s music scene and beyond.

Ronnie's first collaboration with producer Phil Spector, "Be My Baby," shot Ronnie and the Ronettes to stardom. No one sounded like Ronnie, with her alluring blend of innocence and knowing, but her voice would soon be silenced as Spector sequestered her behind electric gates, guard dogs, and barbed wire.

It took everything Ronnie had to escape her prisonlike marriage and wrest back control of her life, her music, and her legacy. And as shown in this edition, which includes a 2021 postscript from Ronnie, her life became proof that our challenges do not define us and there is always the potential to forge a fuller life.

In Be My Baby, the incomparable Ronnie Spector offered a whirlwind account of the ever-shifting path of an iconic artist. And, more than anything else, she gave us an inspiring tale of triumph.

Be My Baby

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Mick Wall

Purchased new. Read and then listed here 

The Eagles' Reckless Ride down the Rock and Roll Highway

From iconic rock journalist Mick Wall comes the definitive account of America's best-selling band of all time--who have sold more records than Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones combined--exploring the hedonistic days of the '70s music scene in LA, their ruthless, meteoric rise to fame, and the dark truths beneath their musical façade of peaceful, easy feelings.

Life in the Fast Lane

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Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

In her 2008 bestseller, Girls Like Us, Sheila Weller--with heart and a profound feel for the times--gave us a surprisingly intimate portrait of three icons: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon. Now she turns her focus to one of the most loved, brilliant, and iconoclastic women of the modern age: the actress, writer, daughter, and mother Carrie Fisher.She traces Fisher's life from her Hollywood royalty roots to her untimely and shattering death just days before Christmas 2016. Her mother was the seemingly idyllic Debbie Reynolds; her father, the famously ne'er-do-well Eddie Fisher (who runs off with Elizabeth Taylor). Weller exposes us to the demons that haunted Fisher all her life, particularly bipolar disorder and a drug addiction from which she could never quite free herself. We follow her career from her debut in Shampoo to the fame-making Star Wars; dive into her serious relationships with Paul Simon and the talent agent Bryan Lourd; witness her metamorphosis from actress to bestselling author; and watch her turn into a casual spokesperson for mental illness. Sourced by friends, colleagues, and witnesses to all stages of Fisher's life, Carrie Fisher is an affectionate and even-handed portrayal of a woman whose unsurpassed honesty is a reminder of how things should be. This is a big book about a small woman with a larger-than-life spirit and impact.

Carrie Fisher: a Life on the Edge

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Behind the Scenes at Tunnel, Limelight, Avalon, and Other Legendary Nightclubs

Steve Adelman's humorous and engaging memoir reflects on his years as the director and owner of some of the world's most popular nightclubs, including the Roxy, Limelight, Tunnel, and Palladium in the heyday of clubs in New York City during the 1980s and 1990s, followed by Avalon (Boston, Hollywood, NYC, and Singapore locations), and the New Daisy Theatre in Memphis. Nocturnal Admissions is a timely, unconventional look at one of pop culture's most outwardly glamorous, yet misunderstood industries, bringing the reader backstage into the world of nightlife at its highest level.

Wearing the multiple hats of ringmaster, entrepreneur, guidance counselor, multimillion-dollar dealmaker, and music soothsayer, Adelman chronicles an improbable journey from small town to big city, filled with a cast of characters he could never have imagined: People named Hedda Lettuce, Jenetalia, Maxi Min, and Jiggy, who collide with and around the likes of Jack Nicholson, Bruce Willis, Sir Richard Branson, Leonardo DiCaprio, RuPaul, Rudy Giuliani, and Snoop Dogg, among many, many others.

Navigating city crackdowns, crazed partners, and cultural differences, Adelman relates how he watched his Nana out-dance an ex-NFL lineman, was chastised by Bob Dylan, launched the EDM cultural movement, helped created the "mash-up" with Perry Farrell, butted heads with Jerry Falwell, rang in the New Year with Matt Damon's mother, leveraged porn star Jenna Jameson, relied on advice from felons, almost pancaked Prince, and built the world's most lavish nightclub.

Nocturnal Admissions is a hilarious, adrenaline-filled ride through the peak decades of the world's most famous nightclubs and nightlife scenes.

Nocturnal Admissions

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The Life of a Rock and Roll Photographer

Bob Gruen is one of the most well-known and respected photographers in rock and roll. From John Lennon to Johnny Rotten; Muddy Waters to the Rolling Stones; Elvis to Madonna; Bob Dylan to Bob Marley; Tina Turner to Debbie Harry, he has documented the music scene for more than 50 years in photographs that have captured the world's attention. Now in paperback, Right Place, Right Time is Gruen's personal journey from discovering a love of photography in his mother's darkroom when he was five, through his time in Greenwich Village for 1960s rock and 1970s punk, to being named the world's premiere rock photographer by the New York Times. With fast-paced stories and iconic images, Gruen gives the reader both a front row seat and a backstage pass to the evolution of American music culture over the last five decades. In the words of Alice Cooper, "Bob had the ultimate backstage pass. Can you imagine the stories he's got?"

Right Place, Right Time

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Has a slight warp to the book. See photos. I bought this new and it came with a slight warp. 
#theplaza  #nyc #hotel 

The Secret Life of America's Most Famous Hotel

Journalist Julie Satow's thrilling, unforgettable history of how one illustrious hotel has defined our understanding of money and glamour, from the Gilded Age to the Go-Go Eighties to today's Billionaire Row.

From the moment in 1907 when New York millionaire Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt strode through the Plaza Hotel's revolving doors to become its first guest, to the afternoon in 2007 when a mysterious Russian oligarch paid a record price for the hotel's largest penthouse, the eighteen-story white marble edifice at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 59th Street has radiated wealth and luxury.

For some, the hotel evokes images of F. Scott Fitzgerald frolicking in the Pulitzer Fountain, or Eloise, the impish young guest who pours water down the mail chute. But the true stories captured in THE PLAZA also include dark, hidden secrets: the cold-blooded murder perpetrated by the construction workers in charge of building the hotel, how Donald J. Trump came to be the only owner to ever bankrupt the Plaza, and the tale of the disgraced Indian tycoon who ran the hotel from a maximum-security prison cell, 7,000 miles away in Delhi.

In this definitive history, award-winning journalist Julie Satow not only pulls back the curtain on Truman Capote's Black and White Ball and The Beatles' first stateside visit-she also follows the money trail. THE PLAZA reveals how a handful of rich, dowager widows were the financial lifeline that saved the hotel during the Great Depression, and how, today, foreign money and anonymous shell companies have transformed iconic guest rooms into condominiums that shield ill-gotten gains-hollowing out parts of the hotel as well as the city around it.

THE PLAZA is the account of one vaunted New York City address that has become synonymous with wealth and scandal, opportunity and tragedy. With glamour on the surface and strife behind the scenes, it is the story of how one hotel became a mirror reflecting New York's place at the center of the country's cultural narrative for over a century.

The Plaza

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The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

The Duran Duran Story

A stunning new biography of Duran Duran by the best-selling author of Gold Dust Woman and Hammer of the Gods In Please Please Tell Me Now, bestselling rock biographer Stephen Davis tells the story of Duran Duran, the quintessential band of the 1980s. Their pretty boy looks made them the stars of fledgling MTV, but it was their brilliant musicianship that led to a string of number one hits. By the end of the decade, they had sold 60 million albums; today, they've sold over 100 million albums--and counting. Davis traces their roots to the austere 1970s British malaise that spawned both the Sex Pistols and Duran Duran--two seemingly opposite music extremes. Handsome, British, and young, it was Duran Duran that headlined Live Aid, not Bob Dylan or Led Zeppelin. The band moved in the most glamorous circles: Nick Rhodes became close with Andy Warhol, Simon LeBon with Princess Diana, and John Taylor dated quintessential British bad girl Amanda De Cadanet. With timeless hits like "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Girls on Film," "Rio," "Save a Prayer," and the bestselling James Bond theme in the series' history, "A View to Kill," Duran Duran has cemented its legacy in the pop pantheon--and with a new album and a worldwide tour on the way, they show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. Featuring exclusive interviews with the band and never-before-published photos from personal archives, Please Please Tell Me Now offers a definitive account of one of the last untold sagas in rock and roll history-- a treat for diehard fans, new admirers, and music lovers of any age.

Mike

@mikecee714

Books Listed

Following

Followers

Tom Werman

Turn It Up!

Mike Corcione

Tales From the Gutter

Saul Austerlitz

Just a Shot Away

A. E. Hotchner

Blown Away

Philip Norman

Paul Mccartney

Lisa Robinson

There Goes Gravity

J. Randy Taraborrelli

Elizabeth

Chrissie Hynde

Reckless

Ronnie Spector; Vince Waldron; Keith Richards

Be My Baby

Mick Wall

Life in the Fast Lane

Sheila Weller

Carrie Fisher: a Life on the Edge

Steve Adelman; Anthony Haden-Guest (Foreword by)

Nocturnal Admissions

Bob Gruen

Right Place, Right Time

Julie Satow

The Plaza

Jimmy Breslin

The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

Stephen Davis

Please Please Tell Me Now

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Tom Werman

Turn It Up!

Mike Corcione

Tales From the Gutter

Saul Austerlitz

Just a Shot Away

A. E. Hotchner

Blown Away

Philip Norman

Paul Mccartney

Lisa Robinson

There Goes Gravity

J. Randy Taraborrelli

Elizabeth

Chrissie Hynde

Reckless

Ronnie Spector; Vince Waldron; Keith Richards

Be My Baby

Mick Wall

Life in the Fast Lane

Sheila Weller

Carrie Fisher: a Life on the Edge

Steve Adelman; Anthony Haden-Guest (Foreword by)

Nocturnal Admissions

Bob Gruen

Right Place, Right Time

Julie Satow

The Plaza

Jimmy Breslin

The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

Stephen Davis

Please Please Tell Me Now

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