NYS Music 2024

Category: Book Reviews

  • “Songbird” An Intimate Biography of Christine McVie by Leslie-Ann Jones

    Two years after her passing, we finally have a bio of Fleetwood Mac’s beautiful songstress.

    Also an artist and sculptor, Christine McVie was a master at crafting sunny seventies perfect pop songs despite experiencing quite a bit of loss through life and despite her leanings towards blues in her early days as a musician in London. In contrast to some of her band mates known for their songs infused with the pain of relationships ending, Christine’s songs predominately were about the hopes and joys of love. The official video of Love Shines from the 1992 album 25 Years – The Chain; Fleetwood Mac’s 50 Years is a perfect example of that.

    fleetwood mac

    Over My Head, from their 1975 self titled album was the song played on American radio that really brought Fleetwood Mac to our attention in a big way after various line-up changes and started Fleetwood Mac’s quick ascension up the charts and into history as one of the world’s favorite and best selling bands of all time; a song she was quoted as saying was in part, about Lindsey Buckingham. By 1977 they would be the biggest band in the world.

    Starting with Chicken Shack in her teens during the 60s, Christine had to endure traveling and playing in some pretty seedy places in the UK and Germany first. Paying off, it earned her 1969 and 1970’s Female Vocalist of the Year in a Melody Maker Reader’s Poll. 

    Some speculate that the sublime Songbird, perhaps her best known and signature song from the Rumours album, may have been about her mother and processing loss. This song is said to have come to her in a flash of inspiration, she had said frequently that she had no idea where it came from, but that it was an almost spiritual experience, having been delivered to her. If listening to the song now with that perspective, the song does take on an almost spiritual and very emotional meaning.

    We have in her own words, what it was like to tour so much and for long with this book. 

    To many, Fleetwood Mac had the coolest existence; their excessive appetites and habits are legendary; they lived together at some pretty interesting manor houses over several countries while making albums, some of which were reputed to be haunted. Musicians who come from nothing and rise beyond their wildest dreams are fascinating to read about.

    The author’s lively language is engaging and indicative of the friendship she had with Christine McVie, along with her extensive knowledge of the music scene of the 1950s to the 1970s in London. Christine had also been speaking about writing a memoir, but it was not to be before her passing. The author, Leslie-Ann Jones has been featured on television music documentaries, and has also written biographies of John Lennon, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury.

    In this book, many often overlooked details of Christine’s solo work are discussed, such as her 1985 cover of Elvis’s Can’t Help Falling in Love for the movie A Fine Mess.

    As the author had personal access to Christine over the years, the book has first hand knowledge of areas of the musician’s life that fans will find interesting. Credited many times as being the peacekeeper of the band, except for one episode of violence, the details of that scenario at Christine’s house are laid out. Photos of her English manor house and the renovation project that Christine embarked on after being in the states for 28 years, as well as how she spent some of her free time and with whom she socialized, show another side of her creativity.

    Little known details of Fleetwood Mac’s dynamics and betrayals are included to delve into; the difficulties in being married to someone in the same band as her for example.

    Before being interested in John McVie, Christine had first been enamored with Peter Green, who unfortunately dealt with the consequences of imbibing hallucinatory substances. 

    Christine has been on record for stating that Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys was the love of her life, and that ill-fated romance and her reaction upon learning of his death are detailed here in Christine’s own words, as well as the songs she wrote about him.

    Fleetwood Mac was a group of creatives who made music magic. As we continue to mourn the loss of a gifted musician and songwriter, her legacy is her music being with us forever and continuing to be loved by newer generations.

    “I want to be with you everywhere.” 

    And she always will be.

  • Biography of The Band’s Richard Manuel Coming this Spring

    A biography of The Band’s Richard Manuel is slated to release this spring for the 50th anniversary of the group’s 1974 tour.

    Richard manuel

    The biography is titled, Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band (Schiffer Publishing, on sale May 28, 2025) celebrates Manuel’s immeasurable contributions to music, ensuring his soulful voice and profound artistry endure in the annals of rock. Richard Manuel sang and played piano for The Band, which originated in Toronto, Canada and Woodstock.

    The Band began as a backing group for the legendary Bob Dylan. The Band is often credited with helping to define the sound of roots rock and Americana, blending rock, country, blues, and folk into a cohesive and groundbreaking style. Their music was characterized by a raw, earthy quality that bridged the gap between traditional American folk music and modern rock.

    Richard Manuel was sweetly soulful and creatively multifaceted, leaving his mark on rock history that is still celebrated today. Through insightful analysis and interviews, his troubled yet inspired spirit is contextualized within music history. From his role in forming the Band to his iconic vocals and songwriting, Manuel’s influence resonates deeply.

    Author Stephen Lewis is a rock-and-roll archivist, collector, and storyteller. He owns and operates the Talk from the Rock Room website and podcast and has been writing about music for over 20 years, including contributing articles on Summer Jam and Little Feat for NYS Music. He delves into Manuel’s influence on the history of rock, along with discussing some of Manuel’s life as told through his forth coming book.

    The Band in London, June 1971. From left: Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson.

    For more information on the biography Richard Manuel: His Life and Music, from the Hawks and Bob Dylan to The Band click here.

  • Long Out-of-Print History of CBGB Re-issued by Trouser Press

    The first and most comprehensive history of the birthplace of punk music, CBGB, has just been re-issued by Trouser Press Books, an all-music imprint headed by veteran music journalist Ira Robbins.

    History of CBGB
    A History of CBGB – by Roman Kozak

    Originally published in 1988 and out of print for decades, This Ain’t No Disco: The Story of CBGB is a warts-and-all history of the legendary Bowery venue related by nearly 100 of the insiders who performed, worked and braved pre-gentrification Downtown NYC to witness the birth of punk music. Written long before the legend overtook the reality — while the club was still open and most of the principals alive — this is the real story told in gritty, outrageous and sometimes hilarious detail by onetime Billboard Magazine editor, the late Roman Kozak. The 2024 edition includes a new forward by Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, 12 pages of photos by Ebet Roberts, and a post-script by Ira Robbins that takes the story forward from 1988 to the October 2006 shuttering of the club.

    Kozak’s book includes unguarded quotes from CBGB found Hilly Kristal, Joey and Dee Dee Ramone (the Ramones), Chris Stein and Clem Burke (Blondie), Richard Hell and Richard Lloyd (Television), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Annie Golden (The Shirts), David Byrne (Talking Heads), Seymour Stein (Sire Records) and many more. 

    As a member of several of the more than 10,000 bands that performed at the club in its 33-year run, it was a treat to take a trip back … without having to once again experience the foul ambiance of its legendary and always-broken bathrooms!

    CBGB came about when its owner, Hilly Kristal, a wannabe singer, left his former bar in the West Village for the grimy Lower East Side to escape the noise complaints of his Greenwich Village neighbors. His short-lived attempt at a country music venue, one with sure to fail breakfast time gigs, would be shelved when Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd of Television lied their way into a performance in March 1974. Television’s stint would shortly attract other bands, including The Ramones, the first act signed to a major label, a quartet that could crank out 20-song sets in 17 minutes or less. By the end of the year, CBGB, which would initially feature other kinds of music along with comedians, would become an all-rock venue.

    The first two years of CBGB would be hand-to-mouth, with Hilly living on a cot in the back of the club and supplementing his income by buying a truck and starting a moving business, one that employed his favorite starving musicians like the members of The Shirts.  Various musicians and staffers humorously relate memories of dodging the many “care packages” left on the floor by Hilly’s dog, Jonathan, and the suspect quality of Hilly’s infamous chili and hamburgers. Mink Deville claims Jonathan was the source of the crabs he got four times in the seedy but beloved club. And there is much talk in the book about the decrepit bathrooms, for their sub-Third World sanitary conditions and where the truly brave might partake in the classic drug-and-sex combo. “You could always see four feet in the bathroom stall,” said Dick Manitoba.

    The book contains interesting facts about the humble and initially stumbling beginnings of the early CB’s bands who would become legends, including Blondie and Talking Heads. Elda Stiletto and busy backup singers/present-day cosmetic company giants, Tish and Snooky, tell of Blondie’s early days, the gestation in Elda’s band, and false starts as Angel and Blondie and the Banzai Babies before settling on a firm lineup anchored by drummer Clem Burke.  Another memorable night was when Talking Heads and The Shirts auditioned together. Hilly loved the first because they were “neat” and carried “very little equipment.”  And though they didn’t reach the commercial heights of other early CBGB bands, The Shirts would prove Kristal’s favorite.  He would go on to manage them, secure their three-album deal with Capital Records, and a role for their lead singer, the now busy actress Annie Golden, in Milos Foreman’s movie version of the Broadway musical Hair.

    History of CBGB
    The Dead Boys – photo by Ebet Roberts – the History of CBGB

    CBGB began to pick up steam with the arrival of Patti Smith, who had a four-day-a-week, seven-week residency in Spring 1975. Kristal compares the excitement to comic Lenny Bruce’s residency at the Village Vanguard when Hilly was helping manage the club for owner Max Gordon.  The two-week CBGB Rock Festival in July 1975 wouldn’t bring in a huge amount of cash, but it generated tons of press from outlets like The Soho Weekly News, Village Voice, etc.  Writer Legs McNeil, the man who popularized the term “punk” appropriated from a favorite term of TV’s Kojack, called CBGB “a juvenile delinquent hangout, where everyone was equal because they were broke.” To Richard Lloyd, it gained traction because “it was a reaction to hippie stadium music.” By 1976, the club started making money, and one of the essential ingredients of success began to happen: the girls started coming in droves, according to Tish and Snooky.  In July 1976, CBGB invested in a new sound system, which would be ripped off then replaced, making it the best-sounding live room in New York City and maybe the world. It became a venue that would attract artists from around the globe, including the then-unsigned Police, who played for an audience of 10 in July 1977.

    There is lots of good dish on Hilly’s failed ventures, like his short-lived CBGB Theater on Second Avenue, the proposed punk rock sitcom, TVCBGB and his ill-fated management of another popular attraction, The Dead Boys.  The book also relates how CBGB’s slow burn rep as the birthplace of punk was usurped a bit by the UK – the rapid rise of the Sex Pistol and the appropriation of the spiked hair and torn t-shirt originated by Richard Hell.  When the club launched it was the only game in town for bands playing original music, a refuge where virtually anyone could get a shot at their Monday audition nights. But by the 1980s, CBGB would have competition from new clubs like Hurrah, The Ritz, Danceteria, The Peppermint Lounge, the Mudd Club and more.  But most would not survive the decade.

    But even with all this buzz, CBGB-style punk was “poison as far as record companies were concerned.” Except for Blondie, whose breakthrough came from a disco infusion in their #1 singer “Heart of Glass,” CBGB bands didn’t move platinum units of vinyl or CDs or get much radio airplay.  Bands like latter-day favorites, the chainsaw-wielding, car-blowing-up Wendy Williams and her Plasmatics, had to make their living on the road.

    History of CBGB
    The History of CBGB – Owner Hilly Kristal, photo by Ebet Roberts

    In the mid- and late-1980s, CBGB would birth another musical genre – hardcore.  It’s Sunday hardcore matinees did big business at the door but not much at the bar, as many devotees were underage or straight arrows who didn’t drink beer.  One CBGB barkeep recalls: “We could make $2,000 at the door and only $200 at the bar.” Bands like Murphy’s Law, Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, The Beastie Boys, and Damage were featured; some also on cassette-only releases of live performances on a CBGB imprint created with Celluloid Records.  Many of these and other new artists would have their albums featured at a new satellite, CBGB’s Record Canteen.

    Kozak wraps up his history in 1988, well before the legend was glammed up via the 2013 feature film and the ridiculously “reopened CBGB” restaurant at Newark Airport.  Trouser Press’s Ira Robbins provides a coda detailing Hilly’s losing battle with his landlord and the August 2006 benefit concert that attempted to save the club. (Note: this reporter did PR for that event pro-bono during his agency days. He also had his electric mandolin stolen at the club! The first gig by my long-running project, Spaghetti Eastern Music, took place at CBGB Gallery in 2003).

    Kozak’s tale concludes with one of many significant observations in the book from guitarist/writer/record producer Lenny Kaye, a thought posited on the Lower East Side’s new monied residents.

    “The key and glory of CBGB is that they’ve never gotten too big for their britches. They’ve never gone above their own Bowery station…even though the Bowery is above its own station now.”

    Order This Ain’t No Disco: The Story of CBGB here.

  • Party Boys: The Memoir of the Band of Brothers Who Built Webster Hall

    Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Band, The Guess Who, Leonard Cohen, and Alanis Morissette. Rush, Justin Bieber, Drake, and The Weeknd. Where would the world of rock and pop be without the contributions of these great artists?

    Webster Hall

    Many music lovers don’t realize that the stars above have Canadian roots.  And even fewer realize that one of New York City’s most popular and longest-running music venues, Webster Hall, was also the brainchild of folks from up North, the Ballinger Brothers. The story of how they rose from a hardscrabble youth on a remote farm in Ontario to reign supreme in the NYC nightlife scene for a quarter of a century is the subject of Party Boys, a rollercoaster ride of a memoir by Lon Ballinger.

    Lon Ballinger and his brothers Steve, Peter, and Buster created not only Webster Hall but a legion of Canadian venues where over 40 million people danced, laughed, listened to great music, and, in many cases, connected with the loves of their lives.

    The Ballinger Brothers grew up poor on a family farm with a beloved but overbearing mother and an alcoholic father, a psychologically damaged war veteran who would (figuratively) head out for a packet of cigarettes and never return.  Their nightclub empire, which first revolutionized the industry in Canada and then NYC, would spring from Lon’s impulse buy of a pizza oven and  open his town’s first pizza parlor in October 1973. As with many of their ventures, they would turn it into a success, cash out, and move on to another enterprise. After the pizzeria came a laundromat, which financed their first foray into nightlife. 

    Webster Hall

    Lon and his brother’s inspiration to get into the disco biz came from two unlikely sources.  The first was the classic television show, I Love Lucy, and its portrayal of the nightclub run by Lucy’s bandleader husband, Ricky Ricardo.  The second is when they detoured from a planned road trip to Mexico to New Orleans (to drop off a hitchhiker they picked up who was carting 400 hits of purple microdot acid to Mardi Gras) and then San Padre Island, where they saw their first big-time disco.

    With monies from the sale of their laundromat and Lon’s earnings from his sideline in real estate, the brothers opened their first club, Ballinger’s Danceteria, a cavernous two-level musical funhouse in Cambridge, Ontario on Halloween 1979.  Here they would learn the hard lessons about what made a club prosper: booking great acts like James Brown, The Band and homegrown stars-to-be like Brian Adams and Loverboy; the value of having professional security and the golden rule of nightlife  — treat the ladies right and the men will follow. 

    Ballinger’s would be one of the first clubs to feature giant video screens, leading to the creation of their own weekly TV series, Canamerica Dance.  Ultimately, they would depart Ontario for the big city, Toronto, creating the country’s largest club, the 200,000 square foot Big Bop in 1986, followed by smaller satellites, The Boom Boom Room and Rockit.  They also had an outlandish idea that never got off the ground due to the recession of the late ‘80s, The Judicial Museum of Canada. The latter was slated to be housed in a circa-1850 courthouse, Canada’s oldest, serving as a combination dance and music venue with a museum dedicated to the history of the country’s legal system and crimes.

    Lon, what the hell were you and your brothers smoking?

    The big-dreaming Ballinger Brothers were seriously over-leveraged when the financial crisis hit, with $5 million in renovation and real estate loans. When they realized there was no way to rescue their Canadian club empire, they turned their sites on New York, taking over the site of The Ritz, which, at that time, was a shell of its former self, much like the city itself.

    The brothers’ experiences operating Webster Hall are the heart of the memoir. It would take three years of negotiations with the community board, liquor commission, and their landlord before they had approval to open the four-level nightspot in October 1992. Ballinger’s book includes plenty of juicy tales of navigating a plethora of dicey issues with the Mob, the Hell’s Angels, crooked politicos, and, of course, troublesome VIP guests (I’m talkin’ to you Bill Murray, Mark Wahlberg, Hillary Clinton, Bobby Flay and Rudy Giuliani!).  Lon also proudly proclaims Webster Hall’s role as an early promoter of hip-hop and EDM culture by giving gigs to aspiring stars and via their venture, Webster Hall Records, which notched 30 chart-topping dance releases. There are also rosy memories of artists like Lady Gaga, Moby, and Ed Sheeran, who honed their craft in early career performances on the venue’s multiple stages. Lon also discusses their early embrace of the digital realm. Webster Hall pioneered online ticket sales and what may have had the first website ever created for a nightclub. He also humorously relates how the site’s domain was hijacked and later reclaimed after a legal battle with a porn purveyor.

    Some of the book’s best parts are Lon’s memories of fantastic events during the brothers’ 25-year run at Webster Hall.  Prince is called “the greatest talent ever to grace our stage” thanks to a 2005 performance with a 35-piece orchestra, a milestone witnessed by an invite-only audience of 350. Also fondly remembered are Madonna’s Pajama Party for the release of Bedtime Stories in 1995, Bill Clinton’s Presidential Announcement Party in 1996 (where the Commander-in-Chief “made eyes” at one of his brother’s wives), and Paul Simon’s live recording in 2011, where another genius joined him, David Byrne. From 1992 – 2017, Webster Hall hosted nearly 30 million people and showcased 10,000 musical acts.

    Ballinger’s book also includes many tales of the cut-throat side of the Big Apple’s nightclub business, namely their longtime battles with another promoter and sometimes partner, Bowery Presents. In 2016, the Ballinger Brothers agreed to sell the venue to a Russian oligarch and entertainment mogul, Mikhail Prokhorov, owner of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center, for $45 million. Like many stories and experiences here, that would be an event full of surprises and drama.  The Ballingers would hand over the keys to their kingdom in the wee hours of August 17, 2017, after a final wild night featuring a performance by Skrillex, an EDM artist whose fame they helped foster.

    Lon’s book concludes with a valuable bonus section: “Lon’s Practical Advice for Running the Best Business in Your World.”  Here, he provides 30 pages of his hard-earned wisdom on what it takes to succeed in any business – from building good relationships with your community, customers, and partners to advice on branding, marketing, insurance, taxes, and lawyers (be wary of the latter). 

    After selling Webster Hall, Lon Ballinger and his wife moved to the Hudson Valley, where they bought and refurbished The Stewart House in Athens, a breathtaking boutique hotel on the Hudson River. They now operate this hospitality gem, hosting their friends and guests at the beautiful and historical 1883 Stewart House Hotel.

    Bio: Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former entertainment publicist living in the Hudson Valley and NYC. He is leader of the band Spaghetti Eastern Music and member of the ensembles Guitars A Go Go, Vapor Vespers and spaceheater. He is also the host of “Reading In Funktamental” on WGXC 90.7 FM/Wave Farm, a monthly/Apple Podcast show where he speaks to the authors of the books on music he reviews here at NYSMusic.com

  • Indie Musicians Share Their Road Food Faves in New Book, “Taste in Music: Eating on Tour with Indie Musicians”

    Have you ever wondered what sustenance kept Mick Jagger alive all these years? Or how Clairo has the soothing intonation of an angel, while also ripping the same Marlboro Lights that make my throat burn and lungs dry? And what exactly is Phoebe Bridgers eating to keep her skin effortlessly glowing as she shuffles between solo project, Boy Genius tours, and famous actor and comedian boyfriends?

    alex bleeker taste in music

    Fortunately for us, two indie rockers have linked up to give music junkies and avid readers insight into life on tour. Musician Alex Bleeker (Real Estate) and food and travel writer Luke Pyenson (formerly of Frankie Cosmos) penned their first edition of Taste in Music: Eating on Tour with Indie Musicians (Chronicle Books, September 2024).  It’s a love letter to life on the road, and the meals and gas station sandwiches that fueled indie rock’s most remarkable minds – or bogged them down – along the way. 

    Bleeker and Pyenson gathered essays and interviews from dozens of indie musicians from pockets all over the genre, with their tall tales from touring sprinkled in along the way. We hear from the likes of Kero Kero Bonito, Adam Schatx (Japanese Breakfast), Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood), Eric Slick (Dr. Dog), Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso), and many, many more. Almost all of these featured players are friends from their rolodexes. As the book explains, indie rock is a smaller world than you may think. 

    I also reference this book as a first edition because, despite the 200+ pages of beautifully penned essays and insights from a variety of the most accredited indie icons, there will never be enough of these essays to satiate the indie rock consumer at least not for me. And as much of a self-proclaimed fanatic as I am of the genre, I was so pleasantly surprised to learn that I didn’t know every band out there. I’m probably the last person to learn of the band Vetiver, but what a treat.

    And while there are countless memoirs from rock musicians of the early aughts, many of our beloved present-day performers have not since put down the guitars and amps and had the time to write a book. So, this collection gives us the perfect voyeuristic view of the dinner tables and into the minds of our favorite indie rock artists. And, as the duo writes in the introduction — “stories centering food are the perfect gateway into understanding tour itself.” 

    Who knew food and music fit so well together?

    Indie rockers were the perfect choice to churn out a beautiful book of essays. If they can make driving down the New Jersey highway downtempo and melodic, they can tell exciting tales of Japanese gas station snacks and gut-wrenching stories about breakfast sandwiches and love.

    And if you’re wondering, “how the hell do these guys remember what they ate on tour in 2012?” Kevin Morby has an answer for you. 

    “There’s a lot that I don’t remember about eating on the road,” Morby writes. “And though I’ve been given the good fortune to dine all over the world over the past decade, I’d be hard-pressed to tell you the actual names of most of the restaurants, neighborhoods, or even the cities and towns where the dining took place…Instead of trying to relocate them, I simply let them settle quietly into my past not as a specific time, place, or person, but rather as a feeling.” He then goes on to discuss feeling “cool” as he ate sushi at sunrise in Tokyo, and “fancy” while eating smoked fish at an Icelandic spa, the list goes on.

    alex bleeker
    “Taste in Music” co-author Alex Bleeker

    Or as Ethan Bassford, bassist of NYC art-pop group Ava Luna, writes of a Turkish flat bread, he stumbled upon after playing a festival in Mannheim, Germany. A stranger feeding the hungry touring band, a man who did not speak his native tongue, left him with not just the memory of good food but “the sweet memory of being welcomed.” These are some of the little insights that will leave your heart feeling full.

    Taste in Music also shows us that musicians are cultured not just because they’re effortlessly cool and good at music, but because they’ve literally seen the ins and outs of different cultures, continents, and places we didn’t even know existed. But as these rockers, often poor in the beginning, living off a $3 a day per band member food budget, they’re shown a lot of love by locals. They’re given the perspective that we may not see as outsiders on the walking tour around Berlin – and not to mention, they perform for different crowds and cultures every night. 

    Aside from the beautiful and fun bits, the book is also a raw look at how touring impacts artists – not just the glamorous, fun parts. Artists have seemingly opened up about the grueling lifestyle of life on tour. In 2024, it’s not uncommon for an artist to cancel shows, citing physical illness or full tours outright naming the intense strain of touring on mental health. 

    Bleeker’s essay in part two of the book resonated deeply. He writes about, no matter how good a show might have been, he’d find himself wasting hours staring at photos of himself, critiquing every angle, vowing to do better, and eating the same shit the next day. It’s comforting to know that even some of our favorite artists are, well, human.

    It’s something I think a lot of society forgets. Rockstars are people too.

    I’d also like to note the layout and format of this book are so fun. While I read my copy digitally, I can only imagine how these colors, fonts, and beautiful images from the artists (chefs, producers, managers, and more) pop off the page. It has that Rachel Ray cookbook type of feel, with the big bold lettering and of course, the little doodles in the margins — the drawings of which came as no surprise to me, a lifelong fan of Lauren Martin, also of Frankie Cosmos, and her artwork (I’m staring at a poster of a smiling bagel as I write this sentence).

    Here’s to hoping we get many more books (and albums!) from Luke Pyneson and Alex Bleeker. Pick up a copy here.

  • Dawoud Kringle Returns with “Bedtime Stories for Musicians and Other People”

    Can a collection of short stories that delves deep into the hearts and souls of musicians be both entertaining and inspirational?  The answer is yes, and New York City-based musician, author, artist, and producer Dawoud Kringle proves it with his new book Bedtime Stories for Musicians and Other People.

    Dawoud Kringle (aka Dawoud the Renegade Sufi) is a musician and published author whose first two books, “A Quantum Hijra” (a Sufi science fiction novel) and “A Mansion with Many Rooms” (a collection of poetry and short stories) received critical acclaim. His writing appears in several online magazines, including doobeedoobeedoo.info and others, as well as his Substack page.

    dawoud kringle

    Dawoud’s music has been described as sounding like “Hans Zimmer and Jimi Hendrix fighting over a beautiful princess from another galaxy.” A fan said of one of his performances “This is the moment when the beings of Mount Olympus allowed us to hear their chief musician.” He has performed in the US and Europe, appeared on many recordings, including 13 self-produced solo albums. A skilled improviser who often improvises entire concerts, he also has experience composing for film, theater, dance performances, and his own neoclassical compositions. Recently, Dawoud had introduced the Dautar into his music, an instrument he designed and commissioned to build that combines the guitar, sitar and cello. 

    With this experience, Dawoud is uniquely qualified to execute this literary project. His first book in almost nine years, Bedtime Stories for Musicians and Other People is a captivating collection of fictional short stories that takes you on a journey through the lives of musicians across all genres and periods. This eclectic mix of drama, adventure, humor, tragedy, fantasy, mysticism, science fiction, and experimental literary form explores the power of music and the trials and rewards of life itself.

    The variety of tales in this collection is truly inspirational. “Kamaludeen and the Djinn” is the story of the 13th-century Moorish equivalent of Niccolo Paganini and his tragic love affair with a djinn. “The Talking Drum” follows the history of a magical drum from its beginnings in the Songhai Empire, to a hip-hop club in Houston in 2012. “The Scroll and the Five Poisoned Animals” explores a similar theme, beginning in pre-dynastic China and concluding in present-day Chongqing. “Chatbot” is a science fiction story that starts in 2042 and tells the story of a musician whose AI assistant achieves sentience with unforeseen consequences. “An American Drama” is a story in three parts, each narrated by the main characters: a dying outlaw country singer, a blues guitarist, and a Native American bassist. “Professor Hieronymus Peabody and the Dead Musicians” is a humorous story of a mad scientist who builds a time machine and sets up “reaction” sessions with deceased musicians such as Mozart, Liberace, and Jimi Hendrix.

    dawoud kringle

    These and many other immersive and enchanting storytelling make “Bedtime Stories for Musicians and Other People” a fascinating read. Each story speaks from the hearts of musicians as they navigate the tumultuous waters of creative expression and their lives.

    Kringle’s writing demonstrates his deep knowledge of the full scope of music history, literally from the days our Cro-Magnon ancestors first learned to beat a drum.  His imaginative tales are related with a melodic flow that makes this complex and inspired collection a surprisingly breezy read.  Kringle’s latest is his most accessible to date – one that marries his profound musical scholarship with a world of wildly imaginative premises that will delight and inform music-lovers.

    Additionally, Dawoud Kringle is a multi-discipline visual artist, audio engineer, and occasionally does stand-up comedy as a hobby. He is a member in good standing with Musicians For Musicians, and the New York Composer’s Circle.

    Amazon link: https://a.co/d/2RcEBPh

    Online presence: https://linktr.ee/dawoudtherenegadesufi

  • Moon Zappa Pens A Rock-N-Roll Mommy (& Sorta) Daddy Dearest

    In 1978, Christina Crawford published Mommie Dearest, a stunning memoir/exposé about the hardship endured growing up with her cruel and unbalanced mother – screen legend Joan Crawford. 

    While there is no brandishing of coat hangers a la Crawford in Earth to Moon (Deyst/William Morrow), Moon Zappa’s new memoir presents the disturbing realities of growing up as the eldest child of rock legend Frank Zappa and his neglected, bossy, and controlling wife, Gail.

    Moon Zappa

    First off, let’s talk about Frank Zappa. Undoubtedly, he is one of my favorite all-time musicians – as a composer, guitarist, and socio-political commentator. I adored his early works with the original Mothers of Invention, albums like We’re On In It for the Money and Burnt Weeny Sandwich, and also his early- to mid-‘70s output like Hot Rats, Overnight Sensation and Roxy & Elsewhere.  And while he lost me for a while in the ‘80s, he was back at the top of my list with his final works, The Yellow Shark and Civilization Part III.

    Like Picasso and other uber-productive artists, Frank was completely and utterly self-absorbed.  As beloved and admired as he was by his children, he saw very little of them – spending nine months a year on the road.  And when he was home, he rose every day at 5 pm and headed to his recording studio in the basement.  Also, like Picasso, he was the ultimate horndog.  Zappa carried on countless affairs while on the road and even under his own roof (one groupie reportedly lived under the piano in his home studio).  The latter made his wife, Gail, a very unhappy woman who often took her frustrations out on her children. And it was her firstborn, Moon, who was the main sounding board for her woes and the chief recipient of her ire.

    Like her father, Moon is a supremely talented individual—a writer of several books, an actress, an entrepreneur, a spiritualist, and a bit of a comedian too. The genesis of this book goes back to her fifth Christmas, when she received the first of her hardback-bound journals from her parents. This is something that would become an annual tradition and launch her lifetime practice of chronicling life events and her feelings.

    Moon Zappa

    “I partly wrote this memoir as a reclamation, to tell my version of what happened in my childhood and early life as a gift to myself, as a map that charts how and when I ended up as an adult,” she writes in the introduction to her book. “Growing up doesn’t end when you become an adult…Make peace with what hurts and head toward joy… Write your future with the ink of today.” 

    Moon’s sketches of childhood begin with her memorable name, Moon Unit. I had never heard that the “unit” stood for Frank’s belief that her birth made the family a true entity.  When she is still way too young to hear it, her mother shares that “pushing you out of my vagina gave me the best orgasm of my life.”  The Zappa household is bedlam. There are various band members, the Zappa-sponsored groupie/girl group, The GTOs, visiting rock royalty like Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, scenester oddballs, and truly mentally unbalanced freaks like Wildman Fischer crashing through at all hours. She hates that her parents didn’t wear underwear. Above all, Moon craves “stability and structure.”  She is frightened of the basement room where his dad keeps the suitcases he uses for touring. She believes there are aliens living down there (UFOs were one of Gail’s woo-woo obsessions).  Moon would seek protection from the imaginary aliens from an unlikely source – two invisible camels. At four, she tries to run away to Hollywood and the famous Schwab’s Drugstore where Lana Turner was discovered, intent on becoming an actress.

    When Moon gets mad that her birthday is being celebrated after her younger brother’s one September, her mother puts her in a cold shower. Gail tape records her screams and plays them back to a horrified Moon. She decides then and there that she doesn’t want to be anything like her mother. When Frank is away on tour, she will head to the soundproof vocal booth in his home studio to “scream away” her stress.

    While Frank’s absence looms large in her life and this book, some cherished moments are chronicled.  In one, they visit the zoo to see a cheetah Frank and Gail have adopted.  Frank gets her a commemorative coin with “Moon Unit Is Beautiful” imprinted on it.  When she is nine, they share a private moment where Frank shows her his favorite records: Erik Satie, the Goldberg Variation and Johnny Guitar Watson. He then gifts her his huge collection of 45s. 

    Gail shares with Moon her obsessions, one of which is the witchcraft her mother employs against Frank’s many groupies. At 11, Moon casts a spell of her own on a school bully. Moon hangs up her pointy hat and broom when her classmate is injured falling off the monkey bars.

    Moon Zappa

    In an attempt to bond with her dad, Moon slips a letter under his studio door to reintroduce herself to him. This will lead to their collaborative effort, the hit song “Valley Girl.”  Moon’s impression of a So-Cal Valley speak is modeled on a girl she meets at a bar mitzvah.  It will be Frank’s biggest commercial success and Moon will be thrust into the promotional spotlight though horrified by her teenage acne.  Ever the needler, Gail will tell her that Frank wouldn’t give her writing credit or money until she insisted he do so.  “Earth to Moon” is the phrase Gail will deploy to disparagingly gain her attention.

    The success of “Valley Girl” will lead Moon to an acting career, her first on-screen kiss with Erik Estrada on the TV series CHiPs, and her first date with actor Emilio Estevez. To have time for her career, she will be put into a school with other young entertainers, including Janet Jackson and Jason and Justine Bateman, the latter who becomes a lifelong friend. This will be followed by roles in films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and stints as a VJ on MTV, with her brother Dweezil, and later VH-1.  Moon and Dweezil will also star in their own short-lived TV series, Normal Life.

    One of the most moving parts of the book deals with Frank’s battle with terminal prostate cancer. Gail thinks it’s ironic that he got the kind of cancer that would impact his ability to have sex with women… other women.  Another revelation is that Frank will ask Gail for a divorce several times during their marriage, and during his final illness, to be with a German woman named Gerde.  Moon will overhear (and be horrified by) her mother speaking with a New Zealand groupie who wants the dying Frank’s “seed” to have a child.  We hear about his compulsion to continue to work and the Friday “Margarita Nights” where Frank is entertained by the likes of The Chieftains, Ravi Shankar, Tibetan monks, Tuvan Throat singers and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening.  We also hear how Gail makes Moon sell her home to pay for Frank’s treatment… as the genius musician had no health insurance.

    With Frank’s death, the family unravels, largely due to Gail’s machinations.  She lies, saying he died without a will and in debt.  She will sell his music catalog twice and go on a real estate spending spree before also ending up financially strapped.  With Gail’s death from lung cancer, after Moon helps nurse her in her final days, she will set up the uneven distribution of power and assets between her children, which will lead to their current legal battles and estrangement. It’s “the final perfect chess move,” one that sews the family chaos that persists to this day.

    But Moon will also come to admire her mother’s strength, and to have a bit of sympathy for her suffering at the hands of Frank’s artistic self-absorption and roving eye.  “She never deserted her post as our leader in battle. Even if she helped perpetuate the war.”

    With the parents passing, Moon’s life is still a battle and an object lesson in achieving self-realization and peace. In the book, she describes her marriage and divorce and a truly horrifying chapter on the life-threatening illness of her then three-year-old daughter, Matilda.  She will move to Taos, study and teach meditation and yoga online, start a successful tea company, and continue her very fine writing.  She comes to the realization that her mother’s actions are what set her free to be herself.

    Near the close of the book, she writes of her parents: “Together, the two of you taught me the hard lesson that you can die before you die and live beyond your death. As a duo, you created the map and destroyed the key.”

    Moon Zappa will in Woodstock at the Golden Notebook Bookstore on October 13 at 1 pm. For details, visit goldennotebook.com/events.

  • History of the Stone Pony Recorded in New Book

    I Don’t Want To Go Home, The Oral History of the Stone Pony, was released in early June. New Jersey native Nick Corasaniti explores the history of the venue and the surrounding community. Complete with a foreword from Bruce Springsteen, Oral History of the Stone Pony documents the community’s resilience in the face of ruin.

    In 1974, Asbury Park’s future was uncertain. Recovering from a riot and facing ruin, the Stone Pony offered the gleam of hope the town needed. Bouncers Jack Roig and Butch Pielka, underprepared and minimally funded, were determined to own their own venue. Soon, Bruce Springsteen called the Stone Pony Home. Despite success in attracting notable artists like Stevie Van Zandt, “Southside” Johnny Lyon, and Springsteen, the Stone Pony struggled to get by.

    The history of the Stone Pony is emblematic of American life: dogged resistance and big reams, all in the face of decline and neglect. Corasaniti’s insight as a lifelong New Jersian is boosted by his experience as the New York Times’ Jersey correspondent. Bruce Springsteen, Steve Van Zandt, Southside Johnny, members of the E Street Band and Asbury Jukes, the Ramones, the Jonas Brothers, Pearl Jam, the Kinks, Tom Morello, Kenny Chesney, Jack Antonoff, The Gaslight Anthem, the Bouncing Souls, the Lumineers, Russell Crowe and other legendary musicians have featured interviews. Non-musicians associated with the history of the Stone Pony, including bouncers, bartenders, local bon vivants and politicos, including Govs. Chris Christie and Phil Murphy, are also featured.

    The book has already received critical praise: Kirkus Reviews described it as a work with, “charming bits of Springsteen-iana… [with the] theme of a community stubbornly determined to survive amid adversity.” Booklist says the book promises a, “stirring tale of rock ‘n’ roll survival.”

    Umphrey’s McGee at The Stone Pony, 2018 – photo by Capacity Images, Chris Capaci

    It is difficult to overstate The Stone Pony’s role in rock ‘n’ roll history. During the 70s, Ocean Grove resident Johnny Lyon and Middletown’s Steve Van Zandt named their band for the Pony. With soulful, classic, and horn driven R&B music, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes played the Stone Pony three nights a week. Van Zandt would leave the group to play with Bruce Springsteen and the new version of the E Street Band. Salty Dog, Stir Crazy, Winfield, Holme, Salvation, Mad Dog and the Shakes (featuring local legend and former E Street drummer Vini Lopez), The Shots, Cold Blast & Steel, Cahoots and Acme Boogie Company all played the Stone Pony during the 70s.

    The 80s brought a new wave of rock and dance music to the Pony.  Legendary performances included stars on the way up such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Elvis Costello, The Ramones, Cheap Trick, Skid Row, Blondie, The Stray Cats and Winger. Other artists who took to the Pony stage included Meatloaf, Todd Rundgren, Jimmy Cliff, Joan Jett, Blue Oyster Cult, Gregg Allman, Dickie Betts, Ace Frehley of Kiss, Levon Helm, Robert Gordon, Johnny Winter, Vanilla Fudge, David Johansen (a.k.a. Buster Poindexter), Mink DeVille, Dion, Ronnie Spector and Mountain. Van Morrison used the club for the shooting of a music video because of its “cool atmosphere.”

    The Stone Pony hit a slump in the late 80s and early 90s. With insurance prices and other expenses rising, the Stone Pony came close to ruin. Steven Nasar bought the venue in bankruptcy court, and planned to make it into a dance club. In 2000, Jersey City restaurant owner Domenic Santana promised the Pony would be open by Memorial Day in a press conference.

    Credit: Michael Dinger; The Pretenders playing at the Stone Pony

    Santana renovated the Stone Pony, adding a permanent exhibition of art and artifacts from the history of the city and the venue itself. With a new state of the art lighting and sound equipment, redesign of the outside Stone Pony Landing area, tenting and a small food facility, the venue was ready to retake its rightful place in popular culture.

    Artists did not abandon the Stone Pony: The Pretenders, The Strokes, Interpol, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Patti Smith, Jason Mraz, Third Eye Blind, Sean Ono Lennon, Clarence Clemons, The Wailers, The Backseat Lovers, Indigo Girls, and Ziggy Marley among many others have continued to play at the Stone Pony. New Jersey native musicians continue to play the Stone Pony, and pay tribute to their roots, including Grateful Dead Tribute Band JRAD. The community’s resilience in the face of difficulty is remarkable, and a testament to the strength of music.

    In celebration of their 50th anniversary, The Stone Pony is hosting a summer series, more information is available here.

    The book is available for purchase here, and a CNN report on a the Stone Pony’s history is below.

  • Rock’s Everywhere Man Dave Mason Pens A Memoir

    Only You Know and I Know is not only the name of one of his biggest hits, but it is also now the title of Dave Mason’s forthcoming autobiography.  It’s a freewheeling testament proving that Dave was one of the most Zelig of rockers.  He’s a “quiet giant” who had his fingerprints all over the work of not only the famous group he co-founded, Traffic, but defining tracks by pals like Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Derek and the Dominoes, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Delaney & Bonnie, Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, Fleetwood Mac and many more.

    Only You Know and I Know dave mason

    Raised on a farm and saddled with a hip condition that kept him bedridden for a year as a child, Dave discovered music at 12, when he plucked a ukulele out of a trash can while visiting his sister in San Diego. His first axe didn’t last long; his mother summarily used it to fix a stopped-up toilet!  The would-be songwriter’s love of melody and harmony came from listening to The Platters while his still-underrated guitar chops were seeded by coping the solos of Hank Marvin and The Shadows and the Ventures, ones which he played in his early band, The Jaguars.  He would see The Beatles, Stones and Dylan in concert and even meet Little Richard before he struck out on a professional career.

    But it was the all-nighters at clubs in Birmingham where he would make his big connection, first with drummer Jim Capaldi in The Hellions then teenage Steve Winwood, when he was the star attraction in the Spencer Davis Group. Mason would contribute to the group’s latter-day hits, “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m A Man,” before joining forces with Winwood, Capaldi and flautist Chris Wood in Traffic.

    Dave Mason – photo by Chris Jensen

    Mason’s star-crossed, on-again/off-again history with Traffic is a thread that runs through the entire book.  After “getting it together” at their little country cottage in Berkshire, just like Dylan and The Band at Big Pink, they would record Mr. Fantasy, their hit debut disc.  But it’s Dave’s song that the rest of the band hated, “Hole In My Shoe,” which was the biggest hit (#2).  The tension within the band would lead Dave to quit on the eve of their first U.S. tour. But because the trio was lacking in original songs, Mason and his songs are welcomed back for the second album, 1968’s Traffic. He contributes “All Join In,” a tune penned on a caffeine jag in an Athens café and “Feelin’ Alright,” written on the Greek island of Hydra that would achieve classic status in its cover by Joe Cocker. Before the album was released, Dave would be fired from Traffic.  He would be back for a couple of gigs captured on the album, Welcome to the Canteen, before a final split.  At their 2006 induction into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, Dave was not invited to play with the band.

    Dave’s move to the U.S. in 1971 puts him in the circle of Cass Elliot and the CS&N crew, along with Delaney & Bonnie.  He becomes a part of the L.A. music scene bringing in A-list stars and session legends to record his truly great debut disc, Alone Together, closely followed by a duet album with Cass Elliot. He also becomes a part of the LaLa social whirl: partying with Sharon Tate and Abigail Folger shortly before the Manson murders, romancing actress Leigh Taylor Young and establishing close friendships with Dan Haggerty (TV’s Grizzly Adams) and Patrick Swayze.

    Dave Mason must be a really great hang because many of the true icons of rock are pals who call upon his talents in the recording studio.  He is featured on Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watch Tower,” The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man,” Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Listen to What the Man Said” and George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass.”  It is Harrison who gives him a sitar which Mason plays on early Traffic tunes. It’s also Mason who purportedly shows George how to play slide during a break in a Delaney & Bonnie tour date.  Through Delaney & Bonnie and the Harrison sessions, Dave is enlisted into an early version of Derek and The Dominoes. He leaves after a little recording and one live performance when the drug use in the band proves too much even for him.  Though it’s seldom discussed, Dave was also a member of a post-Rumors Fleetwood Mac, touring from 1994-1995 and recording the album, Time.

    While charmed in many places, Only You Know and I Know demonstrates Dave’s life has not been a complete bed of roses. He is honest here about his battles with addiction (mostly cocaine), his broken romances, the loss of his son and shortcomings as a father and his faulty business acumen (bankruptcies, bad management and recording contracts). There’s also talk of aborted music projects with Ginger Baker, Bob Dylan during his Desire album sessions and his trio with Leon Russell and Gary Wright. There is also his decision to move to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands… a few days before Hurricane Hugo decimates it.

    Mason is priming his fans for the release of his new memoir with 40-concert running through mid-October. The book and this latest tour prove that Dave is one of the true rock-n-roll survivors, someone for whom music is a salve and salvation which has helped him and his generations of fans cope with life’s inevitable hurdles.

    Dave Mason tour Info can be found  here, pre-order Only You Know and I Know, co-authored by Chris Epting, here

  • Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera Discusses His Half Century in Music & Intriguing Family History in Revolución to Roxy

    He is one of the most underrated guitarists and producers to come out of the ‘70s British music scene.  But now Phil Manzanera, best known as the long-running axe man for glam-cum-art rockers Roxy Music, is telling the story of his globetrotting life, in music and beyond, in a new memoir, Revolución to Roxy  (Wordzworth Publishing)

    Manzanera’s autobiography goes well beyond the usual, dumbed-down VH-1 “Behind the Music” rise-fall-rise template.  As he states in his introduction below, it’s a very personal exploration of his life – one made as much for music fans as it is for his far-flung family.

    “I’ve written this memoir for my English and Colombian family, dear friends and music fans, who have followed my musical twists and turns for over half a century. It spans from my 50’s childhood in Cuba, Hawaii and Venezuela, when everything seemed in the brightest technicolor, to grey but very cool ‘60’s London and the start of a music career that continues to enrich my life, some 50 years later. Roxy Music is an important part of the story and I will be forever thankful to the doors it opened for me to a global world of music and musical collaborations. But I hope you’ll find my family history every bit as fascinating as my music adventures, I’m proud to be related to a Colombian pirate, a spy and an Italian opera musician.”

    On the musical front, Phil is best known for his 50 years with Roxy Music, from its incredible 1972 debut disc to its final 50th Anniversary tour.  In the band’s early days, it was the two Bs – Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno – who sucked up most of the limelight.  But it was Manzanera’s searing, melodic and uniquely treated guitar riffage that brought the fire to Roxy’s post-modern mélange, along with the Bonham-like thump of the equally-underrated drummer Paul Thompson.

    Roxy Music “Ladytron” on BBC 1972

    But outside of Roxy, Manzanera has plied a productive career as a solo artist, producer and collaborator.  He has worked as a sideman, producer and songwriter partner with greats like Bob Dylan, Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt, John Cale, Split Enz and David Gilmour, both solo and in the final works of Pink Floyd.  He also became one of the most prominent producers of Rock En Espanol.

    The story of Phil’s much-traveled youth is one of the more engaging parts of the book.  Phillip Targett-Adams was born in England to a British father and Colombian mother whose surname he would take for his life on the stage.  His father’s work for a British airline company (and maybe as a spy?) would take young Phil to Venezuela, Hawaii and, most notably, Cuba where he witnessed the Fidel Castro-led revolution. He would become fascinated with the guitar while living in Cuba and make his first forays into playing while at board school in England, with the purchase of a Hofner Galaxie which he still has.  There, he would form a musical partnership with bassist Bill McCormick which would fully flower in the collaborations with Eno and with an album by his immediate pre-Roxy prog band, Quiet Sun.

    Manzanera’s memories of the early Roxy Music days will provide plenty of juice for glam music fans.  Phil would fail his first audition with the band and get his signature “look” – the bug-eye sunglasses – when the band’s stylist pulled them out of a bag of accessories during the first album photo shoot.  Wearing them while playing guitar would prove a challenge Phil would have to endure through the band’s early rise. 

    Roxy Music fans will enjoy his description of the band’s unique working style.  The detail-oriented control freak leader, Bryan Ferry, would come up with all the music first and, only after it was recorded, would he write lyrics.  After the basic tracks were laid down, Phil would take them home and work out different guitar parts on tape, which would then be assessed and the best recorded.  He also discussed the inevitable parting of Eno from the band, perhaps due to the fact that Brian had much more success with the ladies than Ferry?  We also hear how he purchased his signature guitar, the “Cardinal Red” 1964 Gibson Firebird VII.  And also how he broke his leg falling off the six-inch platform shoes that were required wardrobe in the glam rock days.

    As with all too many musician memoirs, Phil’s demonstrates how an artist’s fortunes can suffer from bad management.  According to Manzanera, Roxy only received 5% of the monies earned from early albums, a sum that would be divided equally amongst the six members.  It would be 12 years before he earned anything meaningful from his recording and touring with Roxy Music.

    Roxy Guitar Solo “Dream Home” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KODD2sjfH0

    There is great context about his collaborations with Brian Eno on his legendary early solo album, their work in the band 801, the Quiet Sun project and Phil’s acclaimed early solo albums, Diamond Head, Primitive Guitars and K-Scope. It’s a tune from the last album than would pay huge and unexpected dividends decades after its release.

    Phil would go on to be the director of Guitar Legends, a 5-day concert extravaganza featuring B.B. King, Brian May, Steve Vai, Joe Walsh, Jack Bruce, Keith Richards, Bob Dylan and many more, produced in tandem with Expo ‘92 in Seville, the birthplace of the guitar.  His Latin roots would make him the choice producer for many of the biggest Rock En Espanol acts including Heroes de Silencio and the later solo work of its leader, Enrique Bunbury.  Also discussed are the many productions created at Gallery Studio at his home in Sussex, St. Ann’s Court. These included latter-day Roxy Music albums like Avalon, their biggest commercial success.

    Manzanera also elaborates on his extensive role as a co-writer, guitarist and producer for the post-Roger Waters era Pink Floyd and the solo work of its guitarist, David Gilmore.  Phil would earn composer credit on tracks like Floyd’s “Learning to Fly” and producer credit on albums like their final work, The Endless River.  He would serve as producer of various David Gilmour solo albums from 2006 – 2015, including On An Island, Live in Gdansk and Rattle That Lock.   During Covid, he would remotely wax three albums with Tim Finn of The Split Enz.

    Roxy Music fans will get Phil’s take on the many fits and starts of their career, including three big breakups and reformations through their final world tour in 2022 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction.  He compares Roxy to one of his vintage cars, a Rolls Royce, saying – It’s beautiful to look at, but very hard to drive.”

    Manzanera’s biggest financial windfall would come not from rock but rap. That would arrive in 2011 when a beat-maker named 88 Keys would sample a guitar riff from a tune on his 1978 album K-Scope for use in a Jay-Z/Kayne West track, “No Church In the Wild” on their album, Watch the Throne. Manzanera was allocated one-third of resulting royalties and publishing revenue for the song, more than either of the rappers. The album went Gold in the UK and Platinum in the US, and the song was used in the film The Great Gatsby and various tv commercials. 

    In his book, Manzanera states that he earned more from “this brief sequence of maybe twenty notes” than he had in his 50 years with Roxy Music.

    Phil on the Jay-Z/Kayne Sample – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A61-wcM9sQo

    Bio: Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and publicist living in the Hudson Valley and NYC. He is President of Cataldi PR and leader of the band Spaghetti Eastern Music and member of the ensembles Guitars A Go Go, Vapor Vespers and spaceheater.