Mike Katz – författare

When the singing is over and the talking starts, that’s when the true, unvarnished wisdom of rock ‘n’ roll comes out. Built on first-hand experience, the gorgeous, illustrated Little Book of Rock ‘n’ Roll Wisdom offers the wise words of stars past and present on a variety of topics like love, breakups, rebellion, success, feeling good, being down-and-out, and even death to offer the big-picture view of rock ‘n’ roll. Rock stars can be outrageous, funny, in your face, and sometimes even oddly humanitarian. This collection includes wisdom from such icons as Elvis, Bowie, Jimi, Dylan, Bruce, Mick, Keith, Prince, Lennon, Ozzy, Clapton, Bono, Janis, and more.

Explore the groovy sites Golden Gate City’s rock history.Perhaps best known for the ‘60s psychedelic scene exemplified by the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Janis Joplin, the Bay Area’s rock & roll history twists and turns like Lombard Street itself. San Francisco is where the Beatles played their final concert, where the Clash recorded much of their second album; where a drug-addled Keith Moon passed out during a concert by the Who only to be replaced behind the drum kit by an eager fan. The rock equivalent of Manifest Destiny carried wave upon wave of young musicians in search of fame, fortune and the great lost chord to Golden Gate City. San Francisco and the Bay Area have collectively produced countless key figures in rock & roll, from musicians to journalists to entrepreneurs. The modern concept of the vast outdoor rock festival took root in and around San Francisco. Rock and roll is baked into the city’s culture and story to this day. This book will be a guide to the places that shaped the local scene and world-famous sound: where music makers lived, rocked, performed, recorded, met, broke up, and more. Geography will include San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and neighboring communities.

From the churches and street corners of Harlem and The Bronx to the underground clubs of the East Village, New York City has been a musical mecca for generations, and Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is the definitive story of its development throughout the five boroughs.Plug in and walk the same streets a young Bob Dylan walked. See where Patti Smith, the Ramones, Beastie Boys, and Jeff Buckley played. Visit on foot the places Lou Reed mentions in his songs or where Paul Simon grew up; where the Strokes drowned their sorrows, Grizzly Bear cut their teeth and Jimi Hendrix found his vision. Rock and Roll Explorer Guide gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at how bands came together, scenes developed, and classic songs were written. Artists come and go, neighborhoods change, venues open and close, but the music lives on. Contents Upper Manhattan and HarlemUpper West SideThe Velvet UndergroundUpper East SideThe BeatlesJohn & YokoCentral ParkPatti SmithMidtown WestBeastie BoysMidtown EastMadonnaChelsea & Hudson YardsJimi Hendrix & Electric LadyUnion Square & Madison SquareNew York DollsWest VillageBob DylanEast Village BlondieSoho & TriBeCaSonic YouthLower East SideThe StrokesBrooklynTalking HeadsQueensRamonesSimon & GarfunkelThe BronxKissStaten IslandRock & roll may not have been born in New York, but this is one of the places it grew up and blew up and presented itself to the world. From the churches and street corners of Harlem and the Bronx to the underground clubs of the East Village, New York City has been a musical Mecca for generations, and The Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is an historical journey through its development across all five boroughs.The Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City restores a sense of time and place to music history by identifying and documenting critical points of interest spanning genres and eras, and delineating the places in New York City critical to its musical development and ultimate triumphs and tragedies. Through this lens, we can see and understand how bands came together, scenes developed, and classic songs were written. In some cases, the buildings are still there, in others only the address remains, but you still get a sense of the history that happened there.Among the many locations in this book are addresses musicians and other key rock & roll figures once called home. In a very few instances we’ve included current addresses, but only when the location is historically significant and widely known; otherwise, we consciously left current residences out. The Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is intended as a fun travel guide through music history rather than a means of locating famous musicians. Most New Yorkers understand that everyone has a right to privacy. That’s one of the reasons many of these artists live here.Because of the city’s rich history, this book cannot be a comprehensive encyclopedia of music, rock venues, or the music industry; nor do we present the definitive biographies of the musicians included. The artists and locations chosen represent a sometimes broad look at the history of rock & roll in the city, with an eye on those who either grew up or spent their formative years here. But there’s so much more we couldn’t include, and we hope readers will be inspired to go even further, whether they’re hitting the streets themselves or experiencing the city vicariously from afar. Artists come and go, neighborhoods change, venues open and close, but the music lives on.