From the
Beach Boys and Jan & Dean
to the Byrds and the Mamas
& the Papas, acclaimed
music journalist Joel Selvin
tells the story of a group of
young artists and musicians
who came together at the dawn
of the 1960s to create the
lasting myth of the California
dream.
“In this
breathtaking cultural history
filled with exclusive,
never-before-revealed details,
celebrated rock journalist
Joel Selvin tells the
definitive story of the
Rolling Stones' infamous
Altamont concert in San
Francisco, the disastrous
historic event that marked the
end of the idealistic 1960s."
LONG-AWAITED BERT BERNS
BIOGRAPHY PUBLISHED BY
COUNTERPOINT PRESS
“Here
Comes the Night: The Dark
Soul of Bert Berns and the
Dirty Business of Rhythm and
Blues” is both a definitive
account of the New York
rhythm and blues world of
the early ‘60s, and the
harrowing, ultimately tragic
story of songwriter and
record producer Bert Berns,
whose meteoric career was
fueled by his pending doom.
His heart
damaged by rheumatic fever as
a youth, doctors told Berns he
would not live to see
twenty-one. Although his name
is little remembered today,
Berns worked alongside all the
greats of the era – Jerry
Leiber and Mike Stoller, Ahmet
Ertegun and Jerry Wexler, Burt
Bacharach, Phil Spector, Gerry
Goffin and Carole King, anyone
who was anyone in New York
rhythm and blues. In seven
quick years, he went from
nobody to the top of the pops
– producer of monumental
r&b classics, songwriter
of “Twist and Shout,” “My Girl
Sloopy” and others.
His fury to
succeed led Berns to use his
Mafia associations to muscle
Atlantic Records out of a
partnership and intimidate new
talents like Neil Diamond and
Van Morrison he signed to his
record label, only to drop
dead of a long expected fatal
heart attack, just when he was
seeing his grandest plans and
life’s ambitions frustrated
and foiled.
Sammy
Hagar—legendary lead
singer of Van Halen,
founder of the Cabo Wabo
Tequila brand, and one
of rock music’s most
notoriously successful
performers—tells his
unforgettable story in
this one-of-a-kind
autobiography of a life
at the top of the
charts. From
his decade-long journey
alongside Eddie Van Halen
to his raucous solo career
with Chickenfoot and
everything in between—the
drugs, groupies, and
excesses of fame, the
outrageous stadium tours,
and the thrill of musical
innovation—Hagar reveals
all in this treasure trove
of rock-and-roll war
stories. Red is a
life-changing look at one
of music’s biggest
talents—an essential read
for music fans and anyone
dreaming of becoming
rock’s next number one
star. ...Read More
An
explosive,
wrenching tale
of music,
madness and
murder. Order from Amazon
• SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: Joel Selvin’s ‘Drums & Demons’ seeks to restore legacy of rock’s greatest drummer
• THE GUARDIAN: ‘Something lurking behind the curtain’: the dark, violent downfall of drummer Jim Gordon
• WFMU (Michael Shelley) WFMU (Michael Shelley) – February 24, 2024 – “Guest: Joel Selvin author of ‘Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon’
HOLLYWOOD
EDEN PRESS:
•
NEW
YORK TIMES:
From Brian Wilson
to Nancy Sinatra:
The L.A. Music
Scene in the ’60s Joel
Selvin, the former
pop music critic
of The San
Francisco
Chronicle, has
explored rock’s
history in a
string of fun
books, including
“Monterey Pop”
(written with Jim
Marshall) and
“Summer of Love.”
In his new one,
“Hollywood Eden:
Electric Guitars,
Fast Cars, and the
Myth of the
California
Paradise,” he
tells the story,
set between 1957
and 1967, of a
network of young
Angelenos who
“captured a
California of the
mind” — one of
“cars, sun, sex
and surf; ‘Gidget’
set to a rock ’n’
roll beat.”
•
LA
TIMES: How
California’s
culture industry
manufactured the
California dream As
Selvin writes, a
handful of young
artists, including
Jan and Dean, the
Beach Boys and the
Mamas and the
Papas, were
largely
responsible for
implanting the
myth of Southern
California in the
national
consciousness.
“Good Vibrations”
sounds like a
forever future, as
if a fleet of
tanned aliens
touched down to
share their music.
(In fact, it was
just the genius of
Brian Wilson and
an army of session
musicians.)
VIDEO
from TIME.com:
Let Paul
McCartney
Introduce You To
Bert Berns, The
Best Songwriter
You’ve Never
Heard Of click
here
HERE
COMES THE
NIGHT PRESS:
•
New York Times: Many-Hit Wonder, Out of Obscurity
Bert Berns,
Songwriter and
Producer,
Remembered Even
in his mid-1960s
heyday, Bert
Berns was barely
known beyond the
obsessives who
studied
songwriters’ and
producers’
credits on 45
r.p.m. records
and LP album
jackets. And
then, after his
death in 1967 at
the age of 38,
something truly
odd happened:
Though the songs
he wrote and
produced, like
“Twist and
Shout” and “Hang
On Sloopy,”
proved to have
durability,
growing in
stature and
popularity as
the years
passed, Berns’s
own reputation
receded even
further into
obscurity..
"BANG!
THE BERT BERNS
STORY. Great
rockumentary
about a
forgotten
giant.
Narrated by
Little Steven,
written by
rock legend
Joel Selvin,
my old
bandmate.
•
Los Angeles Review of Books: Stephen Deusner on
Here Comes the
Night : The Dark
Soul of Bert
Berns and the
Dirty Business
of Rhythm &
Blues IN
HIS NEW BOOK,
Joel Selvin
describes three
different
recordings of
the song “Twist
and Shout.” Two
were not simply
big hits, but
seminal
contributions to
the rock ’n’
roll canon. ...
"An absolute treasure
for fans of American
roots music."
-Booklist Available from Amazon
Long considered the
definitive account
of the meteoric
career of the
pioneer funk-rock
band, Sly & the
Family Stone: An
Oral History by Joel
Selvin, the 1998
classic that has
been out of print
for years, returns
in a new, updated
edition from
Permuted Press.
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