Customer Reviews

Nobody Told Me: From Basement Band to Jack and the John Lennon Sessions

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Nobody Told Me: From Basement Band To Jack And The John Lennon Sessions is the true-to-life memoir of Ken Geringer, partner and close friend of Jack Douglas. Geringer recounts his own childhood, his introduction into the world of music, from playing drums in a band with Bob Marley's sister to working with Jack Douglas, John and Yoko, Aerosmith, The Who and much more. A poignant, insider's look at the world of fame and a special tribute to John Lennon and Jack Douglas, Nobody Told Me is very highly recommended reading.

I bought Ken Geringer's Nobody Told Me as a gift for my husband, but after I heard hubby laughing all the way through it, I picked it up. And couldn't put it down.
Not what I expected-not your standard rock `n roll litany of what drugs we did on what days-but a sensitive and damn funny tale that has what most books of today lack-meaning. The author, although he did work with Lennon's people and did include much insight on John and others, opens the book with his growing up during a time when he learned it was OK to say `---- off' to racist adults, stupid teachers, and the goody-goody kids in his housing development. I am 48 years old and I remember feeling the same way he did (and still do). Nobody Told Me would still be just as great a book even if Ken never met the rock (Lennon, Aerosmith, plus) and reggae (Bob Marley) musicians he wrote about. Sure, there are drugs, but it isn't a `drug book.' My favorite story is where the author-age 15-and a friend are hitchhiking home holding a 6 foot pot plant after plucking it from where they had it growing in a state forest when a park police car pulls up. But the ranger says only-'this is a state park, boys. It's illegal to pull out our plants.' And he drives away.
Do you remember getting away with...everything? Remember hitchhiking--safely? Remember being 16 and walking down the street, unnoticed, puffing (how shocking!) a Marlboro? Remember those days of innocence and naiveté?
I passed this book onto my 17-year-old son. I want him to understand the world I once lived in, a world I couldn't begin to explain, a world he wouldn't recognize. Okay, cigarettes are bad and maybe pot isn't great either, but we had our freedom. We were free-and encouraged- not only to be ourselves, but we had freedom from fear.
Freedom is what Nobody Told Me is really about. I think we all have a lot to learn from this book (remember learning?) But it was so interesting, wild, and sorry, Ken-cute-it was the most fun I have had with a book in a long, long time. While reading it I got a lot of the same emotions I felt while seeing, reading or listening to: Almost Famous, The Graduate, Alice's Restaurant, Tom Sawyer, Catcher in the Rye, Cheech and Chong, The Smothers Brothers, Lenny Bruce, On The Road, To Kill A Mockingbird, Hair, The Woodstock Movie, To Sir With Love, Billy Jack, anything Hendrix, Dead, Beatles, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and, the Constitution of the United States.
Thanks, Ken, for painting such a vivid picture of a time not-so-long-gone that today's generation will see, understand, and maybe, be inspired to re-create.

I bought this book through the mail, so I did not have a chance to flip through it before I bought it. The product description above is misleading.

I bought the book thinking I was going to read many pages about John Lennon and his work with Jack Douglas. I also heard interviews with the author which made it seem as if the book was full of many juicy Lennon tidbits. I was wrong. Essentially, this book is a semi autobiography about the author and his life as a teenager, growing up, getting married, having children, etc. Apparently he worked for several years as a close associate of Jack Douglas and there is much information there, but from my point of view, who cares?

This book sucks most people in because it suggests never before released info about John Lennon. However, there are maybe 5 pages on Lennon in the entire book, much of which we have read before, and they are scattered haphazardly throughout. The book is not even organized well.

Save your money.