And Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records [Hardcover]

Larry Harris (Author), Curt Gooch (Author), Jeff Suhs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2009

Now it can be told! The true, behind-the-scenes story of Casablanca Records, from an eyewitness to the excess and insanity. Casablanca was not a product of the 1970s, it was the 1970s. From 1974 to 1980, the landscape of American culture was a banquet of hedonism and self-indulgence, and no person or company in that era was more emblematic of the times than Casablanca Records and its magnetic founder, Neil Bogart. From his daring first signing of KISS, through the discovery and superstardom of Donna Summer, the Village People, and funk master George Clinton and his circus of freaks, Parliament Funkadelic, to the descent into the manic world of disco, this book charts Bogart's meteoric success and eventual collapse under the weight of uncontrolled ego and hype. It is a compelling tale of ambition, greed, excess, and some of the era's biggest music acts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Neil Bogart died in 1982 and, though there has been talk of a biopic for years (it was rumored in 2001 that Gene Simmons wanted to produce it as a Mike Myers vehicle), the actual story of the Los Angeles label he masterminded remained just a series of tall tales and exaggerated drug gossip until now. Larry Harris has emerged from his music-industry semiretirement to pen And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records.... Harris says, We came out with a New York attitude, trying to change things and made a little noise in the process. The book conveys this sense of excitement, as this ambitious, wild bunch from [New York] lands in the supposedly chill, post-hippie L.A. of the Eagles, CSNY and the long-haired ladies of the canyons.... The book contains detailed evidence of the chaotic manipulation of the music charts in the wild days before computer scanning. This fell mostly under Harris purview, and he offers fascinating insight on what these legendary promo men did back in the day. --LA Weekly

A delightful new memoir pulls back the veil on an almost-forgotten era.... Larry Harris was front and center--from Woodstock and the discovery of KISS, to the founding of Casablanca, Studio 54 and the origin of Disco. He relates each story with a refreshing humility, often sharing the recall of his own overwhelmed surprise.... And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records is not just an insider account of a major portion of American rock n' roll history--it's a work of cultural anthropology. Those dreams, those experiences, those trips and those days, may well be gone forever...but thanks to Larry Harris we've been blessed with an unabashed look back into our most fantastic and frivolous past. --Blurt.com

The rise and fall of the world s most debauched label. The home of Donna Summer and The Village People during their 70s heyday, flamboyant mogul Neil Bogart s Casablanca Records had a license to print money which they promptly blew on drugs, bribes, and outrageous promotional stunts. As cofounder and Bogart s cousin Harris had a front-seat view of the madness. It s all in here, from the drug-fueled meetings to flying a birthday cake first class to Donna Summer, though there s the inescapable sense that it was always going to end in tears. --Q Magazine

All this is detailed in no-holds-barred fashion in Harris new memoir, And Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records, co-written with Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs. The most dirt-filled music book since Mötley Crüe s The Dirt, And Party Every Day is always entertaining and frequently jaw-dropping, from Harris description of acting as runner for an enormous amount of cocaine for Curtis Mayfield and several female hotel guests during the Buddah days to tales of calling his own positions on the Billboard charts. --The Onion AV Club

Casablanca Records, whose roster included Donna Summer and the Village People, symbolized the excesses of the era better than any other label. Harris, cofounder of Casablanca, with Gooch and Suhs (coauthors, Kiss Alive Forever), tells the insider s story of Casablanca, from its 1973 founding through corporate struggles (and lots of sex and drugs) to its 1980s disintegration under the conglomerate PolyGram. Harris details the early career and the breakthrough of Kiss as well as Parliament Funkadelic. He also corrects the story of Casablanca as told in Fredric Dannen s Hit Men. Verdict While the graphic details may make even adult readers uncomfortable; anyone open to finding out what the disco era at Casablanca was really like will love this. --Library Journal Xpress Review

Home to Kiss, Donna Summer, and the Village People, Casablanca was the quintessential 1970s record label, run by hype-crazed promo men who believed the best way to make money was to spend mountains of it. Former Casablanca VP Harris tells jaw-dropping tales of chart manipulation, desks piled with drugs...label execs throwing Frisbees out office windows at hookers, and Rodney Dangerfield, who was signed to the label, carrying a Noxzema jar of cocaine. --Rolling Stone Magazine

Casablanca Records, whose roster included Donna Summer and the Village People, symbolized the excesses of the era better than any other label. Harris, cofounder of Casablanca, with Gooch and Suhs (coauthors, Kiss Alive Forever), tells the insider s story of Casablanca, from its 1973 founding through corporate struggles (and lots of sex and drugs) to its 1980s disintegration under the conglomerate PolyGram. Harris details the early career and the breakthrough of Kiss as well as Parliament Funkadelic. He also corrects the story of Casablanca as told in Fredric Dannen s Hit Men. Verdict While the graphic details may make even adult readers uncomfortable; anyone open to finding out what the disco era at Casablanca was really like will love this. --Library Journal Xpress Review

About the Author

About the Author

Larry Harris began working for Buddah/Kama Sutra Records in the summer of 1971 as the local New York promotions man, and in 1973 joined his cousin Neil Bogart in founding Casablanca Records. He became senior vice president and managing director of the company in 1976 and left Casablanca in the fall of 1980. Larry was born in New York and now lives and works in Seattle.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 310 pages
• Publisher: Backbeat (November 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879309822
• ISBN-13: 978-0879309824
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Business

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, October 27, 2009

By 

E. Dvorin - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records (Hardcover)

I heard about AND PARTY EVERY DAY earlier this year and have been waiting for it ever since. I got my copy the other day and was blown away. I had some high expectations and they were all surpassed ...by a mile.

The book is full of stories about Casablanca's wild parties (the money and drugs flying around the place were just amazing...how did these guys not get arrested?) and their very high profile acts like Donna Summer, The Village People, and Kiss. I thought I knew a lot about Casablanca Records, but I didn't. The book is very well written and even though it's full of details, it's very easy to read, and very hard to put down.

I enjoyed learning about the business side of the music industry, but I was just adddicted to the feeling it gives you of being right there when it was all happening. You feel transported into the 1970s and I was rooting for Neil Bogart the whole way through and found myself thrilled when the label broke through and cringing at all their mistakes.

I've always been a big fan of the 1970s and have read a ton of books and articles about it, but AND PARTY EVERY DAY is the first time I've felt like I was actually there. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rocking The Casbah, February 9, 2010

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: And Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records (Hardcover)

If you were into popular music in the seventies, you knew Casablanca. Started in 1973 by Neil Bogart, Casablanca became the house of Disco and the home of KISS. They also became synonymous with the drug fueled excesses of the seventies and the triumph of image over substance, despite the fact that the label delivered some of the best music of the decade. Hell, Casablanca was the seventies for many in the music world. Head Honcho Neil Bogart was a talent finder extraordinaire and a showman on a level with PT Barnum. No claim was too exaggerated and no gesture was too grandiose. It was once said that he would spend five dollars to show one dollar in profit, and when Casablanca ultimately fell under its own weight, a certain magic of the music industry evaporated with it. Author Larry Harris worked at Buddah/Kama Sutra Records in the summer of 1971, and in 1973 joined his cousin Neil Bogart in founding Casablanca Records. He saw firsthand the carnival of wilding that was Casablanca, and it's his first hand story that fuels "And Party Every Day."

While there are plenty of anecdotal stories about Casablanca's biggest stars, like initial signing Kiss and superstars Donna Summer and The Village People, the bulk of "And Party Every Day" focuses on how a young Neil Bogart took his idea for an artist driven record company and built his empire from the ground up. Larry starts the story with a reminiscence of being at Woodstock and realizing he's found his place in the world, then joining Neil in his dream. Along the way the two of them make millions of dollars, spend even more, give the world Kiss, Parliament, Angel and cover the globe with Disco.

But there's also the seamier side of egos, drugs, industry politics and manipulations. The decision to release the four solo albums by the members of Kiss and ship over a million copies of each that started the beginning of the end of Casablanca and the behind the scenes battles that caused it. The fudging of figures and the turf wars. Greed, excess and flamboyance. The world of Casablanca Records and Filmworks was both magic and the crazy tale of the man behind the curtain, and Harris does a terrific job in making it readable. Casablanca not only was a record and entertainment company, it was a universe unto itself. "And Party Every Day" takes you on a time machine when music people not only made and sold the music, they sold the dream along with it. It makes me miss the dream, miss the people that built it, makes me wish they were my friends. And I wasn't even there.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I was there and it's all true, December 17, 2010

By 

Dennis Wilen - See all my reviews

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This review is from: And Party Every Day: The Inside Story Of Casablanca Records (Hardcover)

I knew Larry Harris back then, and lost touch with him until last month, when we found each other on Facebook and he told me out this history of his cousin Neil Bogart and Casablanca Records.

His outrageous stories of girls and drugs and booze and cash and payola and the Mob -- all true.

Neil's pad high above LaCienega Boulevard? I stayed there at Casablanca's expense on a Los Angeles vacation. I was a radio programmer for a very important rock FM station.

The crazy goings on at the Buddah >>> Casablanca office in NYC? Been there, done that. Sold a bunch of jazz albums to Joe Fields, who I fondly remember.

Michael Klenfner stories? All true, both his radio days and promo days. I remember when he came to Philly and showed off his hot-off-the assembly-lines Honda Civic which was only a little bigger than today's Smart cars.

The huge Klenfner in the little car smelled just like circus clowns.

Larry's description of the teeny Casablanca office above Sunset is perfect. It looked they furnished the joint with props from Warner Brothers.

Roys Chinese restaurant on the other side of Sunset with the notorious private room? Yesirree bob.

The book names some great names -- George Gerrity, Jerry Stevens, Larry Magid; and others not so great: Artie Ripp, for example, and Bucky Rheingold.

If you read Joe Smith's "Hit Men," stories of promo guys with guns are not new to you. I was threatened by the guy Joe accurately describes as carrying a photo of a "dead gook" in his wallet to intimidate people.

Not Larry or Neal. They were all about the love. Little packets of love.

I ended up quitting the record business in the early 1980s after a final career peak that found me way up in the 9000 Sunset Building, looking down on the Roxy.

Larry stayed in a lot longer and has lots more stories.

True stories.