An electrifying collection of the most entertaining and illuminating writing on and from the rock-and-roll scene. The exhilarating, endlessly creative work of rock and roll has fascinated us since the earliest days of the genre. This book assembles the writing of those who played the music and pushed it to new limits, as well as those who were there to witness and celebrate its power. Here you'll find all the crazy magic of rock and roll, from the earliest days to the present, from the brightest moments of the biggest stars to obscure but compellingly significant treasures, including Joan Didion sitting in on a Doors recording session, Roddy Doyle's Commitments searching for Irish soul, Tom Wolfe turning his pen to the Beatles phenomenon, Patti Smith evoking her first response to the Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa testifying before Congress, and Yoko Ono explaining John Lennon's death to their son. Enjoy performances by the great rock critics, and share tributes remembering in their glory some of the stars who are making noise in the hereafter. Introduction by Peter Guralnick. 20 b/w photographs.
For Hemingway and Fitzgerald, there was Paris in the twenties. Later generations had Big Sur, Greenwich Village and Woodstock.
But in the Seventies, there was Key West. That was where a generation of artists -- Thomas McGuane, Jim Harrison, Jimmy Buffett, Hunter Thompson and others -- found their style and artistic voice.
In Mile Marker Zero (Crown, 2011) William McKeen tells the story of these remarkable artists and how this two-by-four island at the end of the road shaped their lives. For hundreds of years, pirates and poets and pot smugglers and painters have called the wacky little town home. Here are the stories of a generation that nearly went crazy from the heat. Grab your margarita and lock up your children.
McKeen is the author of Outlaw Journalist (W.W. Norton, 2008), Highway 61 (W.W. Norton, 2003), Rock and Roll is Here to Stay (W.W. Norton, 2000) and several other books about American music and popular culture.
He's also completed an anthology of stories about growing up in Florida called Homegrown (University Press of Florida, 2012).
He teaches at Boston University and chairs its journalism department. He was a newspaper reporter and magazine editor before beginning his teaching career.
He is a father of seven children and lives with his wife Nicole, a magazine editor, on the rocky coast of Cohasset, Massachusetts.
Please visit www.williammckeen.com
