Customer Reviews

Sh-Boom!: The Explosion of Rock 'n' Roll (1953-1968)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The writing is robust and beautiful. I wanted to keep it in my life a little longer. Clay Cole has skillfully blended memoirs with cultural history. There are tender moments and others that are very funny. Clay has the well-earned reputation of being one of the kindest people in show business. He does not hold back, however, in describing some of the darker moments in Rock 'n' Roll history. Payola and racism get it right in the chops.

Baby boomers will love this book, but non boomers should not hold back. Everyone's life will be enriched by reading about these legendary times when teenagers wrote and performed for teenagers, and the book could easily be used in writing classrooms as a prime example of how to tell a story.

What a delight to get this highly anticipated book! I am a voracious reader who is usually the "can't put it down" type, but Sh-Boom! took several days since I wanted to feast on every page. I didn't want to miss a detail. What a life...and what a writer! One can only imagine the time and energy it took to put this book together, yet the masterful way Clay Cole has woven such divergent threads into a cohesive, breath-taking tapestry is simply mind-boggling! Boomers and music lovers of all ages are going to love it! This awesome book (and Clay's Interview Spotlight on [...]) brings back those amazing years with zeal while letting the reader get to know the legendary Clay Cole better.

Clay Cole is back to answer the question, whatever happened to Clay Cole? And he is back with a gentle yet ferocious bio-history of the years that rock n roll was driving force for teen agers in the New York area in the early 50's and late 60's and classy cousin Clay was in his tux, driving the bus!

This book is a wonderful history of New York when it was shiney and glittering with the new rock n rollers, the real clubs, the real smells, sights and sounds...and if you were lucky enough to live there or near NYC you will close your eyes, hear, see, and smell it all over again, while you have this book in your hands.

The most delightful thing is that Clay tells the truth. He tells it in a manner which you can totally believe, not a means to an end, not to slight anybody. He does that by offering some folks who totally deserve it, a Compoz. (And you know who you are!)

If you want to go back to the Great Ol' Days of teenage music, when we were in charge of the sound and the beat (and it was great to dance to) pick up Clay's book, and see if you can put it down for a minute (you won't be able to) and see if you aren't going back to reread some pages when you are done.

Thank you dear Clay for telling us where you have been, where you are, and what is going on now...don't lose touch! A great read!

T.Pettit, Massachusetts

It usually takes me 2 weeks to read a book i like. This one....only 8 days.Full of information,some things i knew but a lot was new to me. Very well written and at times very funny. You can just picture in your mind the "goings on" as clay tells his story.I enjoyed Sh-Boom very much and look foward to his interview on my friend Jack Rivers show.If you were between 10 and 25 during those early R & R years you are going to love reading this book......Dale

I appreciate the author's very personal observations and detailed recounts of events decades ago. Sorry I missed the show. And, boy is he correct is saying that $200 price for the video tape would be a bargain for the footage of the early Stones and others. Only one complaint, who proof read thsi book? There are many misspelled names. Picky, picky, picky. A fun and quick read. Thanks.

There are not enough words to praise Clay Cole. i watched all of his shows and stood on line for hours to see his live show in Brooklyn. The star of that show wasw Gene Pitney. I got his autograph and never forgot that moment.
Thank you Clay Cole for your book, your memories mixed with our memories of you. Come back to television and do it again. Television needs someone like you.
I am a faculty member of Brooklyn College where lots of young students like doo wop music.
They would love your book and you, too.

irene brodsky
Brooklyn College Teacher
and
author of Poetry Unplugged (Outskirts Press.2008)

The book is absolutley fantastic. Clay makes you feel as if you are back in the 50's and 60's. Back on the TV Show or at Palasaides Park. If you get the chance to meet Clay Cole at a book signing do so. He is a wonderful person and makes you feel as if time has never past!
The book is full of facts as well as Clay's personal stories.
The music lives on because of people in the business like Clay Cole.
He has preserved these memories for many years and now has shared them with each person who reads the book.
Clay just want you to know, you have done a wonderful job with the book and have brought back many memories.
Ken
New York

Though I found the history of Clay Cole and his career interesting from my perspective as a serious rock and roll fan, I had to stop reading it a little more than half way through the book. I don't know if anyone edited the book, but if there was an editor, he/she should be fired. There were so many, many random and totally inaccurate hyphenations, word omissions, words used incorrectly ("commiserate" instead of "commensurate") and other editorial errors that I could not finish the book. It was great to know all the rock and roll trivia, but the writing/lack of good editing made it impossible to read.

Clay Cole was an influential and important person in mid-20th century pop music. This book is a sloppy, uneven collection of memoirs, but is absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the transitional period between original 1950s rock n roll and the self-contained bands + songwriting performers of the 1960s. Clay Cole broke dozens of acts during this time frame via his weekday afternoon teen dance party show on a local NYC TV station. Unlike his nationally-televised competitor Dick Clark, Clay Cole didn't own any record labels, talent firms, or clothing companies. He dressed like the high school kids who danced on the show, danced all the latest steps himself, and played the records that he and the kids liked. The show's wildly eclectic musical mix was no less than revolutionary. There's no visual record of it, so this book has to suffice.