Travelin' Man: On the Road and Behind the Scenes With Bob Seger (Painted Turtle) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Gary Graff (Author), Kid Rock (Afterword), John Mellencamp (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A photo-driven insider's look at Bob Seger's career from the early days to his breakthrough as a world-famous musician. Tom Weschler spent more than ten years from the late 1960s through the 1970s in the Bob Seger camp, working as tour manager and photographer during Seger's hard-gigging, heavy-traveling, reputation-making early days. Weschler's behind-the-scenes photographs document the frustrations and triumphs of recording, performing, songwriting, and building the Seger empire before the breakthroughs of "Live Bullet" and "Night Moves". "Travelin' Man" collects Weschler's early photos with additional images leading into the present. Weschler and award-winning music journalist Gary Graff annotate the images with Weschler's recollections of the events and Graff provides additional background on Seger's career in an introduction, time line, and cast of characters section. Weschler's photographs and stories pull back the curtain on seldom-seen aspects of Seger's career, including time in the studio recording Mongrel, early struggles to get radio airplay, and small shows at schools and shopping malls. Weschler captures Seger's personality on stage and at home and reveals the colorful personalities of those people he worked and performed with, including Alice Cooper, Bruce Springsteen, Glenn Frey, and Kiss. He takes readers inside Seger headquarters in Birmingham, Michigan, and practice space in Rochester, Michigan, introducing them to renowned manager Punch Andrews and the various members of Seger's bands. Weschler's photos feature highlights like Seger's show at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1976, his first gold record in 1977, the first meeting between Seger and Bruce Springsteen in 1978, and Seger's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. "Travelin' Man" also contains art from eight Seger album covers that Weschler designed, a foreword by John Mellencamp, an afterword by Kid Rock, and a comprehensive discography. Seger fans and readers interested in music and biography will enjoy the one of a kind story in "Travelin' Man".

About the Author

Tom Weschler is a photographer living and working in metropolitan Detroit. He has been photographing musical events since 1964 when at age fifteen he photographed the Beatles first American television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in his bedroom. Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist based in Detroit whose work appears regularly in numerous publications, including Billboard, the New York Times Features Syndicate, UPI, the Oakland Press, Revolver, Red Flag Media, and GrokMusic.com. He also reports on music news for WCSX in Detroit, WHQG in Milwaukee, and Radio 106.7 in Columbus, Ohio. He is the founding editor of the MusicHound Essential Album Guide series and editor of The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press (October 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814334598
• ISBN-13: 978-0814334591
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,609 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seger fan applaude's "Travelin' Man", October 2, 2009

By	K. Reed "StayzUpLate" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Thanks to Gary Graff, who's articles I've followed in Detroit newspapers over the years regarding Bob Seger! Thanks too, to Tom Weschler, for the great photos of Michigans most Beloved Rocker--Bob Seger!

"Live Bullet" was my first Seger album as a Christmas gift when I was 10 yrs old and growing up in the suburbs of Detroit. My brother and sister told me to ask "Santa" for the album, but it didn't take me long to figure out (when it kept ending up in the basement with all of their other records) that they really just wanted my Bob Seger "Live Bullet' LP for themselves! I was hooked!

Unfortunately, I wasn't old enough to attend concerts until 1983's: The Distance tour. I've been to every Seger tour since (several times), but only seeing Bob Seger perform 7 times in a lifetime, is not that many. Most diehard Seger fans have seen him 60, 70- 100 times!

Those of you who love Bob Seger for the ultimately down to earth, nice guy, who thinks he's the "unlikliest guy to ever be called a rockstar", will LOVE this book and his climb to stardom. From playing 250 gigs a year to becoming a Grammy Winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee! He's been a greatly appreciated entertainer in Detroit, for 40 years!

Graff and Weschler seem to really respect and admire Bob Seger and that comes across. My only fault was that pictures of Bob Seger and his bands could have been larger and filled the entire page. Kudos to the both of them that they thought to do this for Bob Seger! He certainly deserves it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars travis's excellent adventure, September 28, 2009

By	travis davidson "travis rocknroll !!!" (butler,ga. u.s.a.) - See all my reviews

this book is great, a must for any seger fan,rock lover,music historian and people that just enjoy fun in music period.great photos and tidbits of bob's history unknown to most.this book is way over due and it will just leave you wantin' more. you will not be disappointed. try it!you'll like it!!peace, travis davidson***********

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars only for true seger fans, October 11, 2009

By	classic rock fan - See all my reviews

lets get this straight, this is not a biography in any way,this is the authors collection of photographs he took over his many years with seger and every third picture or so gets a paragraph telling you about it, though it does go in chrono order.i'm not saying its bad, but if your looking for the true stories and events that happened during segers formative years in rock in a normal biography way you'll be disappointed,but if you dont mind alot of pictures with a little story then you'll be satisfied.


its really up to you