Customer Reviews

It Was All Just Rock 'n' Roll

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am incapable of putting this book down. Pat, thank you for sharing your life with me. My parents went to the Spanish Castle. I went to the Lake Hills Roller rink. (not sure if you still handled the Lake Hills gig when I went in the 70') I laugh outloud every time I think about the Tony Orlando story.

If you lived and grew up in Washington and the Northwest in the 60's, this book is for you.
I picked it out, read it, and it brought back so many memories of the 60's and 70's for me. It took my back through my youth, my high school days and the fun we had.
I listened to KJR faithfully until they changed their format and then I was so sad and went to another station. Now I'm back though and ...........read the book then put in you review here.

I grew up in Seattle during the Pat O'Day era and really enjoyed a lot of the background stories, but the book was ruined by the massive number of mistakes that even a mediocre editor/proofreader could have fixed. It's really unforgiveable. I would have done the job for free.

Yikes! I thought I'd get some great reading according to some of the other reviews I read about this book. Pat O'Day obviously
has a lot of friends. The book, while serving up some memories fond memories of my teenage years in Seattle was a tough with a desperate need for a professional editor. While I too found some some of the stories funny and entertaining for the most part it simply about a man and his out of control ego. Very poor for the buck.

This book is simply wonderfull. It brings those years of rock and roll and radio's infancy to life. The writer also has a great sense of humor because he seemed to see the fun side of things. Here is a total insider that tells rock and roll and radio stories as only one who has been there can!
The book also is the first I've read to tell the story of the real Jimi Hendrix! I couldn't put it down.

This book had excellent pictures and described in great detail the Pacific NW Rock and Roll excellent bands! We were extremely fortunate to experience such talented musicians and terrific music. Miss these bands very much.

I was excited to read this. I grew up in the Northwest but on the wrong side of the mountains to hear KJR, but knew of its reputation as a '60s powerhouse. There are good, even great stories, but so-o-o much of it is Pat patting himself on the back. Add in all the stories of him and his buddies that are not radio or RnR related with the poor (non-existent?) editing and it ended up a long, long slog. But I read the whole thing.
One bone I have to pick--I don't buy the story of Elvis needing to have "an imitator behind the curtain" on his later tours because Elvis couldn't hit the notes. You always read that the one thing that never deserted Elvis was his voice ("My Way" was from his last tour!). Sounds like sour grapes to me--maybe Colonel Parker (who Pat admirably skewers) stiffed Concerts West? Whatever, I don't buy it and since Pat tells us it was one of his partners who went on the Presley tours and not Pat, it's hearsay and better left out.

In the '60s and '70's radio station KJR ruled Seattle's airwaves, and disc jockey/general manager Pat O'Day ruled KJR. For those of us who grew up in this milieu, Pat is as much part of our family as J.P. Patches, Stan Boreson and Dick Balch. Pat's influence, both locally and -- thanks to his Concerts West booking agency -- nationally, is probably immeasurable.

And he knows it. This is not the story of a modest man with modest dreams... no, it's a grand story full of entertainment's biggest names, with O'Day up there on the podium. You name it, Pat was probably there. He tells hilarious anecdotes about musicians and the music business of course, but also harrowing tales of those wonderful/horrible times. O'Day has an almost Tony Robbins enthusiasm for life, and his story is entertaining in roughly the same way that an avalanche is persuasive.

As a memoir of a man, it is almost too jam-packed to be believable. As the memoir of a whole generation -- of turbulent times and unprecendented changes in the world, witnessed by millions who today make up [shudder] Adult Society -- Pat proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was, afterall, just rock 'n roll.

Ahhh the memories, i grew up going to dances put on by Pat O'Day, and attended many of the events in the book. Pat has managed to capture those times to the tee! If you are a native Seattlite and a baby boomer, this book is required reading.

Even more important, if you are a "transplant" as most of my friends are, and continually bewildered by groups of "locals", teary eyed, sing Louie Louie--over and over. Or if you get a scoffing pathetic glance when you shamefully admit that you do not know who Bill Muncey was. Then this book is your life saver, your oasis in the desert of the "newcomer"

This book was a gift for my brother-in-law who just loves it. It was difficult to find a new one because it has been out of print for so long. My brother-in-law says he is enjoying the book immensly.