Booked On Rock

It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series - A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, musicians, and more. New York City singer/songwriter and attorney Alan Chapell is our guest. Alan is a solo artist while also performing and recording with his band Chapell, whose 2016 album The Redhead’s Allegations was produced by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads. In 2022,...

Jim Serger, Chris Berger, and Todd Zimmerman are here to tell the true, coming-of-age story of five teenagers and their experience attending a Van Halen concert back in 1984. It's all part of their brand new book  Jump: 40th Anniversary of Attending the "1984" Van Halen Concert. Van Halen was at the height of their success thanks to their #1 single “Jump” and were packing arenas around the country...

It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series - A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, musicians, and more. Author Greg Prato is back on the podcast. He’s the author of several books, and has written for Songfacts, Consequence of Sound, Guitar World, Vintage Guitar, and Louder. Greg has been a great supporter of the Booked On Rock podcast, crediting the show in many articles he’s written f...

Author Michael Gray is this episode’s guest to talk about the brand new three-part 50th anniversary edition of his highly acclaimed book Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan . The first edition of Song & Dance Man was the first book to seriously examine the work of Bob Dylan, originating the realm of scholarship that put Dylan on the road to the Nobel prize. Fifty-years and hundreds of D...

Author Richie Unterberger is this episode’s guest. His latest book is Bob Marley and the Wailers: The Ultimate Illustrated History. Illustrated with photos and memorabilia from all phases of their journey, the book illuminates the lives and times of Bob Marley and the Wailers. From their early 60s Jamaican ska beginnings, to international stardom by the end of the 70s, right up to Bob Marley’s unt...

Janet Symmons is on the podcast to talk about her new book The Rise of the Fox: 1950-1982: The Extraordinary Life of KISS's Second Drummer (Eric Carr Revealed) . The Rise of the Fox is part of the Eric Carr Revealed series - a comprehensive and unauthorized biographical series that explores the life and times of KISS's second drummer, Eric Carr. It’s an essential read for KISS fans, hard rock fans...

It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series - A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, musicians, and more. Our guest is Pop Culture Historian Mark Arnold. He’s the author of several books about comic books, music, and animation. Among the books he’s released - The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times! , focused on the comic book publisher Harvey Comics, Created and Produced by Total TeleVisi...

Ken Womack's latest book titled Living The Beatles Legend: The Untold Story Of Mal Evens . This is the first full-length biography of Mal Evans, the Beatles’ beloved friend, confidant, and roadie. A towering figure in horn-rimmed glasses, Evans loomed large in the Beatles’ story, contributing at times as a performer and sometime lyricist, while struggling mightily to protect his beloved “boys.” He...

Legendary record producer Tom Werman is this episode’s guest. His new book is called Turn It Up!: My Time Making Hit Records In The Glory Days Of Rock Music (Featuring Mötley Crüe, Poison, Twisted Sister, Jeff Beck, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick, And More). As an A&R man at Epic Records, Werman helped introduce the world to REO Speedwagon, Boston, Ted Nugent, and Cheap Trick; he also discovered KISS...

Simon Price is the author of the brand-new book Curepedia: An A-Z of The Cure. This is the complete biography of Robert Smith and The Cure. It chronicles the band’s 40-plus year history with hundreds of entries in A to Z fashion. Acclaimed journalist Simon Price has crafted a first-of-its-kind history of this band so let’s get into the book and a great discussion of Cure past, present and future w...

Steven L Jones is the author of Murder Ballads Old and New: A Dark and Bloody Record. The book is an exploration of an age-old topic— our human need to document the horrors of the world around us. Steven talks about the origins of the murder ballad, what makes up a horror ballad and some of the murder ballads recorded in punk, post-punk, alt-country, and folk by artists including Johnny Cash, The...

It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series - A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, musicians, and more. Two very special guests joining us: Stacy Widelitz and John DeNicola. Widelitz is an Emmy nominated composer and songwriter. He co-wrote the smash hit from the soundtrack to the 1987 film Dirty Dancing – “She’s Like The Wind” sung and co-written by the film’s star Patrick Swayze. Wid...

It’s another chapter in The Dialogue Series. A chill ‘n chat with musicians, authors, fellow podcasters, listeners, and more. Our guest is Frank Meyer. Frank is an award-winning musician, director, and author from Los Angeles. He's best known for his vocal work with Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer James Williamson (Iggy and the Stooges), his rock band The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, and his studio and roa...

Rik Emmett of Triumph is this episode’s guest. He’s just released a new book titled Lay It on the Line: A Backstage Pass to Rock Star Adventure, Conflict and TRIUMPH . Rik talks about how Triumph formed and rose to fame and the reasons that led to his departure from the band by the end of the 80s. He shares his songwriting process, his favorite songs, making the transition to solo artist in the 90...

Ray Robertson is the author of All the Years Combine: The Grateful Dead in Fifty Shows . Ray listened to and wrote about fifty of Grateful Dead’s most important and memorable concerts in order to better understand who the Grateful Dead were, what they became, and what they meant – and what they continue to mean. He’s here to share some of the stories from the book with us! Purchase a copy of All t...

KISS fans, there’s a brand-new book out called KISS @ 50, and this is one you will want to get! Part of a phenomenal @50 series from Motorbooks, this is a trip through 50 years of “The Hottest Band In The World”. It’s beautifully packaged and produced in a hardcover format, with stunning photos of the band on and off stage, much of them never before published. There are images of memorabilia, incl...

Caroline Stafford is this episode’s guest. Caroline and David Stafford are authors of the brand-new book Anymore for Anymore: The Ronnie Lane Story . This is the biography of British singer/songwriter Ronnie Lane. In the 60s he co-founded Small Faces, who recorded several hit singles including “Itchycoo Park”, “Lazy Sunday”, “All or Nothing”, and “Tin Soldier”. But before long, singer Steve Marrio...

Kevin Armstrong's brand new book is called Absolute Beginner: Memoirs of the World's Best Least-Known Guitarist. David Bowie said of Armstrong, “Kevin does what I pretend to do. Kevin’s a proper musician.” Iggy Pop said, “Kevin Armstrong has been around, and around.” In the early 80s, Armstrong signed to EMI Records as a solo artist, but fate had other plans for him. He’s gone on to carve out a ca...

It’s another chapter in the Dialogue Series. A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, listeners and more. Brian Colburn is the host of one of my favorite podcasts My Weekly Mixtape . Brian invites fellow music fans, along with the artists themselves, to collaborate with him, in an attempt to curate the ultimate playlist based on a different artist, band, or topic each week. Brian is on the...

It’s another chapter in The Dialogue series. A chill ‘n chat with authors, fellow podcasters, listeners, and more. Author Jeff Apter is this episode’s guest. He is the author of over 30 books about Australian music and musicians and was on staff at Rolling Stone for several years. He’s here to talk about his books on AC/DC, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cure, Neil Finn of Crowded House (now with...

Ben Apatoff's latest book Body Count’s Body Count - part of Bloomsbury Academic's 33 1/3 series - is an exploration and look back at the 1992 self-titled debut album from Ice T’s heavy metal band Body Count. On Ice-T's 1991 classic O.G. Original Gangster , he introduced his all-Black hardcore band Body Count with lead guitarist Ernie C, bringing them on the first-ever Lollapalooza tour that summer...

Geoff Harkness is a first-time guest. He’s here to talk about his latest book Rain King: The Life and Music of Adam Duritz and Counting Crows . This is the complete story of Counting Crows - one of the most successful bands of the last three decades and their charismatic vocalist and songwriter Adam Duritz. Counting Crows have sold 20 million albums, led by several hit singles including “Mr. Jones...

James Campion is a returning guest. He’s here to talk about the life and career of the late great Warren Zevon and his 2018 book Accidentally Like a Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon. It’s hard to believe but it’s been 20 years since Zevon passed away. For nearly four decades, spanning 12 studio albums and 32 singles, no artist expressed the duality of life, the light and dark, the ugliness...

Alex Anesiadis is the author of Heroes of the Metal Underground: The Definitive Guide to 1980s American Independent Metal Bands. This is the only encyclopedic and definitive book on American indie metal! These bands borrowed a page from punk’s DIY handbook and did it all themselves. Regional favorites. Hometown heroes. Tour van veterans. Bands who invested their life-savings into recording and pre...

Adam Steiner is a returning guest. His latest book is called Silhouettes and Shadows: The Secret History of David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) . David Bowie’s 1980 album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) marked a pivotal point in his career. A new decade had arrived, he was coming off the experimental albums Low , Heroes , and Lodger known as the Berlin Trilogy, and had yet to release...