News From Parthenon
San Francisco Chronicle pop music critic Joel Selvin started covering rock shows for the paper shortly after the end of the Civil War. His writing has appeared in a surprising number of other publications that you would think should have known better. People all over the world are still pissed off about pieces in this collection. ...Read More |
NEWS & NOTES FROM THE WORLD OF BOOKS
NEXT UP: ED HARDY
DUNNE INKS HARDY
Ed Hardy, the famed tattoo artist whose name now carries a worldwide fashion brand, has signed to do a memoir with Thomas Dunne Books. Rob Kirkpatrick bought world rights from agent Frank Weimann at the Literary Group International, and Joel Selvin will be co-writing. (Selvin coauthored Sammy Hagar's recent autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.)
Hardy got his name inking members of the Hells Angels and certain celebrities in California during the 1960s, and his mentor, Sailor Jerry, spearheaded what the publisher called the "tattoo renaissance," as the underground art form moved to mainstream acceptance.
After signing a licensing deal with Christian Audigier, Hardy's name became the cornerstone of an international clothing brand, and his retail business now brings in more than $700 million in sales annually.
...Rachel Deahl, Publishers Weekly
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HAGAR AUTOBIOGRAPHY HITS NO. 1 ON NY TIMES BEST-SELLER LIST FIRST WEEK OUT
Sammy Hagar—legendary lead singer of Van Halen, founder of the Cabo Wabo Tequila brand, and one of rock music’s most notoriously successful performers—tells his unforgettable story in this one-of-a-kind autobiography of a life at the top of the charts.  From his decade-long journey alongside Eddie Van Halen to his raucous solo career with Chickenfoot and everything in between—the drugs, groupies, and excesses of fame, the outrageous stadium tours, and the thrill of musical innovation—Hagar reveals all in this treasure trove of rock-and-roll war stories. Red is a life-changing look at one of music’s biggest talents—an essential read for music fans and anyone dreaming of becoming rock’s next number one star.
...Read More |
EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW:
Long Awaited Biography of
Record Man Bert Berns
Bert Berns was one of the great originals of the golden age of rhythm and blues. He prospered and thrived under the auspices of Atlantic Records, a company devoted to authentic, vibrantly musical rhythm and blues records at the forefront of the art form. Under the beneficent encouragement of Atlantic's Jerry Wexler, Berns developed into one of the leading record men of his day. ... Read More
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READ MORE EXCLUSIVE NEWS FROM JOELSELVIN.COM |
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| Browse all of Joel's San Francisco Chronicle pieces here. |
 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival review
Monday, April 30, 2012
Seven years later, New Orleans is back and hotter than ever.With record-breaking attendance at the first weekend of the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival - highlighted by appearances from Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the re-formed Beach Boys - the town's many restaurants, bars and clubs packed with patrons and the French Quarter overrun with visitors, Jazz Fest has finally equaled and exceeded pre-Katrina prosperity. ...sfgate
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 Saxophonist Bobby Keys rolls with rock's royalty
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Keith Richards likes his pal's book better than his own. " 'It gets to the meat of the matter faster' is what he said," says Bobby Keys, saxophonist for the Rolling Stones for the past 40 or so years and pirate mate to swashbuckling Richards. ...sfgate
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 Levon Helm: an appreciation by Joel Selvin
Saturday, April 21, 2012
At the heart of the clapboard honesty that made the Band sound so revolutionary when it emerged on the rock scene in 1969 was the impossibly dusty voice of Levon Helm. Everything he sang was the truth - an unmistakable sound.
...sfgate
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 Fete for a King: Dan Hicks at 70
Monday, April 2, 2012
Dan Hicks is feeling the pressure, as he inspects a piece of scenery being painted at the studio above Mill Valley's Throckmorton Theatre. It is a giant cutout of a '40s automobile, all fender and tires, which he calls "Hicksville ambience." He regards painter Joan Reynolds balefully......sfgate
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 Big Brother & the Holding Company live CD review
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Bear's Sonic Journals Presents Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968: Columbia/Legacy, $9.99.
A new compact disc of old live recordings by Big Brother & the Holding Company captures not only that band at its enviable peak but perhaps the entire San Francisco '60s Haight-Ashbury thing in one of its last shining hours. ....sfgate
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 Chubby Checker awaits reward for life of twists
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Lincoln, -- Placer County - Chubby Checker is ticked off. But only in the very nicest possible way.
The 70-year-old creator of the twist, the greatest dance sensation in history, doesn't feel the respect he thinks he deserves. He sits in his modest suite on the top occupied floor of the Thunder Valley Hotel and Casino, where he will perform that evening once again, trying to explain how he feels.....sfgate |
 Johnny Otis - Rhythm and Blues Renaissance Man
Monday, January 23, 2012
If rhythm and blues ever had a renaissance man, his name was Johnny Otis.
Otis, who died Tuesday at 90, was a bandleader, an administrative assistant to the lieutenant governor, a minister with his own church, a disc jockey, a college professor, a painter and sculptor, an author, and a celebrated chef. ....sfgate |
 Warren Hellman's passion spawned world-class fest
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Warren Hellman stood behind his desk in the corner office. He was wearing his trademark faded denim shirt and no tie - hardly the expected gear for billionaire investment bankers. He punched up a website on his laptop and broke into a huge grin as the voice of coal miner's daughter Hazel Dickens sputtered forth......sfgate
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 Selvin on Bill Graham's death, 20 years later
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of the death of concert impresario Bill Graham, founder of a business empire and a major player in rock 'n' roll history both in the Bay Area and throughout the United States. The Chronicle's longtime pop music critic Joel Selvin remembers that night. ....sfgate |
 'George Harrison: Living in the Material World'
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
The portrait of George Harrison that emerges from the new Martin Scorsese documentary, "George Harrison: Living in the Material World," airing in two parts Wednesday and Thursday on HBO, is a convoluted mass of contradictory characteristics, with a little Vaseline on the lens to blur some of the less comfortably explained pieces of the story.....sfgate
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 Louisiana's Honey Island Swamp Band has S.F. roots
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The hottest new band in New Orleans started in San Francisco.
Guitarist Chris Mulé and bassist Aaron Wilkinson were playing with guitarist Eric Lindell on tour in San Francisco when Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005. Everything Wilkinson owned was stashed in his van and his roommate's apartment back in Louisiana ....sfgate |
 'Rock of Ages' musical exhumes '80s power ballads
Sunday, February 27, 2011
There have been few musical sins committed in the name of rock 'n' roll as egregious as the power ballad. Not really rock and not really a good idea to begin with, the rock power ballad was born in the '70s as a way for hard-rock bands to get their crummy music on the radio, like "Beth" by Kiss.....sfgate
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 Rodney Crowell's memoir 'Chinaberry Sidewalks'
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Rodney Crowell recounts the turbulent, complicated relationship of his parents in his memoir, "Chinaberry Sidewalks" (Knopf, 272 pages, $24.95), like a sad country song he might have written, distancing himself from the pain and anger with dark humor. ....sfgate |
 Arhoolie Records' roots showing on 50th birthday
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Chris Strachwitz remembers when giants walked the earthHe shakes his head as he recalls recording Mississippi bluesman Big Joe Williams, king of the nine-string guitar, at the very beginning of Arhoolie Records, the Berkeley folklore recording empire over which he has presided for a full 50 years....sfgate
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Contact Joel: joelselvin@aol.com
Literary Agent: Frank Weimann: fweimann@theliterarygroup.com
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