Thursday 25th March 2010

Book Reading and Q&A with Tony Fletcher
(Free event)

"I enjoyed this book almost as much as I originally enjoyed all the music it covered."
Peter Buck R.E.M.

"This is the first time I had seen anyone attempt to chronicle the whole of New York’s popular music, and Tony is remarkably successful in his endeavour." Chris Stein, Blondie

For our first book launch event we welcome author Tony Fletcher who’ll be reading extracts from his fantastic new book ALL HOPPED UP AND READY TO GO.

Following his explosive success of his bestselling Keith Moon biography Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon, Tony Fletcher returns with his new book which explores the pivotal cultural history of the musical street scenes of New York from 1927 to 1977.

ALL HOPPED UP AND READY TO GO covers the emergence be-bop, pop, rock, swing, folk, Latin, disco, hip hop, and punk and features characters such as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Bob Dylan, Deborah Harry, the Ramones, Grandmaster Flash, the Velvet Underground, New York Dolls; who all made their music in the boroughs of New York but their influence changed not only the British music scene but popular culture in countless ways.

With intimate details and candid interviews with Ben E. King, Neil Sedaka, Janis Ian, Tommy Ramone, Jerry Wexler, Leiber and Stoller, Shadow Morton, John Sebastian, Chris Stein, Pete Seeger and Eddie Palmieri to name but a few.

About the author:

Tony Fletcher is the British author of three music biographies including his bestselling Keith Moon biography and one novel. He founded the music magazine Jamming! and has contributed to dozens of major publications, including Newsday, Spin, and the NME.

Here's some nice pics from the evening: