Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City
by Mike Katz; Crispin Kott
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Jun 01 2018 | Archive Date Jun 08 2018
Rowman & Littlefield | Globe Pequot Publishing
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Description
Plug in and walk the same streets a young Bob Dylan walked. See where Patti Smith, the Ramones, Beastie Boys, and Jeff Buckley played. Visit on foot the places Lou Reed mentions in his songs or where Paul Simon grew up; where the Strokes drowned their sorrows, Grizzly Bear cut their teeth and Jimi Hendrix found his vision. Rock and Roll Explorer Guide gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at how bands came together, scenes developed, and classic songs were written. Artists come and go, neighborhoods change, venues open and close, but the music lives on.
Contents
Upper Manhattan and Harlem
Upper West Side
The Velvet Underground
Upper East Side
The Beatles
John & Yoko
Central Park
Patti Smith
Midtown West
Beastie Boys
Midtown East
Madonna
Chelsea & Hudson Yards
Jimi Hendrix & Electric Lady
Union Square & Madison Square
New York Dolls
West Village
Bob Dylan
East Village
Blondie
Soho & TriBeCa
Sonic Youth
Lower East Side
The Strokes
Brooklyn
Talking Heads
Queens
Ramones
Simon & Garfunkel
The Bronx
Kiss
Staten Island
Rock & roll may not have been born in New York, but this is one of the places it grew up and blew up and presented itself to the world. From the churches and street corners of Harlem and the Bronx to the underground clubs of the East Village, New York City has been a musical Mecca for generations, and The Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is an historical journey through its development across all five boroughs.
The Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City restores a sense of time and place to music history by identifying and documenting critical points of interest spanning genres and eras, and delineating the places in New York City critical to its musical development and ultimate triumphs and tragedies. Through this lens, we can see and understand how bands came together, scenes developed, and classic songs were written. In some cases, the buildings are still there, in others only the address remains, but you still get a sense of the history that happened there.
Among the many locations in this book are addresses musicians and other key rock & roll figures once called home. In a very few instances we’ve included current addresses, but only when the location is historically significant and widely known; otherwise, we consciously left current residences out. The Rock & Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is intended as a fun travel guide through music history rather than a means of locating famous musicians. Most New Yorkers understand that everyone has a right to privacy. That’s one of the reasons many of these artists live here.
Because of the city’s rich history, this book cannot be a comprehensive encyclopedia of music, rock venues, or the music industry; nor do we present the definitive biographies of the musicians included. The artists and locations chosen represent a sometimes broad look at the history of rock & roll in the city, with an eye on those who either grew up or spent their formative years here. But there’s so much more we couldn’t include, and we hope readers will be inspired to go even further, whether they’re hitting the streets themselves or experiencing the city vicariously from afar. Artists come and go, neighborhoods change, venues open and close, but the music lives on.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781630763169 |
| PRICE | $28.95 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Diana T, Reviewer
I was lucky enough to receive this book from NetGalley just prior to a trip to New York City. While there were a few issues with the book, mostly formatting, it helped me find quite a few things that I had no clue were here in NYC. I plan on using it a few more times before leaving if you want to find things other than The Dakota, Strawberry Fields, or the former home of CBGB's, this is a great book to pick up prior to your travels.
Jade H, Reviewer
I picked Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City by Mike Katz and Crispin Kott because I love music and everything that pertains to music, and I thought it would be a cool walk through memory lane, an interesting way to walk through the streets in my head. I lived in NYC for many, many years, so a lot of the places listed in the book are known to me, and I have visited, frequented, or at least known about quite a lot of them. But there were also many that I didn’t know about, or didn’t know the history of, so it was really cool to read about them!
Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is divided into areas of Manhattan and then the rest of the boroughs, and lists venues, homes, shops, street corners, recording studios, bars... Basically any location that has some kind of meaning or place in the history of music in NYC (or at least music in the 20th and 21st centuries). Some locations have just a few words, others span over several pages, and there are longer parts for iconic NYC musicians and bands, such as Lou Reed and Patti Smith, the Beastie Boys, New York Dolls, Blondie, Sonic Youth, The Ramones, and also a long part on Bob Dylan’s time in NYC.
There is so much detail in this book! You can really tell how well the authors have done their research, visited places, visualized places, and talked to people. It’s such a cool book to own, peruse through, use as a way to see the city in a different light. I loved all of the pictures in the book: current day photos as well as old flyers and photos. It was obvious that a lot of time and care had been taken to curate and choose these images.
One small gripe though: there are SO MANY LES locations that are missing! During the early 2000’s there were some iconic bars on Ludlow and Orchard where pretty famous musicians would hang out and/or work and they aren’t mentioned. I guess it was such a big part of my own life that maybe I think it’s more important or interesting than it really is though. But no mention of Lit, or Motorcity, or Orchard Bar? Pianos?? Cake Shop?? An omission in my opinion!
But all in all Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is a super well-researched, smart, interesting, and cool book. Everywhere you go in NYC there is music to be found, hiding in the walls, in the memories of walls, in the air, and in the ground. This book does a great job of drawing a 3 dimensional map of it.
Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City will be published by Rowman & Littlefield on June 1st. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!
Concert K, Reviewer
The Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City is a really cool book. It breaks down different neighborhoods in NYC and how they relate to stories in Rock And Roll History. There is the address to the location, details about it and photos in some cases. It is also noted if the location no longer exists, and instead just shares the stories locations. Certain more iconic bands have their own sections in the book - for instance The Beatles have their own chapter and John and Yoko have a chapter as well. It was fun to go through and see which locations I have been to (not many) and which I have heard of (some, but nowhere near all).
Definitely an interesting and fun read and a great guide for the next trip to New York City when we aren't sure what to do or check out!
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.
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