Last week, BGB’s Shaft stole my thunder by beating me to post Dan Kennedy’s Rock On, which I had just loaned him only days before. Oh! The treachery. That’s OK. I had just finished the book, and Shaft and I were meeting for our usual Friday lunch/Criminal Records jaunt through Little Five Points. I just had to pass it along - one music lover to another. I’d like to think that Dan Kennedy would have wanted it that way.

Kennedy is a music fan of the old school. He dressed as various members of Kiss each Halloween in costumes made by his mom (No blood. No fire. Mom’s rules.) He dutifully learned to play guitar and the drums. He even formed a band or two. In his thirties, rock stardom apparently not on any horizon, the dream seemed to be fading.

Improbably, Kennedy found himself landing a job in the marketing department of Arista Records, the home of Led Zeppelin. It’s Kennedy’s first real office job. The job came with an assistant, a big office in need of decorating - the works. If you’ve ever felt out of your depth in the working world, the hilarity of Kennedy’s new 9 to 5 will strike some familiar chords (a pun!).

Unfortunately for Kennedy, he lands this plum job at the exact wrong moment in rock history. The rock and roll industry is top heavy and hopelessly anchored in the past while careening blindly into the brave new world of digital music and iPod. The rock and roll business it turns out has lost touch with anything resembling the rock and roll ethos.

It is the sad realization that in the end, music is a business, a big bloated business that is run poorly by greedy idiots, that supplies Kennedy’s increasing disillusionment and the emotional weight of the book.

Examples of non-rock behavior:

  • Memo to all hands: Do not ask The Darkness if they are “for real.” Thank you. Mgt.
  • Dan, we’d like you to pick a song from Jewel’s new anti-corporate album for a Gillette commercial.
  • Jimmy Paige Page emerging from ringing the bell at the NYSE in a suit

Oh, the humanity. If you have ever worked in a bizarro corporate environment and/or you’re a music fan that once secretly harbored rock and roll dreams, check this one out.

Which reminds me, we have a copy to pass along. Read on…

A Contest:

On Saturday, February 16th, Dan Kennedy will be reading Rock On, live and in person, for one night only, at Wordsmiths Books in Decatur. The reading will be preceded by a day of music and events (plural) to set the proper tone of awesome.

Rules:

In the comments… (1) Create a new band name (2) The band name must have a literary reference (3) The band name must rock (4) Winner will be picked randomly from all entries

Examples: Richard Bachman Overdrive, In Cöld Blööd, Hearts of Darkness, Project Mayhem - you get the idea

Prizes graciously donated by Wordsmiths include:

  • A CD from every band that plays throughout the day
  • A copy of the book Rock On by Dan Kennedy
  • Other rock and roll schwag to be named later

The schedule for the live music/events throughout the day:

  • 12ish to 12:30ish - Amy Lashley
  • 12:45/12:50ish to 130ish - Julia Carroll
  • 2pm - Poetry Atlanta featuring Laurel Snyder
  • 3:45-ish til about 4:30-ish - Ronnda Cadle
  • 4:45/5pm to about 5:30/5:45 - Sean K
  • 6ish to about 6:30ish - Sealions dos guitars attack
  • 6:45-7:30 - Wayne Fishell
  • 7:30 - Dan Kennedy reads from Rock On
  • After the reading - David L Robbins on guitar

Nice.