The 1st Annual Bear's Book Club or Oprah Who?

I was sitting around the house one day as I often do, flipping thru the television channels trying to find something that would not rot my brain and I came across Oprah hawking some guys book on her Oprah’s Book Club. They say that if you are one of the lucky ones that Oprah reaches down from Mount Olympus and blesses with an appearance in her book club, you have an instant best seller.
I said to myself as I often do, “Bear you could do that. Start your own Bear’s Book Club. You’re as big as Oprah!” Well when I say I am as big as Oprah I don’t really mean as popular or powerful, more on the lines that I think we are within a few lbs. I mean depending on what day of the week it is we are within a Twinkie of each other I believe. That doesn’t say much about either of us!

I decided to start the Annual Bear’s Book Club this Memorial Day weekend to tell all my readers what the great summer reading is around the North Coast. Unlike Oprah, I am going to give shout outs to the local writers. People that live, work and breathe Cleveland. These are some of my favorite writers.

So sit back in your favorite lawn chair, open up a Great Lakes beer, and crack open one of these great books.

First up is John Gorman’s fantastic book on WMMS and Cleveland radio in its heyday, “The Buzzard – Inside The Glory Days Of WMMS and Cleveland Rock Radio”. I received a copy of the book for Christmas a couple of years back from my kids and I have to tell you, I tore thru it. Every page jumped off the book with memories of growing up in Cleveland in the 70’s and 80’s when it seemed we ruled the music world and WMMS was the sound track of our lives. John does a great job of recapping the historical aspects of Cleveland radio but his insights into the background stories of the bands and how they came thru here and the on air personalities make this book a great read. If you grew up in Cleveland from the late 60’s to the 90’s you know how important WMMS was on the psyche of Clevelanders and this is a definite book for you.

A great companion book to John’s is Carlo Wolff’s “Cleveland Rock And Roll Memories – True Tales Of The Glory Days”. Carlo does a great job going thru each decade from the 50’s until today letting the musicians, DJ’s, promoters and the fans tell the stories of the music scene in Cleveland. Carlo chronicles the radio scene, the concerts, the clubs, and even the record stores from the past. He starts the book in the Alan Freed days of radio and doesn’t miss much on the road thru Cleveland rock history. I especially love the chapter on local Cleveland bands that played the endless circuit of bars in Cleveland. Bands like Pere Ubu, The Numbers Band, Cyrus Erie, Beau Coup from the perspective of the bands themselves and the fans that went to see them.

One of my favorite Cleveland writers is Michael Heaton of the Plain Dealer and really the only reason I still subscribe to the PD. I read Michael’s “The Minister Of Culture” column in the Friday PD religiously as he is able to bring the real Cleveland out each and every week in his own way and he has written a great book “Truth And Justice For Fun And Profit” that has the same wit, style and humor we expect from Michael and it should be as this is a collection of around 40 of Michael’s best published stories. Michael has a way for us to look into all sides of our world whether we like it or not with a truth some of us refuse to see at times but what makes his writing unique is that he is not here to preach to us, instead he writes about “us in a sense” with humor and a cutting wit that makes you laugh and actually take a moment and think about what you just read.

I have been a fan of Derek Hess’s art for a long time especially his concert poster work (anyone out there I am still trying to find a print of his Pink Floyd work, hint, hint) and now Derek has teamed up with Kent Smith to produce a fantastic book “Please God Save Us”. The book is a collection of stories that address a wide variety of topics from The Christian Right, Global Warming, Fake News, SpongeBob and Santa (I loved it), and of course Rock And Roll to name a few. This isn’t exactly “light reading” but it is important reading whether you agree with them or not. With Kent’s words and Derek’s illustrations they have created a book that whether you agree with them or not it will open your mind to new ideas and maybe even inspire a few.

My final author is James Henke and he has written “Marley Legend – An Illustrated Life Of Bob Marley” which is a beautiful book about one of my favorite artists. James is the chief curator of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and a former writer for Rolling Stone both which I am sure helped in putting together this insightful book that chronicles the all too short life of this amazing artist thru words and photos, many I have never seen before. This is an authorized biography and it fully expresses the thoughts of Marley’s Peace and Love message thru the words and photographs from childhood to his death at age 36. Like I said earlier, a beautiful book to read whether you’re a fan of Marley or just a fan of music.

Well that’s it for my 1st Annual Bear’s Book Club selections. I am going to wait on pins and needles to see which book I helped shoot up the New York Time Bestseller List next week. Oh hell, if I get one of you to turn off the TV, to go out and buy one of these great books and support our local writers, then I think I did a pretty good job.
You won’t regret it.

Have a great Memorial Day folks.

Nuff said, till next week
Peace Out
Bear