Book Description

No Strings Attached: My Life Growing up with the Birth of Rock and Roll offers a nostalgic look at life growing up in the fifties and sixties. The narrative provides a bird's-eye view as seen through the eyes of a young devotee of music as it is changing from ballroom to bandstand and from pop to rock. Learn what song the FBI deemed "most dangerous record ever played." Consider who may have been the inspiration for the movie classic The Sandlot. Tune in to the Rock Anthem-that became the only song embraced by both pro-war and anti-war supporters-embraced by groups who either supported or condemned the Vietnam war. Find out what teen idol hit ranked number one as it ushered out the '50s and welcomed in the '60s. Which rock star refused to sign an autograph for a veteran on Veteran's Day? Experience with the author what it was like to first hear the earliest hits of our greatest rock legends and his impressions of the same encountering them five and six decades later. Relive appearances by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and twenty-nine-year-old Elton John as they thrill sold-out audiences, performing while in their prime. Travel to Fort Knox, Kentucky; Fort Gordon, Georgia; and Vietnam as the author recalls the music that our veterans were listening to when they served our nation as they participated in a very unpopular war. Learn how rock affected their service. Feel the respect and admiration our GIs extended to Bob Hope for his dedication to our servicemen serving in harm's way by someone who attended his Christmas Day performance in 1966. Dispensing firsthand stories told to him by many of the principals present in 1959, the author shares his expertise, telling the story that inspired Don McLean's epic lyrical poem "American Pie." The story will allow you to secure a look from a front-row position at the world's most prestigious sixties concert held at one of the most honored venues, the Surf Ballroom.