These stories go backstage at legendary Cleveland rock music venues of the 1950s to '90s--clubs like the Agora and the Phantasy; halls like Public Auditorium and the Cleveland Arena; bars like the Euclid Tavern and Leo's Casino; haunts like Swingo's; the cavernous Municipal Stadium--and more. Told by and about the people who worked and rocked there.

Music fans who grew up with Rock and Roll in Cleveland remember a golden age. We were young, so was the music, and the sense of freedom and excitement the Rock and Roll scene delivered was electric. There were so many great clubs, like the Agora, where every big band seemed to break in the 1970s. The trendsetting radio stations, from A.M.'s WIXY to F.M.'s groundbreaking "Home of the Buzzard," WMMS. And all those memorable shows. The free Coffee Break Concerts--remember Sprinsteen just when he hit it big? The gigantic World Series of Rock. Nights on the lawn at Blossom (including local favorites the Michael Stanley Band and their record-setting sellout streak). This book collects the favorite memories of Clevelanders who made the scene: fans, musicians, DJs, reporters, club owners, and more. Includes rare photographs and other memorabilia such as concert posters, bumper stickers, pins, and ticket stubs.

The sequel to Sweet Filthy Boy, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners, a story of friends, love, and lust. Despite their rowdy hookups, Harlow and Finn don’t even like each other...which would explain why their marriage lasted only twelve hours. He needs to be in charge and takes whatever he wants. She lives by the Want-something-done? Do-it-yourself mantra. Maybe she’s too similar to the rugged fisherman—or just what he needs.

Fran Belkin's collection of t-shirts wound up in boxes in the attic, until one day she realized these mementos chronicling over thirty years of Cleveland rock and roll history could illustrate the incredible story of a most unusual family business: Belkin Productions.The shirts and swag paint a picture of the times, the music, the bands and the concert promotion company her husband Jules and his brother Mike built into a powerhouse on the national music scene. In Rock This Town!, Fran's collection is artfully woven together with vintage snapshots, concert photography and intimate stories shared by the Belkin Productions crew who lived them. This book is for those of us who were out front, standing drenched in a World Series of Rock downpour, singing along to every word of our favorite song, Bic lighters in the air, screaming for another encore. This is a love letter to every fan of rock and roll.

In the tradition of John Jeremiah Sullivan and David Foster Wallace, Cheston Knapp’s Up Up, Down Down “is an always smart, often hilarious, and ultimately transcendent essay collection” (Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of All the Light We Cannot See) that brilliantly explores authenticity and the nature of identity. Daring and wise, hilarious and tender, Cheston Knapp’s “glittering” (Leslie Jamison) collection of seven linked essays tackles the Big Questions through seemingly unlikely avenues. In his dexterous hands, an examination of a local professional wrestling promotion becomes a meditation on pain and his relationship with his father. A profile of UFO enthusiasts ends up probing his history in the church and, more broadly, the nature and limits of faith itself. Attending an adult skateboarding camp launches him into a virtuosic analysis of nostalgia. And the shocking murder of a neighbor expands into an interrogation of our culture’s prevailing ideas about community. Even more remarkable, perhaps, is the way he manages to find humanity in a damp basement full of frat boys. Taken together, the essays in Up Up, Down Down amount to a chronicle of Knapp’s coming-of-age, a young man’s journey into adulthood, late-onset as it might appear. He presents us with formative experiences from his childhood to marriage that echo throughout the collection, and ultimately tilts at what may be the Biggest Q of them all: what are the hazards of becoming who you are? With “a firmly tongue-in-cheek approach to the existential crises of male maturity for the millennial generation…Knapp’s intelligent take on coming-of-age deserves to be widely read” (Publishers Weekly). “Compelling…Precise and laugh-inducing” (The New York Times Book Review), Up Up, Down Down signals the arrival of a truly one-of-a-kind voice.

Alexandra Castle hides the brightest part of herself. As the heir-apparent to the Castle Resort empire, her only fault—according to her controlling father—is that she’s gay. Keeping her sexuality hidden seems a small price to pay for upholding the family image. When Alex’s father pits her against her twin brother in a high-stakes competition to choose who will take over the company upon his retirement, Alex knows she’s got what it takes to win. Until an ex-lover reappears and threatens to destroy her life. Tyler Falling hides the darkest part of herself. On the surface, she’s a put-together middle-class wife and mother. In reality, she’s broken from a sexual assault twelve years earlier. When Tyler unexpectedly comes face-to-face with her rapist, a deep family secret surfaces and jeopardizes the life she’s created. With both their worlds crumbling, Alex and Tyler escape to Napa where a brief, anonymous encounter sparks a mutual infatuation, changing the trajectory of their lives. Living a lie is no longer an option, but can an improbable romance bloom amid embezzlement, blackmail, and self-exploration? Content note: the book contains one brief description of a sexual assault. Book One in the Falling Castles Series.

As a "suburban boy suffering for art," and growing up in Southern NJ, trying to follow The Michael Stanley Band was a more difficult challenge than one would imagine. This book tells my story on becoming a fan of "the most famous rock band you have never heard of." Though MSB was an incredibly popular attraction in the North East Ohio and their home base of Cleveland, they were virtual non-existent in my area of the country. This book is for anyone who enjoys the music of The Michael Stanley Band and now Michael Stanley as a "solo" musician, in addition to anyone with a "bucket-list," or anyone who can relate to "chasing a personal journey." Also available in Kindle format