My background allowed me to do two things after I became a professional historian: 1) circa 2008-9 through serendipity I became associated with the singer/keyboardist from Vanilla Fudge, Mark Stein. They were my idols as musicians. He asked if I’d write his bio, and I said yes provided that obviously he gave me access to everyone and that I could make the story as much about rock since 1960 as about him. The book is called “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” I gave Mark full authorship taking a “with” because I wanted no part of self-publishing marketing expenses. But it’s a darn good book. Through Mark, I got to interview: Ian Paice (Deep Purple), Liberty DeVito (Springsteen’s drummer); Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Trapeze); Dave Mason; Felix Cavaliere (Rascals); Vinny Martell (Fudge); George “Shadow” Morton (producer); David Paich (Toto); and many more. That led me in 2009 to make a documentary film called “Rockin’ the Wall” about music’s role in ending the USSR. I got to interview Robby Krieger (Doors), Rudy Sarzo (Blue Oyster Cult/Quiet Riot), Grammy winning music score prouder John Van Tongeren; Alice Cooper; and Billy Joel. That led me to a second music doc, “Other Walls 2 Fall,” with Yanni, Busta Rhymes, Clint Black, many Islamic rockers, and so on.
Very cool!