Before I get into some really good book news, I’ll set the scene regarding where I was when I heard it, or more accurately, read it on my phone. If you’re a Rhode Islander you’ll have a special appreciation for the fact that I was nursing a tall can of Narragansett Beer while waiting for singer/songwriter, bandleader and now author, Steve Wynn, to take the stage at Providence’s fabulous emporium of pop culture, called POP. Here’s a link; prepare to be amazed: http://www.emporiumofpopularculture.com/
Wynn has a new book about his early career and his landmark band called Dream Syndicate, in my view the best of LA’s Paisley Underground bands of the early 1980s. He writes about finding himself in the middle of what is described on his website as ” a low-level rock’n’roll Babylon” in this passage from I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True: “Summer 1984. I’ve got the back lounge of this tour bus all to myself, partly because I’m the lead singer but more likely because it means the rest of the band won’t have to deal with me for the rest of the day. Just two years earlier I was flunking out at UCLA, working the day shift in a record store, living out of my father’s basement. Now I’m living the million-to-one reality of touring the country with my band, The Dream Syndicate, opening for up-and-coming rock darlings R.E.M., and making a big-budget sophomore album for A&M Records. I’m also untethered and unbound, drinking a fifth of Jim Beam every day, barely speaking to my best friend and guitarist, and looking for trouble in all the wrong places…”
His honest and often very funny one man show consisted of the soundtrack of that life plus the title song of Wynn’s new companion-to-the-book album, Make It Right, augmented by readings from book. I left wishing only that he’d played “Still Holding On to You.” He didn’t, so I have it for you here.
Part II:
And that was the setting for the happy news that The Book of Norman has been reviewed by critic and poet Fred Shaw for the Ocean State Review, which you can read here: https://oceanstatereview.org/2024/10/26/wayne-cresser-the-book-of-norman/
Also, if you’re in the Rhode Island area, I am pleased to announce that you can find The Book of Norman at the following bookstores:
Curiosity Store, Jamestown
Island Books, Middletown
Charter Books, Newport
Wakefield Books, Wakefield Mall
Books on the Square, Wayland Square, Providence
Just Between You and Me 
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