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THE ROADHEAD CHRONICLES BOOK - AVAILABLE WORLDWIDE
Pop Culture & Chrome Meet Asphalt & Art!
By: Mike Marino
Available in US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, China and Japan.
Contact: [email protected]
Me? Michigan freelance writer, author, rock n' roll radio broadcast veteran and working journalista. I've been honored by being included in the 20-Dissidents Neo Beat Anthology Collection and Literary Journal.
Raised in the Fities, grew up fast in the Sixties, I left home at 15, lived on the beach in Hawaii and on the streets in LA and San Franciso for five years homeless with junkies, trannies, hookers, bikers, drunks, dharmabums, haiku hobo's, psychedelics and dopers, and staying alive by any means neccessary. I'll try anything once, and have, twice or more if I like it or have a passing interest.
Today, I am a columnist, writer, broadcaster, author, and contributing writer for a variety of publications including classic car mags, pop culture mags, Route 66 publications and history & travel magazines in North America, Europe and Asia, and available for freelance writing jobs. Too many to list here but gives you an idea.
Speed, Style and Sound
Auto Round-up
Atlanta Lifestyles
Cruisin' Style
20 Dissidents - Neo Beat Lit Journal
Porcupine Press
Travelers Tales - San Francisco
Offbeat Travel
Manifest Destiny Literary Arts
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Originally born and bred blue collar plaid and proud in the Motor City I've also lived in Hawaii, California, Colorado, Maine and now New Mexico where you don't have to search for the peyote, the peyote will find you amigo's and amiga's.
ROADHEAD CHRONICLES BOOK REVIEW
HE'S LIKE FREDERICK LEWIS ALLEN ON ACID! His chapters bounce all over the place and that is part of the book's charm. It is as if he is saying that you don't have to have your history chronological, that the events themselves are history in themselves, and yet he loosely strings each chapter around a theme. He sets up the 50s with a look at what led up to them, then it's through the looking glass. From the James Dean cool to the sci-fi kitsch, he lays out the changing world of youth and hints at the probable horror felt by the parents of the time. From muscle cars to the (North) beach scene to the advent of drive-ins (both movie and fast food), he shows us what many of us missed as it happened before our eyes.
The great thing is that he portrays them as seen through his eyes, for he has a vision of the recent past as seen while it happened. This is not a guy who looks back on his past. This is a guy who writes about his past as it happened. And the great thing is that his past is ours. As for the historical subjects? They were the true histories and not those spoonfed by educators strapped to corporation-accepted textbooks. The real history of the carhop, the fear created by the nuclear age, the very real effect of teen idol worship, the eccentric people and their odd worlds which touched us for a headline and maybe two.
The stories are short and sweet, sometimes just a passing comment, but stated in such a way that we feel that, trivial though they may seem, they were after all important enough to be included and, dammit, who are these people to tell us what's important, anyway?
I laughed through a large part of this and found myself heading to the computer to type in certain things in the old search engine, it was that interesting, but maybe I'm an old fuddyduddy. I mean, I read Frederick Lewis Allen in my youth and, in fact, still have three of his fine books on my shelves. Occasionally, I pick them up and leaf through them because damned if it isn't just plain interesting stuff.
Marino's book will make it there soon, but I've placed it for the moment on the coffeetable. It's so much easier to roll over on the couch and reach out than to get up and walk to the bookshelves every time I want a quick Roadhead fix. I'm not getting any younger, you know.
Frank Gutch: Book & Music Reviewer
