autobiography

Close-up of Tom Wilson at an autograph session

Review: Beautiful Scars: Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home by Tom Wilson

I truly love two songs in particular by the Hamilton rock band Junkhouse. One is Out of My Head, a hit from their 1993 breakout album, Strays. The other is Shine, and I’d put it in my top 20 of all time. Junkhouse appealed to my love for raw, filthy rock and roll that sounds live off the floor. (My all-time fave rocker: Humble Pie’s 30 Days in the Hole. It doesn’t get much filthier!) …

The Elder Statesman of American Rock

Not quite two-thirds of the way through Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, Born to Run, I feel confident that I can give it five out of five stars, no matter what else is to come. I can already guess how it ends. Springsteen is still one of the top money-making stars in the business of rock and roll and at 67, he’s in better shape than most men 20 years younger. The book is simply excellent. It entered North American sales charts at number one.  …

Randy Carly

“Well, you had me several years ago, when I was still quite naïve.” Those words, and the other lyrics in Carly Simon’s classic, You’re So Vain. have been the subject of so much speculation over the years. Now we know the identity of one of the mystery men with a bloated ego she skewers in her song.

Half-Pint Tells All

Most former child stars who reveal the sordid details of their personal lives don’t grab my interest.  Exceptions have been Danny Bonaduce (Danny Partridge) and Maureen McCormick (Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!).  But I had loved, lived and breathed both The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch in their days.  (Don’t judge me! I was a kid and as we all know, kids have no taste!)  And now toss on the pile Little House on the Prairie’s Melissa Gilbert (Laura Ingalls Wilder) who has written a new book called Prairie Tale.  …