Boy About Town cover
Tony Fletcher’s new memoir Boy About Town has been receiving fantastic reviews in anticipation of his reading and book signing on Saturday at the Orphic Gallery. The latest national publication to weigh in is the Huffington Post whose literary critic Dusty Wright declares the book “a charming page-turner.” Read the full review here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dusty-wright/all-mod-cons_b_4108732.html.
The reading and book signing will occur on Saturday, October 19th, 2013 from 4-6 pm at the Orphic Gallery located at the Roxbury Corner Store at 53525 State Highway 30, Roxbury, NY, at the corner of Main and Bridge Streets. For the reading Tony Fletcher will feature Boy about Town.
A memoir of his 1970s schooldays and his early days in the London music scene, Boy About Town has received rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. Britain’s leading music magazine called it “An innocent’s story, engagingly told.” The influential Louder Than War website heralded it as “[A] gripping account of the post-punk period … one of the most essential accounts of this tumultuous yet highly productive period of British music …” And Hudson Valley’s Chronogram magazine calls it "A touching personal document and a propulsive historic record of England on the edge."
Tony Fletcher is the author of seven non-fiction books and one novel. His biography of drummer Keith Moon has been named in many a Best Music Book list, and his biography of R.E.M., updated in 2013 as Perfect Circle, has been published in over half a dozen countries. His latest biography, A Light That Never Goes Out: The Enduring Saga of The Smiths, was published in the UK by William Heinemann in September 2012, and by Crown Archetype in the USA in December 2012, with paperback editions following in the corresponding months of 2013. Fletcher is also the author of All Hopped Up and Ready To Go: Music from the Streets of New York, 1927-77, and to tie in with the Orphic’s exhibition of Allen Tannenbaum photos from the 1970s NYC music scene, Fletcher will additionally read from and talk about this book
Fletcher gained his entry into music journalism by founding a fanzine at his London school in 1977; by the time Jamming! ceased publication in 1986, it was selling 30,000 copies a month. Along the way he interviewed the likes of Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney, Paul Weller and U2, as well as dozens of up-and-coming, predominantly independent post-punk acts.
A contributor over the years to a multitude of magazines, newspapers, radio and television shows, primarily in the UK and USA, Fletcher now lives with his family on a mountaintop near the village of Woodstock in New York State. There he runs, skis, maintains his web site www.ijamming.net, serves on his local school board, and plays Hammond B-3 and Rickenbacker in the Catskill 45s, a group that only performs songs from 45 calendar years ago.
For further information on BOY ABOUT TOWN or the Orphic Gallery, please contact Phillip Lenihan at 607-326-6045 or phil@orphicgallery.com.
