"Unrequited Infatuations" by Stevie Van Zandt

As a longtime Bruce Springsteen fan (dh introduced me to his music early in our relationship, in the early 1980s), I immediately put "Unrequited Infatuations" on my reading list when I heard that Stevie Van Zandt had written a memoir. It was released earlier this fall. (I bought it the same day I bought Dave Grohl's memoir, and it was a toss-up as to which book I'd read first. Dave won.) 

As one review I read pointed out, Van Zandt is best known as the "consigliere" to two of New Jersey's most famous sons -- one being Bruce Springsteen, and the other (fictional) Tony Soprano of television's "The Sopranos." He first met Springsteen as a teenager in the 1960s, both musicians in rival bands, who bonded over their mutual passion for rock and roll music. As "Miami Steve," he was Springsteen's onstage harmonizing sidekick in the E Street Band and offstage arranger, producer and adviser. Their partnership lasted until 1983, when Van Zandt asked for a formal role in decision-making for the band. Springsteen refused. Van Zandt quit. They eventually rekindled their friendship, but he didn't rejoin the band until 1999.  

In the meantime, he produced albums for other artists. He formed his own band, Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. (I had at least one of their albums, now in Older Nephew's collection.) The band's first drummer on the road was Dino Danelli, formerly of the Rascals, one of Van Zandt's favourite bands, growing up. Years later, he would pull off the nearly impossible feat of bringing the four feuding members of the Rascals together again, first for a one-off charity event and then for a tour, which included a run on Broadway. (Dh & I saw the show in Toronto in August 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed it.)  

Van Zandt was instrumental in getting the Rascals inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 -- which was, in turn, helped him land the role of Silvio Dante in "The Sopranos." (The show's writer and producer, David Chase, saw him deliver the Rascals' induction speech and thought he'd be a natural as Silvio.)  He's since acted in other vehicles, including "Lilyhammer" -- a fish-out-of-water story about (another) Italian-American mobster living in Norway (!). (I've never seen it, but -- being part Swedish myself -- I got a kick out of his descriptions.)  

A trip behind the Iron Curtain triggered a quest to educate himself about political issues. He became an activist, organizing other artists from across musical genres to record the influential anti-apartheid anthem "Sun City." (I hadn't seen the video in years until I looked it up for this post... it's still pretty powerful.)  And he and his wife Maureen (who, by the way, have no children) are passionate advocates for the arts, especially in education. Their Rock and Roll Forever Foundation has developed a curriculum for use in schools called TeachRock, which uses the history of rock and roll as an educational tool. Van Zandt also hosts a radio show, "Little Steven's Underground Garage," on Sirius XM, where he spotlights his favourite artists and songs from the 1960s & 70s, as well as newer unknown bands (some of them signed to his Wicked Cool Records label).  

This one took me longer than I expected to read -- partly because of other stuff going on my life that distracted me from reading -- but also because there was a lot to wade through and absorb. (I also found myself somewhat distracted/irritated by Van Zandt's annoying habit of capitalizing random terms such as Rock, Jazz, Manager, Arranger, Artist, Religion, etc. etc.) A friend who read the book first told me it was "fun, but needed a heavy dose of suspended disbelief."  Having now finished the book, I agree.  To put it mildly, the guy has an extremely robust ego  ;) (and a fairly sizeable chip on his shoulder).  As she hinted, I suspect there's some healthy embellishment going on, lol.  But he's honest about his shortcomings too. He's done a lot of interesting things in his life, dabbled in a lot of different areas, and he has some interesting stories to tell. If you love rock and roll music, if you grew up listening to Sixties, Seventies and/or Eighties music (as I did), if you're a Springsteen or Sopranos fan, you will probably enjoy this book. 

I debated how to rate this book -- 3.5 or 4? I'm giving it 4, because it did pick up towards the end, and left me with a smile on my face.  I especially loved this passage, near the very end, where he talks about his TeachRock curriculum: 

My initial ambition for education was quite modest. All I wanted was for every kid in kindergarten to be able to name the four Beatles, dance to "Satisfaction," sing along with "Long Tall Sally," and recite every word of "Subterranean Homesick Blues." 

The rest will take care of itself. 

This was Book #57 read to date in 2021 (and Book #3 finished in December), bringing me to 158% (!) of my 2021 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 36 books. (I've exceeded my best-ever showing in the Goodreads Challenge since I joined in 2016 -- which was 50 books read in all of 2019.)  I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 23 (!) books ahead of schedule. :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2021 tagged as "2021 books." 

*** *** *** 

AND.... this is it!!  Post #2,000 since I began blogging in October 2007!!!