cover image Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop, and Roll in Los Angeles 1956%E2%80%931972

Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop, and Roll in Los Angeles 1956%E2%80%931972

Harvey Kubernik. Santa Monica, $45 (336p) ISBN 978-1-595-80079-4

Music journalist Kubernik (This is Rebel Music) takes readers on a nostalgic tour of the L.A. music scene at a pivotal period in pop music history. Compiling over 200 interviews (both original and borrowed) with musicians and behind-the-scenes personnel, Kubernik constructs the narrative as an oral history, sewing together anecdotal snippets by radio DJs like Art Laboe, songwriters like Mike Stoller, Jerry Leiber, and Lou Adler, and producers like Phil Spector. There are behind the scene tales of up and coming artists at work, who went on to become icons, such as Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, and more, including lesser known but highly respected players like singer Betty Jane Baker. Illustrated with candid photos, concert posters, newspaper clippings, ticket stubs, the book projects the enthusiasm of a personal scrapbook. Less of an authoritative history in scope, Kubernik hones the creative energy of the era and successfully presents the era's atmosphere%E2%80%94an era where music transcended race, the summer of love and iconic festivals were in full swing, and music pioneers on the stage or behind the radio and labels were facing the ups and downs of the business. Color Photos. (Apr.)