Not Fade Away – Ben Fong-Torres

When we first saw this book at the local bookstore we didn’t know what to expect and (shame on us) we weren’t aware who was behind the Fong- Torres family name.

Reading few pages of it we understood quickly that its writer was one of the first (he was hired in 1969) and most acclaimed reporter of the magazine Rolling Stone.

We couldn’t loose the opportunity to buy it almost immediately; its second title “A backstage pass to 20 years of rock and roll” convinced us totally about the “investment” we were going to make.

In our opinion there are two ways of reading this book; the first one involves reading the amazing interviews to rockstars that made the history of rock and roll: Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger, Santana, Iggy Pop, George Harrison, Elton John and many more

http://youtu.be/VCS_aVuuPdg

The second way of reading it is more intimate; it is a journey on the life of the author, from the moment he got hired by a magazine Rolling Stone, that, even if famous, was not at the level of awareness of today till the one he became a teacher on the San Francisco State University.

In this journey we will have the possibility to be spectator of its life; reading between the lines, we will be able to discover his fears and joys of being a reporter or simply a man that was about to become part and testimony of the rock and roll legendary history.

“Not Fade Away (a backstage pass to 20 years of rock & roll) , Ben Fong-Torres, published by Miller Freeman Books

Cover design by Rich Leeds, cover photo by Jay Blakesberg