POP-A-LOOZA: THIS PEN FOR HIRE! My Guest Appearances In Other Writers' Books

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is a review of my c.v. as a contributor to other writers' books, "This Pen For Hire!"  The Beatles! The Ramones! The Monkees! The Flamin' Groovies! The Bay City Rollers! Power pop! Bubblegum! Um...VCRs. No matter the subject, my pen stood at the ready. Now I feel bad for ignoring the pen and typing everything out instead.

I continue to work on my own first book, The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). There's nothing to report on the book's plodding path to (we hope) eventual print, but I've been adjusting the content and will be publishing an update on that soon, probably next week. SPOILER ALERT: yeah, I added more songs. 175. 175 shall be the number, for the number shall be 175. I'm still deliberately omitting a few of my all-time favorite songs, including "It's My Life" by The Animals, "Five O'Clock World" by The Vogues, "Heart Full Of Soul" by The Yardbirds, "Laugh Laugh" by The Beau Brummels, "A Million Miles Away" by The Plimsouls, and others. These intentional snubs are motivated by a wish to emphasize that the book is not just an attempt to list my all-time favorite songs. Its goal is bigger than that.

And, hyperbolic title notwithstanding, it's also not meant to be an objective and definitive list of the greatest records ever made. No. It's an embrace of the giddy moment when a specific song plays, and we raise our fists or sway our frames in passionate response. In that moment, it's the only song that matters. We may forget about it the next day, or even with the next record, but in that moment? It's the greatest record ever made. An infinite number of songs can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns.

(And, if I eventually decide to push the book's subject matter up to 200 songs, my all-time favorites are gettin' the call to enter the game. Go, team, go!)

Meanwhile, I did a lot of work for some friends, associates, and a few relative strangers to use in their books. "This Pen For Hire! My Guest Appearances In Other Writers' Books" is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

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Carl's writin' a book! The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)will contain 165 essays about 165 tracks, each one of 'em THE greatest record ever made. An infinite number of records can each be the greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Updated initial information can be seen here: THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE! (Volume 1). My weekly Greatest Record Ever Made! video rants can be seen in my GREM! YouTube playlist. And I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl.