GABBA GABBA HEY! A CONVERSATION WITH THE RAMONES: About The Author (original draft)

Please indulge me for a minute. Today's post is all about me.

When you write a book, part of the process of selling the book is the act of selling yourself. Not in the negative sense of selling out (though, for the record, I'd sell out in a heartbeat if anyone were buyin'), but in terms of hyping the sheer 'n' irresistible wonder of you and what you do.

Charged with that task, I prepared an about-the-author bit for my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. Oh, before I forget: the laws of self-hype demand I mention that the book is due May 9th from Rare Bird Books, and that the book is already available for your preordering needs RIGHT HERE!! See? I speak fluent hype!

The graphic up top shows my About The Author bio as it will appear on the inner flap of the book's dust jacket. Below is the original, pre-edit draft of the bio:

CARL CAFARELLI is the co-host (with Dana Bonn) of the long-running weekly broadcast and internet radio show This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. When he's not playing records and yelling into the microphone, Cafarelli has been writing about rock 'n' roll, pop music, and pop culture for nearly forty years. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame cited his 1994 interviews with the Ramones as “essential reading," and Not Lame Media referred to Cafarelli as “one of the world’s most respected power pop scholars.” Cafarelli has written for Goldmine, DISCoveries, The Syracuse New Times, The Buffalo News, Rhino Records, Warner Brothers Records, BMG Europe, and more. Cafarelli maintains his daily--DAILY!!--blog Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), an ill-advised commitment which calls his sanity into question. But we love 'im anyway, the big lug! Cafarelli's work has been referenced in Billboard and Rolling Stone. Cafarelli has written short fiction for AHOY Comics, and contributed to the books Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth, Shake Some Action, MusicHound Rock, and Lost In The Grooves. Cafarelli still revels in the memory of a letter from a pair of disgruntled Goldmine readers insisting, "Carl Cafarelli should have his head examined!" And that was before he started blogging every freakin' day.

Cafarelli lives with his wife Brenda in the suburbs outside Syracuse, New York. Their daughter Meghan is Carl and Brenda's proudest accomplishment.

Awwww...! But it's true, especially the part about Meghan. The credits are all legit, though the Buffalo News one is a tiny stretch; I wrote a couple of TV reviews for the paper's Critics At Large column, for which I was paid the princely cumulative sum of $20. In 1985 money! That's sufficient justification to pad the ol' résumé with a reference to The Buffalo News.

For additional background info, here's a different bio I did a few years ago (for my long-threatened, still in development book The Greatest Record Ever Made! Volume 1):

Carl Cafarelli has written about rock ‘n’ roll, pop music, and pop culture since 1984. The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame cited his interviews with The Ramones as “essential reading.” Not Lame Media referred to Cafarelli as “one of the world’s most respected power pop scholars,” Rex Broome of Los Angeles record label Big Stir Records called him a “scene legend,” and critic Bill Holmes described him as “[one of] the most trusted names in pop journalism.” Legendary rock critic John Mendelsson “flipped out” over Cafarelli’s personal reminiscence of discovering the music of Buddy Holly as a teen in the ‘70s. These quotes make Cafarelli blush and preen, all at the same time. Cafarelli’s byline is viewed by fans of pop journalism as a guarantee of passionate, informed, and accomplished writing about the music they love.

Since 1998, Cafarelli has been the co-host (with Dana Bonn) of the weekly radio show This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio, which airs Sunday nights in Syracuse, NY on SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, sparksyracuse.org. Cafarelli and Bonn have assembled, designed, annotated, produced, and promoted four nationally-released, critically praised This Is Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio compilation CDs to date, featuring contributions from artists including the Cowsills, the Smithereens, and the Rubinoos. Cafarelli was a regular contributor to Goldmine magazine for 20 years, and is currently a contributor to AHOY Comics, one of the most buzz-worthy publishers in the current market. He maintains his own daily blog, Boppin’ (Like The Hip Folks Do), which he started in the immediate aftermath of David Bowie’s death in 2016.

  

Cafarelli’s writing for Goldmine was seen by an average readership of 30,000 music fans and record collectors, and Boppin’ (Like The Hip Folks Do) has nearly a half million views. Cafarelli’s work has been referenced in Billboard, Rolling Stone, the venerable UK rock magazine Bucketfull Of Brains, and in the books Cult Rockers, Sound Tracks: A Musical ABC, Play On! Power Pop Heroes, The Popular Music Teaching Handbook, and Boys Don’t Lie: A History Of Shoes.

In addition to his work for Goldmine, AHOY Comics, and Boppin’ (Like The Hip Folks Do), Cafarelli has written for Rhino Records, The Syracuse New Times, DISCoveries, REET! magazine, Warner Brothers Records, BMG Europe, Amazing Heroes, The Buffalo News, Big Stir magazine, Yeah Yeah Yeah magazine, The Comics Buyers’ Guide, The Power Pop Hall Of Fame, Jem Records, Kool Kat Musik, Comics Collector, Wizzard In Vinyl (Japan), Air Mail Recordings (Japan), International Pop Overthrow, Audities, and Love Letters To Rock N Roll. He contributed to the books Bubblegum Music Is The Naked Truth, Shake Some Action, MusicHound Rock, and Lost In The Grooves, and still revels in the memory of the letter from a pair of disgruntled Goldmine readers insisting “Carl Cafarelli ought to have his head examined!”

In his home town of Syracuse, NY, Cafarelli was the promoter, co-organizer, and co-host of BRIGHT LIGHTS!, a  phenomenally successful series of live performances reuniting acts from Syracuse’s late ‘70s and early ‘80s punk and new wave scenes. As an expert on pop music, he has been interviewed for TV, radio, newspapers, books, and magazines in Syracuse, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Brooklyn, and the Hudson Valley, with a radio interview for Maui’s KMNO-FM Mana’o Radio planned for the near future.  

Dorothy Parker said she hated writing, and loved having written. Cafarelli loves both parts of the process, from inspiration through perspiration, rewrites, honing, crafting, getting it right, encouraging the work to speak in its own voice. Writing is nearly as much fun as music. And writing about music? That pleasure is infinite.

CC? That's me! For now, you can even call me CC Ramone. My book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones ain't far, not hard to reach. Gabba Gabba Hey! And you can quote me. That's what this author's all about.

If you like what you see here on Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do), please consider supporting this blog by becoming a patron on Patreon, or by visiting CC's Tip Jar. Additional products and projects are listed here.

Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available for preorder, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!!

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.

I'm on Twitter @CafarelliCarl