My first book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones was published in early May--not quite three months ago--thanks to the good folks at Rare Bird Books. I'm proud of the work, proud of the product itself, and thrilled with the positive reaction it seems to have received. Giddy? That's ME!
A few people have asked how long it took me to write the book. My pat first response is 50 years!, dating from when my thirteen-year-old self decided in 1973 that it oughtta be the posh, posh writin' life, the writin' life for me. A more accurate answer would be 29 years, going back to the 1994 Ramones interviews that are the book's raison d'être. I could also say it took just under ten years, dating from when I began going through the material again with specific book-writing intent in 2013.
I wound up putting the 2013 efforts aside. Really, the process of turning this into a book commenced in earnest in 2021. So: two years! With, y'know, building blocks and blueprints concocted over previous decades. For my own amusement, here's a timeline of Gabba Gabba Hey!'s genesis.
PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
My first freelance writing sale
Before we get to to the actual timeline, we need to acknowledge the usual contributing factors. I was born in 1960, decided in 1973 that I wanted to be a writer, and hijinks ensued.
I first read about the Ramones in 1977, and fell hard for their music by the end of that year. In December '77/January '78, I wrote my first stab at rock journalism. I made my first freelance writing sale in 1984, my first sale to Krause Publications in 1985, and my first sale to Krause's music periodical Goldmine in 1986. See my 1980s autobiography The Road To GOLDMINE for details.
I started co-hosting radio shows with Dana Bonn in 1992, and we began the somehow-still-running This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio With Dana & Carl on December 27, 1998.
From 1986 to 2006, I wrote a ton of stuff for Goldmine. When Goldmine was prepping for a year-long celebration of its 20th anniversary in 1994, I pitched editor Jeff Tamarkin on the sheer inevitably of a Ramones cover story for Goldmine. He agreed.
Let's start the timeline there.
EARLY 1994
Goldmine editor Jeff Tamarkin assigns me to write a cover story about the Ramones. I propose interviewing the Ramones for an autodiscography and personal history of the group's career. Jeff puts me in touch with the Ramones' publicist Ida Langsam. Ida arranges telephone interviews with the four then-current members: Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Marky Ramone, and C. J. Ramone. My request for access to previous members Dee Dee Ramone, Tommy Ramone, and Richie Ramone is politely deferred, and (no surprise) does not happen.
FEBRUARY 1994
The interviews take place, resulting in approximately five hours of conversation preserved on cassette tapes. About a week after the interviews, Joey Ramone calls me back because he thought of a few additional projects he wants to discuss. I tell him that, if i wind up with more details than I could fit into a magazine article, I'll preserve the information for use in some future work instead.
Oooo--foreshadowing!
SPRING AND SUMMER 1994
Transcribing the interview tapes is what we in the pop journalism industry like to call "a crazy, long-ass drudge." The piece has an open deadline, as long as I can get it done in time to run during Goldmine's 20th anniversary year. A Goldmine interview with Joan Jett takes place after my Ramones interviews, but has a much more pressing deadline, and needs to be addressed first.
My wife Brenda helps transcribe the interviews, I double-check the transcripts against the tapes, and begin the process of assembling and editing the separate interviews into something that can read like a conversation. I slap together introductory material, and finish writing a really, really long magazine article. I have to leave out a lot of stuff, but I manage to fit quite a bit of in. I tweak it all a bit, and I'm satisfied with the result.
AUGUST 1994
I submit the completed interview/article to Jeff. He accepts it.
FALL 1994
Goldmine's intrepid 'n' amazing Managing Editor Bonni Miller informs me that she's pulled off the seemingly impossible task of fitting this whole damned thing into one issue without crowding everything else into some other magazine, like Popular Mechanics, or, I dunno, Glue Sniffers' Guide. The issue is published with a cover date of September 30, 1994, sporting my suggested cover featuring the Ramones with Homer Simpson. I'm told reader reaction is good. Ida Langsam expresses her astonishment at how friggin' big the article is.
 |
| MY copy isn't autographed, but I'm delighted to see this exists somewhere! |
And then, it's on to other projects. Time passes....
SPRING 2002
The Ramones are inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Joey doesn't live to see it. The Hall Of Fame's website lists my Ramones interviews as recommended reading. The thought of expanding the interviews into book form springs into being right around here.
But I don't do anything about it. Not yet.
SPRING 2006
My final work for Goldmine is published. I never formally quit freelancing with GM; I just stop doing it, and (with scattered exceptions) effectively take a break from writing. My heart just ain't in it anymore.
FALL 2013
My daughter Meghan begins her freshman year at college. Rather than just continuing to stare at the empty nest, I revisit the idea of writing a book built from my Ramones interviews. I begin transcribing the Goldmine piece, but put it aside after a couple of months.
LATE 2014/EARLY 2015
As my former Goldmine colleague Ken Sharp preps the second volume of his own collected-interviews book series Play On! Power Pop Heroes, he asks if I have any interviews with Joey and/or Johnny Ramone, and can he use some of that material in his book?
I do. And he can.
Play On! Power Pop Heroes Volume Two is published shortly thereafter. Ken includes due credit for my contribution, "from Carl Cafarelli's forthcoming book Gabba Gabba Hey! Conversations With The Ramones." That is the book title I have in mind at this time.
JANUARY 18, 2016
Out of nowhere, the death of David Bowie compels me to start writing a daily blog. Daily. Man, that's nuts.
I haven't missed a day since.
2016-2019
On my blog, I begin The Greatest Record Ever Made!, a series of essays about individual songs, dedicated to the notion that an infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. GREM! starts to seem like it oughtta be a book. I get an agent. I write a book proposal. My DIY hype machine gathers its mutant steam. The book's proposed title becomes The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). A lot of friends express their support for the idea of a GREM! book.
One of these friends is writer and musician S. W. Lauden, aka Steve Coulter. In October of 2019, Steve suggests that Rare Bird Books might be a good home for The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1), and recommends I get in touch with Tyson Cornell at Rare Bird. Not wishing to do anything that could be seen as double-crossing my agent, I send an introductory email to Tyson with CC to my agent, and wait to see if anything develops on this (or any) front.
Nothing develops.
2020
Yechh.
And whatever forward motion GREM! might have had dissipates.
2021
As The Greatest Record Ever Made! moves to the back burner, I start thinking again about my Ramones book, now called Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. In February, I reach out to Tyson Cornell, describe the book to him, and ask him if Rare Bird might be interested. I send him the transcripts of the interviews.
In March, my agent and I finally acknowledge the obvious and part company. No hard feelings, and I learned a lot of good things in the process.
In May, Rare Bird confirms interest in Gabba Gabba Hey! A tentative deal memo is drafted and accepted in June. I continue to work on the book, and finish it before the end of the year. (I also finish the first complete draft of The Greatest Record Ever Made! [Volume 1] by mid-January of 2022.)
MARCH 2022
The contract is signed. Rare Bird Books will publish Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones. The completed manuscript is submitted to Rare Bird.
LATE 2022
Tyson connects me with Rare Bird's Marketing Director Alexandra Watts. Haile Johnson from Rare Bird's editorial department contacts me to begin reviewing the copyedited text. We address everything to mutual satisfaction, and I sign off on the final edit in November. We review the galley interior, and reach final approval in December.
2023
Full speed ahead! Many conversations with Alexandra, plans for promotion, and my growing anticipation of--at long last!--having a book published. I see the book listed on Amazon. I get my first advance glimpse of the wonderful cover graphic. The first presale copies of the book arrive at my house in April, ready for me to [ahem] AUTOGRAPH and return to Rare Bird for proper distribution. Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is officially published on May 9, 2023. The delightfully dizzying whirlwind of promoting it commences. I am very, very happy.
SO! How long did it take me to write my Ramones book?
A lifetime.
And it was worth every second.
And now...The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1)? It's written. It's ready. Can one book lead to another? Time will tell. Time will tell.
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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
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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