Rock Music Menu: Summer Essentials: Books for the beach or to keep you busy in quarantine – The Delaware County Daily Times

School’s out, summer is here, and a worldwide pandemic is raging with no end in sight. There’s no better time than now to hunker down and finish that at home project, avoid the masses and the tension the outside world has to offer, and Rock Music Menu has the keys to keeping you sane.

Last week, we looked at some professional grade speakers that are available at a consumer-friendly price, true wireless earbuds that give new meaning to the word rugged and some quality colored pencils to bring out the artist – and long dormant little kid – in all of us. This week, we’re looking at some of the recent music related books to hit the shelves.

The bulk of music memoirs and the sort come out toward the end of summer and early fall to capitalize on holiday gift guides, but there have been a few already worth mentioning in 2020 that shouldn’t be missed.

TED TEMPLEMAN: A PLATINUM PRODUCER’S LIFE IN MUSIC

TED TEMPLEMAN AS TOLD TO GREG RENOFF

Any fan of rock music in the 70s and 80s quickly became familiar with the four words “Produced by Ted Templeman,” which appeared on the back cover of dozens upon dozens of albums. Templeman was in charge in the studio for some of the most iconic records made during the era, from Van Morrison’s ‘Tupelo Honey’ to The Doobie Brothers ‘Takin’ It to the Streets’ to Sammy Hagar’s ‘VOA’ to every Van Halen album done with David Lee Roth from their self-titled debut to the apex of ‘1984.’

Templeman’s story at the forefront of historic moments in rock and roll take fly on the wall to another level. He didn’t want to hear about Michael McDonald becoming an intrinsic part of the Doobies and at the get-go wanted to fire Roth from VH, ironically in favor of Hagar, long before the band made the choice on their own. Thankfully, he realized the errors of his thoughts long before they could have career-killing consequences.

Hands down, the memoir is one of the best to come from someone who was actually there. Pedigree notwithstanding – and the pretty bonkers story that go with the acts he worked with on a daily basis – Templeman has lived a pretty colorful life, but not all of that pleasant. While part of the band Harpers Bizarre in 1969, he was one of the hostages on the to-this-day longest hijacking of an airplane by distance when a gunman took control of an aircraft departing Los Angeles headed for San Francisco, a terribly harrowing incident that haunts him to this day.

ERUPTION IN THE CANYON: 212 DAYS AND NIGHTS WITH THE GENIUS OF EDDIE VAN HALEN

ANDREW BENNETT

Speaking of Van Halen, prepare to have every single preconceived notion of Eddie Van Halen shattered if you dare dig into one of the most polarizing pieces of writing and photography with ‘Eruption in the Canyon: 212 Days and Nights with the genius of Eddie Van Halen.’

Videographer Andrew Bennett was tapped by the guitarist to document a fractured Van Halen (as a unit) at the 5150 studio in 2004 and 2006, two pivotal periods in the history of the group. The first was when the band was recording three new songs with Sammy Hagar to promote an eventually disastrous tour later that year. The next had Eddie’s son take over for ousted bassist Michael Anthony before seeing the teen dial up original frontman David Lee Roth for a 2007 reunion.

Along the way, there’s inside insight into just how unpredictable and volatile the behavior of the guitarist would become, from pulling a gun on Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst to going after his own brother, VH drummer Alex Van Halen, in a sadly comedic incident. Add that into the rarely seen photos Bennett took inside 5150 and it’s an indispensable piece of rock history.

Fans of Van Halen remain divided on the book as Bennett at one point tried to sell studio footage of Van Halen in the studio during this period before a court injunction shut it down. He says he was left with no choice after Eddie refused to pay him a monetary figure the two agreed upon. Is ‘Eruption in the Canyon’ therefore a comeuppance or a salacious intrusion? The only way to decide is by purchasing the book, for $51.50 naturally, at eruptioninthecanyon.com.

SING BACKWARDS AND WEEP: A MEMOIR

MARK LANEGAN

Best known as the frontman for the grunge-era outfit Screaming Trees, Mark Lanegan takes readers back to the sinister, needle-ridden streets of Seattle, to an alternative music scene that was simultaneously bursting with creativity and dripping with drugs.

He tracks the tumultuous rise and fall of his band from a brawling, acid-rock bar band to world-famous festival favorites that scored a Top 10 single on Billboard’s Alternative charts and landed a notorious performance on David Letterman, where the singer appeared sporting a fresh black eye from a brawl the night before. The book also dives into Lanegan’s personal struggles with addiction, culminating in homelessness, petty crime and the tragic deaths of his closest friends.

Lanegan becomes friends with Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, detests the members of his own group and almost gets into fisticuffs with Oasis singer Liam Gallager along the way. ‘Sing Backwards and Weep’ is hardly a complete picture of Lanegan’s life, tapping out in the late-90s, but it’s done so brilliantly, here’s hoping for a sequel.

To contact music columnist Michael Christopher, send an email to rockmusicmenu@gmail.com. Also, check out his blog at www.thechroniclesofmc.com.