Flatlander and the Rise and Fall of Mike and the Ravens
While the baby boomer generation gets a lot more press (not to mention prestige) these days, author Peter F. Young isn’t ready to let war babies–those born between 1938 and 1946—fade into the night without a turn in the spotlight.
Like others in his generation, Young came of age during the early years of rock ‘n’ roll—and promptly fell in love with the so-called “devil’s music.” Like scores of other kids in small towns across America, Young not only worshipped rock stars, he dreamed of becoming one himself. But, unlike most of those other kids, he almost made it.
In this charming, irreverent, and hilarious memoir, Young recalls his boyhood and teenage years in the small towns of rural Vermont and Northern New York State, home of the almost-famous Mike & the Ravens. Despite their shoddy equipment and decidedly un-rock ‘n’ roll upbringings, Young and his band mates managed to get signed by a record company, become regionally famous, pull a ton of stunts—including causing a rock album to be played over a church’s robust belfry speaker system at 2:00 a.m. and land in jail like real rock stars—and still grow up to become productive, contributing members of society.
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***MY HONEST REVIEW OF Flatlander***
To Vermont locals,
if you were not born there, you were a flatlander. Even though Pete lived there
practically his whole life, they still considered him a flatlander. He really
didn’t care though, as he had no problem fitting in. As young teens, he and a
few of his friends formed a band just as rock and roll entered the scene. They
quickly rose to regional fame, but still being immature, there were many
lessons to learn.
My first
thought was, I’ve never heard of this band before. About three quarters in, I
was interested enough to google and listen to their songs. I couldn’t help but
laugh at the slapstick hilarity that encompassed this story. For it to have
happened so long ago, the author had a vivid memory of each event. I’m glad
too, because I loved reading every bit of it. I could tell the author was proud
of his accomplishments, even though he didn’t hit the level of fame that he was
dreaming of. I would say that the journey was enough.
My review can also be found at:
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**The above
opinions are 100% my own, whether I purchased the book or it was given to me to
review.
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