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Unphiltered: Real Life on and off the Rock 'N Roll Tour Bus
‘UNPHILTERED: REAL LIFE ON AND OFF THE ROCK ‘N ROLL TOUR BUS’ -- TELL-ALL MEMOIR FROM ROCK DRUMMER PHIL VARONE -- DEBUTS APRIL 17TH FROM RIVERDALE AVENUE BOOKS
NEW YORK CITY – (April 15, 2013) – Unphiltered: Real Life On and Off the Rock’n Roll Tour Bus by Phil Varone will be published on April 17th. Varone is the rock drummer, director, producer and comedian, best known for his stint with the rock groups Saigon Kick and Skid Row. The e-book and trade paperback are from Riverdale Ave Books (RAB) and will be available through www.riverdaleavebooks.com, Amazon.com and other online venues.
Varone shares his thoughts on what it’s really like to be a rock star on a bus for weeks on end, the man-band bonding rituals, and the endless groupies.
He tells the inside story of what it was like to sleep with more than 3,000 women -- and remember only half of them. In one of the most riveting chapters of the book, “I Said/She Said -- A Look into the Groupie Mind,” the reader meets many of the women he bedded, It features often explicit stories from numerous women in his life, juxtaposed with Varone’s memories (or lack thereof) of their encounters.
Unphiltered takes the reader through Varone’s childhood on Long Island, his role in founding Saigon Kick, and his bizarre journey through the 80s and 90s rock scene. Throughout the rock’n roll memoir, Varone tells readers how he sees the world in a no-holds barred riff on American culture – what makes it so unique and great to what makes it funny and often sad.
Readers of Unphiltered will find out what Varone thinks about Donald Trump, Mitt Romney and reality TV, and will finally learn what happens when the bathroom doesn’t work on the tour bus.
Varone closes the book with this thought: “I hope this book made you laugh, cry, mad, disgusted, shake your head or want a refund. The idea is to touch on emotions and even if it’s for a split second, make another person think. I had the time of my life writing this for you and I hope to have made a few friends and fans along the way.”
“This is a wildly original stand-up comedy routine, except the reader is sitting down,” said Lori Perkins, publisher of RAB. “It really makes me want to see his ‘Sex, Stand Up, Rock & Roll Show’ when in gets to NYC.”
Riverdale Avenue Books (RAB) publishes six to eight e-books and audiobooks monthly under five imprints: Riverdale Pop issues a pop culture title each month; Riverdale/Magnus Books, a joint venture with award-winning publisher Magnus Books, issues LGBT titles; RAB HSF, a horror, science fiction and fantasy line; RAB Truth is an erotic memoir line; RAB Desire publishes erotica and erotic romance; RAB Sports features sports and gaming titles. RAB is headed by veteran literary agent and publisher Lori Perkins. It is a full service publisher, with a foreign rights department and a Los Angeles film agent.
NEW YORK CITY – (April 15, 2013) – Unphiltered: Real Life On and Off the Rock’n Roll Tour Bus by Phil Varone will be published on April 17th. Varone is the rock drummer, director, producer and comedian, best known for his stint with the rock groups Saigon Kick and Skid Row. The e-book and trade paperback are from Riverdale Ave Books (RAB) and will be available through www.riverdaleavebooks.com, Amazon.com and other online venues.
Varone shares his thoughts on what it’s really like to be a rock star on a bus for weeks on end, the man-band bonding rituals, and the endless groupies.
He tells the inside story of what it was like to sleep with more than 3,000 women -- and remember only half of them. In one of the most riveting chapters of the book, “I Said/She Said -- A Look into the Groupie Mind,” the reader meets many of the women he bedded, It features often explicit stories from numerous women in his life, juxtaposed with Varone’s memories (or lack thereof) of their encounters.
Unphiltered takes the reader through Varone’s childhood on Long Island, his role in founding Saigon Kick, and his bizarre journey through the 80s and 90s rock scene. Throughout the rock’n roll memoir, Varone tells readers how he sees the world in a no-holds barred riff on American culture – what makes it so unique and great to what makes it funny and often sad.
Readers of Unphiltered will find out what Varone thinks about Donald Trump, Mitt Romney and reality TV, and will finally learn what happens when the bathroom doesn’t work on the tour bus.
Varone closes the book with this thought: “I hope this book made you laugh, cry, mad, disgusted, shake your head or want a refund. The idea is to touch on emotions and even if it’s for a split second, make another person think. I had the time of my life writing this for you and I hope to have made a few friends and fans along the way.”
“This is a wildly original stand-up comedy routine, except the reader is sitting down,” said Lori Perkins, publisher of RAB. “It really makes me want to see his ‘Sex, Stand Up, Rock & Roll Show’ when in gets to NYC.”
Riverdale Avenue Books (RAB) publishes six to eight e-books and audiobooks monthly under five imprints: Riverdale Pop issues a pop culture title each month; Riverdale/Magnus Books, a joint venture with award-winning publisher Magnus Books, issues LGBT titles; RAB HSF, a horror, science fiction and fantasy line; RAB Truth is an erotic memoir line; RAB Desire publishes erotica and erotic romance; RAB Sports features sports and gaming titles. RAB is headed by veteran literary agent and publisher Lori Perkins. It is a full service publisher, with a foreign rights department and a Los Angeles film agent.
187 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2013
2 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 6, 2013
Daron and I reviewed this book in a Liner Note on Daron's Guitar Chronicles. Some excerpts:
Daron: Okay, here goes. Phil Varone’s “Un-Philtered: Real Life On and Off the Rock ‘n’Roll Tour Bus” is what the title implies, a direct spew straight from the slightly cocaine-addled brain of the former drummer for the bands Saigon Kick and Skid Row. Chapters describing antics and adventures while touring are interspersed with rants about subjects like how the Black Friday “holiday” is a sign of the ruination of America. One of the more amusing of these is against using the term “rock star” to refer to anything but actual rock stars:
“If you’re watching football and the quarterback throws an amazing pass, he’s not a Rock Star of football. … When fans come to one of my concerts they don’t yell out ‘My god, Phil is a quarterback of drumming.’”
ctan: My favorite parts of the book, and the ones that were the strongest, were the parts about sex. Varone has kept in touch with or found many of the women he slept with in the 90s and 2000s and he has each one of them write their “Penthouse Letters” style account of their night with him. Each account is then followed by his side of the story. It’s sort of like everything that is actually interesting about “reality TV” only sexier.
Daron: Ah, right. Why am I not surprised you liked the sex parts best?
ctan: They are the best parts of the book! And I love that these women have a voice in the book. That makes it way more interesting than just Varone bragging about how big his dick is. (And the women agree, it’s huge.) They’re not all fantastic conquests: one of the funniest involves him convincing two groupies to drive him four hours from one gig to the next. He spends the entire four hours of the drive masturbating with a bottle of hand lotion, trying to revive his cocaine-ravaged boner, to no avail. That’s one of the few, though, where adventurous erotic antics don’t occur. Also notable to me is the threesome where once he realizes he has no condoms, he has to get creative with oral sex to keep everyone happy. Because “no condoms means no penetration, no way around it.”
Daron: Okay, here goes. Phil Varone’s “Un-Philtered: Real Life On and Off the Rock ‘n’Roll Tour Bus” is what the title implies, a direct spew straight from the slightly cocaine-addled brain of the former drummer for the bands Saigon Kick and Skid Row. Chapters describing antics and adventures while touring are interspersed with rants about subjects like how the Black Friday “holiday” is a sign of the ruination of America. One of the more amusing of these is against using the term “rock star” to refer to anything but actual rock stars:
“If you’re watching football and the quarterback throws an amazing pass, he’s not a Rock Star of football. … When fans come to one of my concerts they don’t yell out ‘My god, Phil is a quarterback of drumming.’”
ctan: My favorite parts of the book, and the ones that were the strongest, were the parts about sex. Varone has kept in touch with or found many of the women he slept with in the 90s and 2000s and he has each one of them write their “Penthouse Letters” style account of their night with him. Each account is then followed by his side of the story. It’s sort of like everything that is actually interesting about “reality TV” only sexier.
Daron: Ah, right. Why am I not surprised you liked the sex parts best?
ctan: They are the best parts of the book! And I love that these women have a voice in the book. That makes it way more interesting than just Varone bragging about how big his dick is. (And the women agree, it’s huge.) They’re not all fantastic conquests: one of the funniest involves him convincing two groupies to drive him four hours from one gig to the next. He spends the entire four hours of the drive masturbating with a bottle of hand lotion, trying to revive his cocaine-ravaged boner, to no avail. That’s one of the few, though, where adventurous erotic antics don’t occur. Also notable to me is the threesome where once he realizes he has no condoms, he has to get creative with oral sex to keep everyone happy. Because “no condoms means no penetration, no way around it.”
September 30, 2013
3 1/2 stars
*I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Un-Philtered was such a fun look into the life of the notorious rockstar. Everything from what you can imagine to things you'd rather not, Phil Varone gives us all all access pass to his life from the beginning. He also adds his opinions and views that give a glimpse to the inner workings of this star. What a journey!
*I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
Un-Philtered was such a fun look into the life of the notorious rockstar. Everything from what you can imagine to things you'd rather not, Phil Varone gives us all all access pass to his life from the beginning. He also adds his opinions and views that give a glimpse to the inner workings of this star. What a journey!
April 2, 2014
Ugh. Why would anyone publish this? Simplistically written. And if that wasn't bad enough, he's reiterate everything he wrote in bullet points. I didn't enjoy reading it in the first place and then I'd have to re-read it. Claims to respect women on one page - a few pages later we get to hear about his his sexual experiences with a mother and daughter. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
September 24, 2014
A funny and gritty look inside the "rock and roll" lifestyle, a great ride the whole way through!
December 21, 2023
Hilarious and definitely not for the faint of heart. I hope to read more from Phil in the future.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews