Tell the Truth Until They Bleed

by Josh Alan Friedman, Wyatt Doyle (Editor)

"Josh Alan Friedman has chops like a wolf. The French had a phrase for his tropism for the seedy, the gutter, the outcasts: nostalgie de la boue. This book deserves wide attention." --Jerry Wexler, co-founder of Atlantic Records

"A can't-put-it-down rock 'n' roll read ... a must for any fan of good music writing and great storytelling." --William Michael Smith, Houston Press

"He dances off the page, improvises, hits all the grace notes. He knows the turfspeak of both showbiz and quality lit." --Michael Simmons, High Times

"The architects and the artists, the legends and the liars, the famously acclaimed and the anonymously unsung... each one a delectable bit of voyeurism." --PopMatters

Back in print in a new, definitive edition, this unflinching, critically acclaimed collection by BLACK CRACKER author Josh Alan Friedman gets up close and personal with some of the most important and unsung figures in 20th century blues and rock 'n' roll. From household names to the unacknowledged architects behind both the unforgettable sounds and the multi-billion-dollar industry, here are music's big winners and tragic losses; the self-made, the self-serving, and the self-destructive. Friedman captures intimate insights, unearths secret histories, and shines a light on parts of the music business most prefer not to talk about.

An antidote to antiseptic cultural mythologizing, TELL THE TRUTH UNTIL THEY BLEED is show business without the showbiz. After too many years out of circulation, TRUTH is back.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

280 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2008

About the author

In 1987, writer-guitarist Josh Alan Friedman sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads (the Crossroads of the World--Broadway & 42nd Street) and moved to Texas. He'd just written Tales of Times Square , a cult classic. An Expanded Edition with new chapters was recently released, while the still-unfinished movie of Tales has played 35 film festivals.

Joshs latest book is Black Cracker, the story of his tumultuous childhood as the only white boy at Long Island's last segregated school. In 2008: Tell the Truth Until They Bleed. Before that: When Sex Was Dirty; I Goldstein My Screwed Life (with Al Goldstein); Now Dig This The Unspeakable Writings of Terry Southern (co-editor).

Josh also set off satirical fires and lawsuits as writer-half of the Friedman Bros, the most feared cartooning duo of the late '70s and '80s. Two anthologies remain in print, featuring the art of Josh's brother, Drew Friedman: Warts and All and Any Similarity to Persons Living Or Dead Is Purely Coincidental.

On the music front, as Josh Alan, he barnstormed the state of Texas for 20 years, rocking whole arenas with his Guild D-40. Copping three Dallas Observer Music Awards for Best Acoustic Act, he released four albums: Famous & Poor, The Worst!, Blacks 'n' Jews (the title of which became a documentary on Joshs life) and Josh Alan Band."

Reviews

[Pat Padden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of the Brill Building Era... Jews, Blacks, Rock 'n' Roll... I was liking it a bunch until the guy dissed Willy DeVille, and I was, like... I'm sorry. Willy DeVille had a decades-long career, more successful in Europe than here, perhaps, made a dozen great, great records, collaborated with Doc Pomus, wrote an Academy-award nominated song which he performed at the awards ceremony, and you're calling him a poseur? Remind me again, you're who?

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tell The Truth starts out as yet another book about corruption in the music industry with the bottom line being that half the names credited on your favorite oldies didn't even write the songs, they just strong armed their way onto the publishing rights.

I derived more amusement in reading about the singer that turned down Lieber & Stoller's classic Is That All There Is? which was written just for her and the other singer who lost out on recording it. (Lucky for Peggy Lee). And I couldn't agree more with Doc Pomus' assessment of Bruce Springsteen.

Tell The Truth Has a lot of ups and downs, on the minus side there's mean put-downs of Ronnie Spector, Willie Deville and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. On the plus side the Mose Allison segment is excellent, the Tommy Shannon piece about Johnny Winter in the early stages of his career are indispensable, and Chuck Rainey's stories about Quincy Jones are myth-shattering.

[Phil Overeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential, for freaks for American music and mourners after the dirty world, which, as Friedman argues in most of these essays, was in many ways preferable to the antiseptic one of today, which is short on "roll," anyway. Great profiles of the recently-pass Jerry Leiber and many folks you've never read many profiles on (if any), like Mose Allison, Dr. John, Sam Myers, Chuck Rainey, and Cornell Dupree.

[Amy Eighttrack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josh Allen Friedman has the inside dope on many of the legendary (or should be legendary) musicians behind rhythm & blues, R&R and jazz music. Colorful, hilarious, sometimes nefarious tales from the music world: Dr. John, Mose Allison, Doc Pomus, Jerry Lieber, Tommy Shannon, Chuck Rainey and more. I was astounded by the breadth of material and intimate knowledgeability of the subject. Worthy of a PhD in musicology. He brings the obscure to light – you’ll want to read about them all.

[Eric Holmgren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chapters on Leiber & Stoller and Doc Pomus are great but all the later Texas/Stevie Ray Vaughan crap is a drag.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another gritty, compulsively readable book from Josh Alan. Friedman writes honestly, never shying from uncomfortable truths about racial dynamics and strong mob influence in the music biz.
The book includes the little-known story of Leiber and Stoller, an R&B-obsessed Jewish songwriting team that helped give birth Rock n Roll by creating songs with the motto "Making black people laugh." From what I understand, the entire book was supposed to be about the two, but he wasn't able to get as much out of the guys as he wanted. Seems there are still things they won't talk about for fear of mafia retaliation. Unreal.
There are also great pieces on other early producers, DJs and songwriters.
It also has stories he's done for the Dallas Observer, like one on Keith Ferguson, the doomed junky bassist for the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Also includes a good profile of Dr. John.
This book was obviously not overly edited, as there are occasional redundancies, meandering tangents and rough parts. But I'd rather read something with a few rough edges than something smoothed out, dumbed down and cleansed of potentially offensive and "intolerant" words by an overbearing editor.

[Kit Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the first half of this book is not to be missed: the chapter on Leiber & Stoller? Great. The chapter about the author being on tour with Ronnie Spector while he was also dating her? Too good. And then there's the second half, concerning a bunch of blues bass players and sax players and a lot of the author's older writings. The second half just didn't have the punch and tight writing that the earlier chapters did. Again, though, first five or six stories are dope.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of 15 articles on/interviews with musicians, producers and songwriters, a large portion of whom are/were based in Texas. The long (80+ pg.) piece on Jerry Leiber, with his colorful reminiscences about mobsters, hucksters, and other leaches in the music business (including Phil Spector), is worth the price of admission alone.

[Eric Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fantastic stuff in here, and some sort of mundane stuff. A collection of articles. The introductory group of articles on the songwriting duo Leiber & Stoller are some of the most interesting, fun and really wild writing I've ever read about people in the music biz. Those alone are worth the price of the book. It's not exactly downhill from there, but nothing else quite lives up to those.

[Bela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book rocked. Amazing interviews with Jerry Leiber and Keith Ferguson, who are no longer with us. What a find. I had to buy this book and I don't buy books very often anymore (since my dust/mold allergy)!!! :)

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun.