Cerphe's Up: A Musical Life with Bruce Springsteen, Little Feat, Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, CSNY, and Many More

This memoir by the renowned rock radio insider, with previously unpublished photos, is “pure fun and, for many, a joyful trip down musical memory lane” (Booklist). Do you remember rock and roll radio? This incisive musical memoir by Cerphe Colwell, a renowned broadcaster for more than forty-five years in Washington, DC, shares the story of his life as a rock radio insider in rich detail and previously unpublished photographs. He recounts promotion—and friendship—with a young unknown Bruce Springsteen; his years at radio station WHFS 102.3 as it blossomed in a new freeform format; candid interviews with Little Feat’s Lowell George, Tom Waits, Nils Lofgren, Stevie Nicks, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Steven Van Zandt, Robert Plant, Danny Kortchmar, Seldom Scene’s John Duffey, and many others; hanging out with George Harrison, the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, John Entwistle, Jackson Browne, and more; testifying on Capitol Hill with friend Frank Zappa during the “Porn Rock” hearings; and managing the radio syndication of both G. Gordon Liddy and Howard Stern. Player listings and selected performances at legendary DC music clubs Childe Harold and Cellar Door are also chronicled. Cerphe’s Up is a significant contribution to music history—and a fun, revealing ride with some of the greatest rock-and-roll highfliers of the twentieth century. “I recommend his book to all music fans.” —Nils Lofgren