Every once in awhile we publish a column of e-mail journalism, i.e. Pencil Storm writers e-mailing one another about some topic they think readers might be interested in. Today’s subject is new rock & roll books from Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and Peter Wolf (of The J. Geils Band).
MIKE CAMPBELL / HEARTBREAKER - A MEMOIR
PETER WOLF / WAITING ON THE MOON - ARTISTS, POETS, DRIFTERS, GRIFTERS and GODDESSES
From: JIM JOHNSON <>
To: Ricki C. <>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 07:27:46 AM EDT
Subject: books
Here’s my 2 cents. Regarding the Mike Campbell book, it’s the best rock book that actually gives the reader insight into how the band was formed. It’s warts and all. I found it especially enlightening when revealed in a band meeting, without Tom Petty, that from then on (just after Damn The Torpedoes), Tom would get 50% of the money, and the rest of the band, plus management, would split the other 50%. It almost broke up the band! Cooler heads prevailed, when the other band members figured out that 10% of a goldmine was better than anything they could hope for in their musical futures.
The Peter Wolf book, was only interesting from the perspective of all the interesting people Peter encountered in his life. Anything about the J.Geils Band was relegated to a single chapter. Nothing about the inner workings of the band. How they wrote songs or decided on cover songs was barely mentioned. Faye Dunaway was covered extensively, ad nauseum. It’s an OK book, just not what I was hoping for.
On May 13, 2025, at 10:20 PM, Ricki C. <> wrote:
Jim - Here's Colin's bit. I'll get mine in soon. (I'm still trying to slog my way through the Peter Wolf, but I'm just about to bag it and just start reading specific chapters I think I might like.)
Name-dropping, anyone? (Not sure that's fair to Peter.)
Ricki C.
From: Colin Gawel <>
To: Ricki C. <>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 08:36:25 PM EDT
Subject: Re: Fw: books
I mentioned the Mike Campbell book in my previous RIP Roy Thomas Baker story but I’ll start by saying, if you want an excellent rock n roll memoir, Mike’s is an all timer. I don’t say this lightly. JJ and myself both collect rock n roll books and Ricki checks every single one out of the library so we have covered some serious rock n roll literature in our days.
It is true Tom unceremoniously cut the entire band’s pay in half with no discussion or him even showing up to break the news. Even more, Mike was still only making $100 a week at this point while living in L.A. with a wife and young daughter. This was after TEN years playing with Petty. But Damn the Torpedoes was on the launch pad and the big hit record was set to pop. Still…at one point Mike noticed he was spending more time in the studio than the other Heartbreakers and even Tom himself. He sucked it up and asked for a small raise. Tom’s answer? “No. I’m Tom Petty. You are not.”
Also, Tom was having voice problems on tour and threw a tantrum blaming management for booking too many interviews in between shows. It was ruining his voice.
Mike said, and I paraphrase but it’s pretty close because it’s such a great line…“Tom blamed interviews for tiring his voice but at this point he was staying up for days at a time, so if I were troubleshooting I might have started there.” Yes, cocaine was involved. The Southern Accents record was poised to be an artistic breakthrough on par with The Band until The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart took over production duties and the white stuff got involved.
But they were brothers and played together to the very end. It’s a great rock n roll book.
Now for Peter Wolf; it’s not a great rock n roll book. It IS a stunning piece of literature on par with Bob Dylan’s Chronicles. The first chapter left my jaw on the ground. Everyone needs to read it. And the second, too. Spoiler alert: Chapter two is firsthand Bob Dylan stories when Peter was a young teenager, sneaking into bars in New York’s East Village. But that opening chapter….oh man.
I mentioned Chronicles because Pete’s book is non-linear in the same way as Bob’s master opus. Each chapter just tells a different story from a different time.
God, how I loved this book. I read extra slow because I didn’t want it to end. I had no idea what was coming next. Peter knew everyone and partied with everyone. And he is so knowledgeable.
Sure, there isn’t much J. Geils backstory but I didn’t miss it. Band stuff…blah, blah, blah. It’s all VH-1 Behind The Music. The chapters on Faye Dunaway are heartfelt and mesmerizing. A love story that was doomed from the start.
And his meeting with Alfred Hitchcock???
And so many more.
The only reason these stories weren’t in Mike’s book was because it never happened to him.
Is it rock n roll? Hells yeah. It’s the most rock n roll book you will ever read. He just doesn’t talk about his band or recording or boring shit like that. I repeat, God I loved this book.
from JIM JOHNSON <>
To: Ricki C. <>
Wed, May 14 at 7:35 AM
Colin is spot on about Peter Wolf. It’s not a R&R book. I just didn’t love it like he did. I guess I was looking for nuts & bolts about J.Geils. Somebody had to fuck somebody’s girls friend at some point, doncha think? I have a picture of me & Peter Wolf somewhere. From the 80’s. I’ll look for it.
Peter Wolf delivers the first fist bump known to mankind to Jim Johnson, after a J. Geils Band show at the Fairgrounds in the 80’s.
From: Ricki C <>
To: Jim Johnson, Colin Gawel
Fri, May 23 at 2:43 PM
Okay, this is way late, but I've gotta get it done.......I never did make it all the way through the Peter Wolf book because it was due back at the library before I finished. (And I couldn't renew it because there were 39 (!) people waiting on it for reserve. That is one popular Rock & Roll Read for a guy who hasn't released a record since 2016, and the band he sang lead for - the fearsome, mighty J. Geils Band - peaked in the 1980's, some forty years ago.)
I started skipping around to chapters I thought would be interesting the day before I took it back, but forgot to look back at Colin's post and skipped all the Faye Dunaway parts AND the Alfred Hitchcock. (Stupid of me.)
All in all, I think Jim and I tend to agree on rock books. We want - preferably - warts & all reports on how the bands came up, what they went through once they got huge, and the almost inevitable fall-from-grace. (Yeah, we DO want the literary equivalent of a VH-1 Behind The Music episode.)
Plus, Jim, there is always the chance Colin is just smarter than you & me. (Or the fact that he's an entire rock & roll generation YOUNGER than us, so he has a few million more functioning brain cells than the Medicare Rockers you & I comprise.)
However, at the end of the day, I can't help feeling like the Peter Wolf book was just a little too much on the name-dropping side of things for my taste.
To sum up - 1) Were the Mike Campbell and Peter Wolf offerings GREAT Rock Reads that Pencil Storm readers should check out at their earliest convenience? Fuck yeah. 2) Do Jim and Colin & me ever agree on ANYTHING? Not that often.
To close - here's some videos, kiddies. ROCK!
Ricki C.