“From rotgut to milkshakes, do-rags to ponytails”: Tosches, rock and roll, and Satan

Joe Bonomo: “The book’s a quick, fun read, and it benefits from Tosches doing what he does best: adopting a quasi-hard boiled tone while letting the genuine participants — among them Hy Weiss, producer and owner of Old Town Records, members of Bronx doo-wop group the Jaynettes (‘Sally Go ‘Round The Roses’) and their producer and session player, and Jerry Blavat, aka “The Geator With The Heater,” a Philadelphia-area oldies DJ — speak for themselves, in incriminating, sometimes self-deluding, but always lively and honest ways. The heart of the book is the sound of these voices. Tosches’ well-earned tendency to become a participant in the book’s telling is here, but he doesn’t steal any light that isn’t his.”

[Bonomo is the editor of an forthcoming anthology, Conversations with Greil Marcus]