Deep Dive #85 - Interview with Peter Richardson about the early years of Rolling Stone Interview with Peter Richardson, Author of Brand New Beat, a history of the first ten years of Rolling Stone Magazine. 0:27 - Jefferson Airplane - Come up the Years 1:00 - The Masked Marauders - I Ca...

Deep Dive with Michael Parrish. All about Rolling Stone magazine in its first decade, but lots about the Dead, too. Many thanks to Michael for having me on his program.

If you have a couple of minutes, listen to Jeff Schechtman's introduction to this podcast. He really nails the significance of the San Francisco counterculture and its music circa 1967. Very eloquent.

A deeper dive into Rolling Stone's origins with Miranda Melcher.

Presidio Trust Firings / D2 Candidate Lori Brooke / Rolling Stone Mag's Founding A discussion on President Trump's Presidio Trust board firings, D2 Candidate Lori Brooke on why SHE will be better than Stephen Sherrill, the SF founding of Rolling Stone Magazine.

Got some love from KALW, the last ten minutes or so of "State of the Bay." Long live public radio.

Big week for bookstore events. Hope to see you there.
Sunday: Book Passage, Corte Madera, 1 pm
Monday: Clio's, Oakland, with David Gans, 7 pm
Wednesday: Readers' Books, Sonoma, 6 pm
Thursday: The Booksmith, San Francisco, with Joel Selvin, 7 pm
Friday: Coppefield's, Petaluma, with Tim Lynch, 7 pm.

Rodolfo Acuña, 93, Forthright Scholar at Forefront of Chicano Studies, Dies

RIP Rudy.

How much did the Pentagon lose last year?

Nice to get the full treatment in the Datebook section of the SF Chronicle. Even better to hear from friends who saw it.

Inside the Reckless Ascent of ‘Rolling Stone’ Terry McDonell on the magazine’s wild early years.

Terry McDonell's review means a lot to me. He was the managing editor at Rolling Stone just after the period I wrote about. He recounts that experience (and many others) in his excellent memoir, "An Accidental Life: An Editor's Notes on Writing and Writers."

A wild ride through the rollicking, rockin' early history of Rolling Stone A new book explores how the magazine thrived by exemplifying — and critiquing — the counterculture that exploded in San Francisco in the mid-1960s.

Smart review by Susan Brenneman, op-ed editor at the Los Angeles Times who started at Rolling Stone in the 1970s. Upshot: "Brand New Beat more than makes the grade, at least for this former fact-checker."

Covering the counterculture - East Bay Yesterday During the 1960s, America’s Cold War era monoculture was shattered by the arrival of birth control pills, civil rights protests, anti-war riots, LSD, rock & roll, and an unprecedented upsurge in youth...

I've done a lot of these, but this might be my favorite. eastbayyesterday.com/episodes/cov...

Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of ‘Rolling Stone’ Magazine by Peter Richardson Music writer Richardson (Savage Journey) unspools a comprehensive account of how Rolling Stone went from “undercapitalized San F...

Pleased about the positive review in Publishers Weekly. www.publishersweekly.com/9780520399396

Rolling Stone Magazine and the Bay Area Author Peter Richardson presents the early history of "Rolling Stone" magazine in 1960s and 70s San Francisco.

I wrote about Rolling Stone magazine for the UC Press blog. You can't understand the magazine's astonishing success without considering the San Francisco counterculture and the coverage it received from mainstream outlets.

THE CURE AT WALDEN POND | Kirkus Reviews Henry David Thoreau and the modern art of soul-making.

Latest review. Soulcraft isn't my jam, but I ended up liking these reflections on Thoreau.

Haha, that’s what I figured. But it might have been lost on the CJR person.

Joe, I have to ask: Were you, in fact, aware of the weirdness of your story?

Sonoma Valley Author's New Book Uncovers the West Coast Rise and Turbulent Times of Rolling Stone “When I am in California, I am not in the West, I am West of the West,” Theodore Roosevelt famously remarked. The list of Golden State pioneers is endless —

Paul Wilner, who knows the territory, did a nice job with this piece about the new book.

‘Wild rise’: New book documents the early days of Rolling Stone magazine In “Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine,” Richardson chronicles the upstart periodical’s rocky heyday, from its Summer of Love launch in 1967 to its controversial move to New York ...

Delighted to see Paul Liberatore's column about Brand New Beat.

Gave my first talk at the Pacific-Union Club. Beautiful day, elegant setting, great audience. Over a tasty lunch, my host told me about the time he dined with Moe Dalitz. Delightful.

This event was a blast. All credit to John Markoff and Steven Levy. Extra points that Steven wrote several dozen articles for Rolling Stone, including one, on hackers, that led to his first book.

Thanks to Manny's for hosting and to Adam Hirschfelder for conceiving it.

I can only imagine! The pillar sentence made my brain hurt.

Yikes.

13 New Books by Local Authors to Break for This Spring We can’t wait to dive into this fresh crop of Bay Area reads, from historical novels by Kate Schatz and Ayelet Waldman, to print celebrations of local institutions like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and C...

Delighted that 7x7 included my new book, "Brand New Beat," in an article about Bay Area authors. www.7x7.com/new-books-ba...

Think Different: Apple, the Counterculture, and Digital Culture, 1976-2026 Join us for this talk on the counterculture's significant influence on Apple's origin story as the company turns 50 on April 1st.

As we approach Apple's 50th anniversary, I'll be talking with John Markoff and Steven Levy about the counterculture's influence on Silicon Valley. Monday, March 16, at Manny's in San Francisco. Steven Levy was a late addition so not mentioned in this copy. www.eventbrite.com/e/think-diff...

WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES | Kirkus Reviews A first-person account of labor organizing in the 21st century.

Latest review. www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Where to, Nick?

Experts note that 1939 was a peak year in American film history ("The Wizard of Oz," "Gone with the Wind"), but it was also a stellar year for Los Angeles literature ("The Big Sleep," "The Day of the Locust"). Global conflicts were roiling, local corruption was in the news, and criminal syndicates were consolidating their grip on local unions and businesses, including film studios. In this course, we will consider Los Angeles during what may have been its most incendiary year, paying special attention to film, literature, politics, and organized crime before the Second World War.

I will teach my Los Angeles course live and online through Cal State Monterey Bay's OLLI program. We will focus on one incandescent year (1939), with special attention to film, literature, politics, and organized crime. Click for details. olli.csumb.edu/courses/view...

Course Sessions

Cal Lutheran is offering my online course on Rolling Stone magazine's first decade. Four two-hour courses, one per week, starts March 3. Click for more info.

City on Fire: Los Angeles in 1939 (Best of OLLI) | Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UC Berkeley Experts note that 1939 was a peak year in American film history (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind), but it was also a stellar year for Los Angeles literature (The Big Sleep, The Day of the Locust)...

The good people at Cal's OLLI program are offering my Los Angeles course again. It focuses on LA during a single year (1939) and under four aspects: film, literature, politics, and organized crime. Click on through to the other side. olli.berkeley.edu/course/3017