Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever by Will Hermes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A really good survey of five years (1973-77) of the New York music scene that changed the music world. Two related aspects struck me as I read Love Goes to Buildings on Fire, which borrows its title from the Talking Heads song of that name. The first was how diverse the music scene was in the 1970s and the second was how knowledgeable the author, Will Hermes, is about all the types of music he surveys in the book, i.e., punk, Latin, disco, experimental, etc. Only a writer who truly loves music can write informatively about all genres. There's a lot in here about Patti Smith, The Talking Heads, The Ramones and Bruce Springsteen all told in a breezy, but lucid style.



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Peppermint Twist: The Mob, the Music, and the Most Famous Dance Club of the '60s by John Johnson Jr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Peppermint Twist is a great biography of a New York City Institution and the mobsters who created it. A lot of the ties to the music business that the mafia was rumored to have back in the 1960s are covered in this interesting history of the Peppermint Lounge.

If you read this book, let me recommend watching the movie Hey Let's Twist (1961), which is covered in the book and was shot (although I think it was just exterior shots) in the Peppermint Lounge.

If three of your favorite subjects are New York City history, the mob and music this book is a must. If even one of those subjects is of interest, you'll find enough of it to make reading Peppermint Twist enjoyable.



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