Title: Memoirs of the Original Rolling Stone
Author: Andy Anderson & Erika Celeste
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 9781449082860
Pages: 126, Paperback
Genre: Music/Memoir
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Pacific Book Review
“A rolling stone gathers no moss,” is the proverb which defines the term, and when it comes to music everyone first thinks of the British rock band, the blokes with their tongue sticking out. But back in the 1950’s and throughout the 60’s, Andy Anderson picked up his guitar and formed a group, the Rolling Stones. Grown out of the cotton fields of Mississippi and into a legendary rock ‘n’ roll group, they rolled from gig to gig, down the back country roads in supped up cars, often with their instruments in tow. This was the start of the new sound called Rockabilly, when musicians such as Elvis Presley were being discovered and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded Great Balls of Fire. A time when Buddy Holley, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson, Sam Cooke and other legendary musicians all topped the charts.
In Memoirs of the Original Rolling Stone, Anderson nostalgically brings his life, his stories and his personal reflections to the reader with the insertion of scores of photographs describing how it was to be a rock star. With the help of Erika Celeste and other contributors to the writing, the reader is brought back to the “Black & White Days” of entertainment with the good-clean-fun “Frat” parties, school dances and grass root musical gatherings. Andy Anderson tells the insider’s view of his dynamic off-beat lifestyle as a traveling musician of the Rolling Stones and the Dawnbreakers.
One incident which I found quite novel is when the group played at the Sigma Chi house at the University of Alabama. Anderson wrote, “Now Snake-eyed Mamas no ordinary song – there’s a sort of a dance that goes with it, in which the guys would link their arms and jump in unison.” He goes on talking about the energy of the music when, “In the next moment people were tumbling to the floor, crashing and landing on top of each other as the sound of something ripping to shreds shifted everything a good half-foot. All was quiet as we tried to clear our drunken minds of the cobwebs. What had just happened? Millions of stars in the night sky were winking down at us. What the hell?” Anderson realized the hole was in the ceiling and the outer wall of the building had shifted off its foundation opening the roof. “Talk about tearing down a place, boy they sure tore it down that night!” surmised Anderson.
But not all was fun and frolic. Life had its lessons. Andy lost his brother Brooks, his younger brother at the age of 28 from cancer. Andy wrote, “I realized that life is so very precious. I couldn’t occupy my mind with things that really didn’t matter. I could no longer con myself into being something I wasn’t and didn’t want to be. …Brooks taught me more about life. He taught me to be humble and give more than I take.”
Memoirs of the Original Rolling Stone is filled with lots of name dropping, some self-patronizing stories, but the reader can differentiate as Andy Anderson constantly strived to delicately balance egotistical versus historical information. The book deals with his indulgence within the ebb and flow of the music industry, then onward to Hollywood, TV and eventually to an unfortunate welding accident where Andy lost a part of his middle finger, ending his musical career. It reveals good stories of interest to not only fans but to all that have an appreciation for the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
Memoirs of the Original Rolling Stone is laden with photographs, reads like a documentary and is entertaining and informative. Plus it has a happy ending, when Andy Anderson finally meets and falls in love with a beautiful woman, Kay, nicknamed “Fluffy” and gets married ~ to live happily ever after. If you love the music of the 50’s and 60’s and those who made it great, you will enjoy this book and the history legends! Rock on!
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