About this item
This rock 'n' roll Angela's Ashes begins in County Wexford, Ireland, in the late 1950s, a now unrecognizable, priest-fearing backwater suffocating in superstition and strangled by sexual fevers. After an escape to the Bronx, Larry finds himself, like a musical Zelig, side by side with the Ramones and Blondie at CBGBs; the brothers McCourt, Lester Bangs, and Nick Tosches at The Bells of Hell; the Guinness soaked regulars of Paddy Reilly's; Cyndi Lauper while she ascends and burns; Joe Strummer, Rick Ocasek, Neil Young, and Shane McGowan. The shootings at the Academy and the tragic death of soundman Johnny Byrne punctuate the revels and excesses and presage the gloom cast by 9/11 and the loss of Father Mychal Judge and so many friends. Green Suede Shoes remembers three decades of a lost New York, and celebrates the music and song in which it now lives.
About the Author
Larry Kirwan was leader of the political rock band Black 47 for 25 years during which the band played 2500 gigs, released 16 albums, appeared on Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, Fallon and every major US TV show. He has written two novels, Liverpool Fantasy, and Rockin' The Bronx, a memoir, Green Suede Shoes: An Irish American Odyssey, and A History of Irish Music. His latest novel Rockaway Blue will be published by Cornell U. Press on March 15, 2021. He has written 17 plays and musicals. Paradise Square ran for 10 weeks at Berkeley Rep. and is expected on Broadway in 2021. He is currently completing two new musicals, IRAQ, and The Catacombs (the life and times of Brendan Behan) . A political activist he is an Irish Echo columnist and a celebrity host/producer of Celtic Crush on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. He was president of Irish American Writers & Artists for five years. For more information visit www.black47.com or larry kirwan at Facebook.
