SPILL BOOK REVIEW: MIKE CORCIONE – TALES FROM THE GUTTER: AND OTHER ROCK AND ROLL SHENANIGANS

MIKE CORCIONE – TALES FROM THE GUTTER: AND OTHER ROCK AND ROLL SHENANIGANS

INDEPENDENT

BOOK REVIEW BY TONY STUART

Mike Corcione takes us back to a bygone era in Tales From The Gutter. Corcione was heavily invested in the music scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, including, but not limited to, as a well-known DJ, as the tour manager for metal band L.A. Guns, and as a club promoter.

The premise of Tales From The Gutter is intriguing, as Corcione has many stories to tell about his time spent with a Who’s Who of musicians and music industry insiders during the glory days of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Corcione states at the beginning that he wanted to unburden himself, indicating that he isn’t that person anymore, but that these stories need to be told. As Tales From The Gutter progresses, we follow his career and the excesses that were a part of that era.

However, while the book contains many anecdotes, where it suffers is in the storytelling itself. Description and elaboration are lacking, and it feels as if the narrative never changes as the author and whoever he is discussing at that moment inevitably get involved with girls, booze, and drugs. As a reader, it starts to feel like overload, and it becomes somewhat difficult to keep track of the narrative.

Tales From The Gutter promises a lot, but in the end it falls short, which is a shame because with a bit more editing and literary imagination, these stories could have really come alive.

ISBN 10 – 1916626920
ISBN 13 – 978-1916626928

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