About the Book
In the tradition of classic collections of observations and musings such as Christopher Isherwood's I Am a Camera and Truman Capote's The Dogs Bark, Waiting on the Moon is a treasure trove of vignettes from a legendary musical figure whose career spans more than six decades and is still going strong.
Peter Wolf grew up in the Bronx, a child of "fellow travelers" whose artistic inclinations influenced both his love of music and his initial desire to become a painter. Stories of his loving and sometimes eccentric parents complement scenes depicting a very young Bob Dylan as he arrived on the Greenwich Village folk scene. Reflections on Wolf's studies in Boston-where he shared an apartment with David Lynch-are braided with accounts of first love, an untraditional literary education, and early musical influences such as Muddy Waters.
After Wolf joined the J. Geils Band as their front man and his musical fame grew, he rubbed shoulders with other notables who left significant impressions on him, including members of the Rolling Stones, Sly Stone, Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, and Van Morrison. Wolf's marriage to Faye Dunaway is presented in a clear yet balanced and nuanced light.
Told with gentle humor and often heart-rending poignancy, the word portraits in Waiting on the Moon provide a revealing glimpse of artists, writers, actors, and musicians as they work-the creative forces that drive them to achievement; the demons they battle; the patterns of their human relationships. They are meant to inspire not only empathy but also admiration. Like Isherwood, Wolf remains "a camera with its shutter open."
About the Author :
Peter Wolf, born in the Bronx NY, became a rock 'n' roll convert at the age of eleven after attending an Alan Freed revue that included performances by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others. Although at first, he aspired to a career as a painter and studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, he experienced a life-changing epiphany after jumping onstage with a band of fellow art students at a loft party forming one of Boston's early rock bands, the Hallucinations.
Shortly thereafter, Wolf secured a job as an all-night DJ on the fledgling FM radio station WBCN, where he adopted the persona of the "Woofa Goofa" and spun obscure rock 'n' roll and early rhythm and blues. His encyclopedic musical knowledge came in handy when he and some like-minded Boston players formed the J. Geils Band, much of whose early repertoire was drawn from Wolf's vast record collection. In 1970 the band was signed by Jerry Wexler for Atlantic Records where they went on to release nine influential albums and earned a reputation as one of rock's most exciting live acts. In 1979 they were signed by EMI America topping the charts world-wide with their hit songs "Freeze Frame," "Love Stinks," and "Centerfold."
With the 1984 album Lights Out, Wolf began his career as a solo artist. In the ensuing years he collaborated with Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard, John Lee Hooker, and Mick Jagger, among others. His album Sleepless was voted one of the top five hundred albums of all time by Rolling Stone. He currently tours with his band 'The Midnight Travelers' and will be releasing his ninth solo album in 2025. He lives and works from his home base in Boston, Massachusetts.
Review :
"A powerful meditation...unforgettable, often moving stories...Wolf reminds us why we love music in the first place."
--Salon
"A fascinating new book...the end result makes a powerful point: sometimes the story of who we are can best be told by the things we love."--The Guardian
"Breezy, boozy and illuminating."--Wall Street Journal
"Fascinating and good-humored."--Billboard
"He's a master storyteller...Waiting on the Moon is not just another celebrity confessional...it reads like a dream dinner party." --Washington Post
"He's a storyteller with a heaping helping of fame himself...he's also got an eye for detail and nuance."
--The Forward
"Indelible, surreal, intimate encounters...with a murderers' row of complicated geniuses...in the best possible way."--The New Yorker
"It's a music memoir like no other. . . every chapter has wild revelations and head-spinning tales, told with a painter's eye, a poet's wit, and a rock & roll sage's heart. . . You don't even have to know his music to connect with Waiting on the Moon, because Wolf is a born storyteller, whether onstage or on the page."--Rolling Stone
"Regales readers not only with tales from the rock 'n' roll trenches, but also encounters with Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, Julia Child, and Martin Scorsese, to name a few."
--Boston Globe
"Remarkable. . . Wolf's often hilarious descriptions of his adventures. . . make Waiting on the Moon a riveting read."--American Songwriter
"Peter is a terrific writer. It's great to get his unique take being around some of the most fascinating music and cultural figures of our time. I especially love his recounting his time with Muddy Waters, John Lee and Van Morrison. Captures them as only an insider with soul could. Love his book as much as I love his music...Couldn't put it down!"--Bonnie Raitt
"Nobody, and I mean nobody, has had more close encounters with interesting people than Pete. As if being in one of the most exciting rock 'n' roll bands in history wasn't enough? Who else gets driven home by Peter Sellers? Has Muddy Waters sleep on his floor? Has Alfred Hitchcock trying to get him drunk? Has Bob Dylan give him his pants? And commiserates on the subject of love with Tennessee Williams? You want to read this book."--Steven Van Zandt
"Wolf has written the kind of memoir you wish everyone who was ever tempted to write one would--keeping only the great stories and leaving out all the dull stuff in between. These memorable vignettes are really prose poems...This is a beautifully written, funny, very wise, and very moving true-life advent."--Lloyd Schwartz, poet and Pulitzer Prize-winning critic
"Sometime back Pete gave me a biography of the painter Chaim Soutine said he was the Jimmy Reed of the art world but I already knew that. Soutine is nowhere in this memoir nor is Jimmy Reed but there's plenty of other folks who are. This book reads like a fast train and you'll get a glimpse of everyone passing by through the windows. Characters that have crossed Pete's path who he's known up close and personal. A diverse crowd, one you wouldn't think belong in the same book: Marilyn Monroe with a scarf on her head sitting next to him in a movie theater, Muddy Waters, Faye Dunaway, David Lynch the filmmaker, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jagger -- Tennessee Williams, Merle Haggard. They all play an important part in Pete's life, come alive in more ways than one. As you'll see Pete's been on quite a journey. But before it all began, he had hopes to become a great painter, but then out of nowhere early on he went in another direction and never came back. This memoir has been a long time coming and it's Pete's great painting."--Bob Dylan
"Elegant, eloquent vignettes from a star-studded life . . . Recollections of a rock 'n' roll life, charmingly related."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Waiting on the Moon is a five-star memoir, and Peter Wolf is a solid gold storyteller. His eye for detail is exquisite, I felt like I was living these stories alongside him. A rarity in a rock star memoir, Wolf does not center himself, he lets the players in his extraordinary life take centerstage and shine. I loved every single minute."--Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of None of This Is True
"Waiting on the Moon is the page-turner of the decade. It's as if my three favorite memoirs--The Kid Stays in the Picture, Running With Scissors, and Permanent Midnight--all got together and made a big, healthy, hilariously fucked-up kid who somehow managed to outdo them all."--Peter Farrelly, Academy Award winning director and writer
"Arriving home from my 114th tour date, Peter's book has kept me wonderful company. As the eastern sun rises through my airplane window, the warmth of its rays reminds me of the love of life and living so beautifully expressed in his writing."--Bruce Springsteen
"This is the book I've been hoping Peter would write since we walked the streets of Paris together, back in the 20th Century. A true account of his life, love and music told with unique humor and rare humility."--Elvis Costello
