Off the Record

About the Book

Take a volatile rock band, a kingmaking concert promoter, a downtrodden clubowner and a rock critic with questionable journalistic ethics, add one hit record, a drug problem, a couple of riots and shake well. There you have the essence of this book, the very unauthorized account of the rise and fall of the Tommy Aguilar Band. “Off The Record” will confirm your worst suspicions about the music business, an industry in which musicians are like the infantry -- the first to die, and the last to get paid. For further intrigue, visit the “Off The Record” website at www.offtherecordbook.com

About the Author

David Menconi is a music critic/arts reporter at the News & Observer, his professional address since 1991. Before that, he spent five years at the Daily Camera in Boulder, Co. His degrees include a masters in journalism from the University of Texas, an undergraduate English degree from Southwestern University and a valid high-school diploma. "Off The Record" (2000, iUniverse) remains his one novel to date. He has also written "Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown" (2012, University of Texas Press) and "Comin’ Right at Ya: How a Jewish Yankee Hippie Went Country, or, the Often Outrageous History of Asleep at the Wheel" (2015, University of Texas Press). He has also written for Rolling Stone, New York Times, Spin, salon.com, Billboard and other publications. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.