In a departure from standard policy of not hosting any sort of event, Montclair Book Center has arranged a book signing for Tommy James – of Tommy James and The Shondells – to be held at Cafe Eclectic tomorrow (Tuesday) at 8:00pm.
James, 62, who has sold more than 100 million records and has been awarded 23 gold singles, and nine gold and platinum albums, counts among his many hits Crimson and Clover, Mony Mony and I Think We’re Alone Now. In their hey day, over 1968-69, Tommy James and The Shondells sold more single records than any artist in the world, including The Beatles.
He will sign copies of his autobiography, Me, The Mob and the Music (Simon and Schuster, 2010) at the cafe, where the books will also be sold. Fans may like to bring along records or posters to be signed by James, whose life story is set to be spun into a major motion picture by Hollywood.
Do head on to Cafe Eclectic at 444 Bloomfield Ave. tomorrow night and perhaps MBC will be encouraged to do more such events in future. Questions? Call the book center at 973.783.3630.
I was listening to him be interviewed and he was very interesting. Talking about the old days and the way ‘the mob’ had their fingers in the music industry. Might be worth reading.
He had some great tunes. My fave was Crimson and Clover – all those layers of reverb guitars. Sensational.
Never heard of him.
I can only suppose then, walleroo, that you much prefer (or only know of) Billy Idol’s version of “Mony Mony.”
I think that Steve Miller owes a huge debt of gratitude to Mr. James. Most of his – Steve’s – guitar repertoire can be directly attributed to the axe work on Crimson and Clover.
The classic rock group that I play in covers Mony Mony. It definitely gets the people off their butts and out on the dance floor. Great tune!
No, cathar, I’m only joshin’ ya. I’m familiar with James’s much slower, more soulful rendition.
Actually, walleroo, to my own revulsion, I suddenly now picture you dancing round your work cubicle to Tiffany’s remake of “I Think We’re Alone Now.”
Joan Jett did a great rendition of Crimson and Clover.
Saw him play at age 12 when I was dragged to a 50s-60s revival show at the Nassau Coliseum. He was great. When he did “Crystal Blue Persuasion” they bathed the Coliseum in blue light and had some cool rotating strobe light thing cover the room. Very cool. Particularly when you are 10.
Crystal Blue Persuasion holds up. Was banned from the radio in some quarter because people were sure it was somekind of LSD to hallucinogenic reference of some type. Which it wasn’t.
‘Crystal Blue Persuasion’ – still one of my favorite musical memories of the 60’s.
Did you log off and back on again to give me those 13 down thumbs, cathar? What an act of desperation.
Actually, the book was written by a fellow Montclairian, Martin Fitzpatrick…who has written many such entertainment books…Mr. James, was only there to donate material.
Went to the book signing tonight…I had an opportunity of interviewing both Martin, and Tommy getting out of their limo.
There we stood, on Bloomfield Ave., chatting about the book, with insight as to the word “Mob” in the title….very interesting…Tommy couldn’t stop talking, a very relaxed person, who was enjoying the moment
Inside Cafe Eclectic, there was a nice size crowd, both spoke for a bit, telling stories about how the book was written…and then answering questions, and finally, signing books…a very nice experience.
I was allowed to video tape, and both their interviews, and the nights activities I plan on making into a future segment of Inside Montclair.
Say Barista, would you like a video clip of the segment?