Unrequited Infatuations
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Richie Sambora killin’ it on the Soulfire Tour. Wicked Cool Records
With Dion at the TeachRock gala, 2019. Renegade Nation
The Monday Night Football Band I assembled for Hank Williams Jr.: Clarence Clemons, Bootsy Collins, Rick Nielsen, Charlie Daniels, Joe Perry, Bernie Worrell, Questlove, Little Richard, Hank, and me. Renegade Nation
Jerry Lewis at the Friars Club in 2014. Renegade Nation
At the Emmys, 2006. Steve Granitz
With Tommy Karlsen Sandum, Ted Sarandos, Trond Fausa, and Fridtjov Saheim, Lilyhammer premiere, season two. Laura Cavanaugh
Michael Badalucco, Bruce, me, Tony Sirico, and Maureen in the final episode of Lilyhammer, my first directing job. Netflix
TeachRock seminar between the sound check and the show, Soulfire Teacher Solidarity Tour, Vancouver. TeachRock
With Catherine and Marc Brickman and Vinny Pastore at the Once Upon a Dream Broadway opening at Richard Rodgers Theater. Bobby Bank
Introducing Darlene Love. Renegade Studios, 2015. Josh Goleman
Lance Freed and his sister Sieglinde with David Porter at the Alan Freed memorial in Cleveland. David C. Barnett
With the legendary Peter Rüchel in 2017. Renegade Nation
Lowell “Banana” Levinger and Wavy Gravy—three Hippies forever! Renegade Nation
Disciples of Soul. Ryan Celli
The family. Renegade Nation
Det. Danny Sprague, my founding partner Det. Kevin Schroeder, Officer Merit Riley, Det. Michael Paladino, Tony Sirico, Det. Brian Hunt, and honoree Jim Allen presenting checks to NYPD With Arms Wide Open and DEA Widows and Children Fund at Little Steven’s Policeman’s Ball, 2018. Bobby Bank
Me (as Wolfie) and Chris Columbus during the filming of The Christmas Chronicles. Netflix
Dr. Soulfire. Bob Karp
As Jerry Vale in The Irishman. Netflix
What can I say? Kirsten Donovan
Acknowledgments / Thank-Yous
This book is dedicated to
MARY, BILL, KATHI, AND BILLY VAN ZANDT,
NANA AND GRAMPA LENTO, NANA VAN ZANDT,
AND MAMA MARIE SANTORO, MATRIARCH OF THE SANTORO CRIME FAMILY (otherwise known as my in-laws)
FRANK BARSALONA
The Godfather who changed the world
STEVE POPOVICH
Who put me in the Record Business
PETER RÜCHEL
The German genius who broke the Disciples of Soul in Europe
VERNA BLOOM
Always inspiration and encouragement
NICKY CORDERO
So brilliant, gone way too soon
OBIE DZIEDZIC AND HOLLY CARA PRICE
My loyal assistants
Thank-Yous
I want to thank my editor Ben Greenman, who proved to be invaluable and who, like all great editors (I would imagine), doubled as my much-needed psychotherapist during a period of unimaginable daily distractions (and a psycho therapist was what the job required!).
I want to thank my music Agent Steve Martin, who found my Managers David Simone and Winston Simone, who then found both my Agent for everything, Jon Rosen at William Morris Endeavor, as well as my book Agent Marc Gerald, who suggested my editor Ben Greenman and then found my publisher, Ben Schafer.
Thank you, Louis Arzonico, for dealing with the pictures and the art.
I want to thank the Magnificent 7 plus 1 who made all the difference in my life—Bruce Springsteen, Steve Popovich, Frank Barsalona, Lance Freed, David Chase, Ted Sarandos, Susie Buffett, and Bruce Resnikoff.
My overworked but never overpaid attorney, Rob DeBrauwere.
The consigliere’s consiglieres—Jimmy Iovine, Jay Cocks, Peter Wolf, Maxie Weinberg, Scott Greenstein, Richie Sambora, Zoë Thrall, Backstretch Billy Rapaport, Nicole Barsalona, June Barsalona, Richie Russo, Dennis Mortensen, and Louis Arzonico.
The E Street Band.
All of the Disciples of Soul musicians and crews through the years.
Thank you all.
I am compelled to thank the Trump Kakistocracy, the most extraordinarily incompetent, malevolent, ignorant, and embarrassing government in history for providing the nine months of quarantine that allowed me to give birth to this unlikely fable.
And most profoundly I thank my wife, Maureen, for sticking with me after the fun-loving Rock and Roller she married turned into a boring workaholic and for tolerating my inability to stay in one place long enough to earn the respectable lifestyle she deserves as I continue my lifelong quest to break even or, at the very least, find a steady job.
And, oh yeah, our dog, Edie, the only life form that truly loved the quarantine and wrote every word with me.
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More praise for Unrequited Infatuations
“What a wonderful, witty, incisive, moving, authentic, and beautifully written memoir. Stevie Van Zandt’s Unrequited Infatuations is a heartfelt and soulful tour though Rock ’n’ Roll history, politics, and pop culture from the vantage point of a rare talent and singular American life. I loved every page.”
—HARLAN COBEN, bestselling author of Win, The Boy from the Woods, Run Away, and the Myron Bolitar series
“A glorious trip into the mind of a true Rock ’n’ Roll Renaissance man. Stevie’s autobiography digs beneath the surface of his music, evolving into something extraordinarily rich and complex. It’s part Rock ’n’ Roll history lesson, part political thriller, part revelatory dive into the brotherhood of a band. And so much more. What’s most impressive is Stevie’s self-deprecating honesty. He has the courage to write about his failures, alongside tales of his enormous success. The stories are also wildly entertaining, hilarious, and emotionally devastating. One of the best Rock ’n’ Roll books ever written. It belongs on a shelf between Bob Dylan’s Chronicles and Gerri Hershey’s Nowhere To Run. A masterpiece.”
—CHRIS COLUMBUS, director, producer, and screenwriter
“Steven and I grew up in the same town, two miles apart—unless you count the fact that creatively he was on another planet. Beneath the bandana is the beautiful mind of a polymath: singer, songwriter, actor, activist, arranger, thinker and creator. There is sex, there are drugs, and—thank the Lord—there is rock and roll. Names are named. Mistakes are made. Fights are (mostly) forgiven. And lightning strikes more than once. This is the beautifully told story of a great American life, and I dreaded the arrival of the final page.”
—BRIAN WILLIAMS, journalist
“I was expecting a great music book with a bit more depth than most. What I got was the Tao Te Ching of Rock biographies! Only it’s Lao Tzu with a fabulous sense of humor! This adventure is metaphysically amazing.”
—MICHAEL DES BARRES, actor / writer / musician / DJ
“Steven Van Zandt is the ultimate Rock ‘n’ Roll soldier, an eyewitness to history who has made plenty of his own in the trenches and the studio. His stories of struggle and awakening, the mysteries of creation, and the ties that bind in every great band come at you like a blaze of killer 45s in a true voice of America: part Vegas, part Alan Freed, all New Jersey.”
—DAVID FRICKE, journalist, SiriusXM, Mojo, Rolling Stone
“Unrequited Infatuations is as musical, soulful, funny, adventurous, inspiring, and real as the man who wrote it, the one and only Stevie Van Zandt.”
—JON LANDAU, journalist, music producer, and manager
“A pleasure for music fans and one of the best entertainment memoirs in recent years.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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