Great Pretenders
My Strange Love Affair with '50s Pop Music
From Introduction
On an early spring day in 1998, I sat in a coach window seat of a descending American Airlines flight, panicking. Below me, the sun-bleached whiteness of the Los Angeles basin loomed closer and closer. I was due to land in twenty-eight minutes, yet I had no idea where I was going. I had no compass, no direction, no guidebook. My destination wasn't on any map; I wasn't even sure if it really existed. I had been to L.A. many times in the past, always with a purpose, always with my expenses paid. I had traveled as a journalist for newspapers and magazines, on assignment to write celebrity profiles and interview musicians. I always knew exactly where to go, and when. Publicists took care of everything. This was different. This time I was writing a book; I was on my own, flying under no prestigious banner, with no one to look out for me. It all seemed like a terrible mistake. I wanted to hit the call button and tell the flight attendant, Help me! I wanted to run up the aisle to the cockpit and instruct the pilots to ... read full excerpt from Great Pretenders: My Strange Love Affair with '50s Pop Music ebook
