Lit Riffs

Following in the footsteps of the late great Lester Bangs - the most revered and irreverent of rock 'n' roll critics - twenty-four celebrated writers have penned stories inspired by great songs. Just as Bangs cast new light on a Rod Stewart classic with his story 'Maggie May', about a wholly unexpected connection between an impressionable young man and an aging, alcoholic hooker, the diverse, electrifying stories here use songs as a springboard for a form dubbed the lit riff. Alongside Bangs's classic work, you'll find stories by J.T. LeRoy, who puts a recovering teenage drug abuser in a dentist's chair with nothing but the Foo Fighters's 'Everlong' - blaring through the P.A. - to fight the pain; Jonathan Lethem, whose narrator looks back on his lost innocence just as an extramarital affair careens to an end - this to the tune 'Speeding Motorcycle' as recorded by Yo La Tengo; and Jennifer Belle, who envisions a prequel to Paul Simon's 'Graceland' - one that takes place at a children's birthday party replete with a real live kangaroo. With original contributions from Tom Perrotta, Nelson George, Amanda Davis, Lisa Tucker, Aimee Bender, Darin Strauss, and many more - riffing on everyone from Tom Waits and Bruce Springsteen to the White Stripes, Cat Power, and Bob Marley - this is both a collection of short stories and an experiment in words and music.