ME AND BOBBY D. A Memoir By Steve Karmen Publication date: April 21, 2003 Price: $26.95/hardcover Publisher: Hal Leonard ISBN: 0-634-04876-7 IT ALL STARTED WITH THOSE FATEFUL WORDS, "WANNA BE IN A BAND?" ME AND BOBBY D. is the story of Steve Karmen and Bobby Darin setting out on the road to stardom, and what it was like to be an up-and-coming musical act at the dawn of rock 'n roll. "Bobby impacted every life - for better or worse - that he touched. This is the first totally accurate, painfully true, hard-hitting and eye-opening book every written about him. The experience of reading ME AND BOBBY D. brought closure from the heartache and emptiness I have lived with for over 40 years." -- Connie Francis Steve Karmen is best known as the award-winning composer of some the most popular advertising jingles of our time. But back in the 1950s, he was the curly-headed, teen-aged schoolmate and best friend of Walden Robert Cassotto. ME AND BOBBY D. is a memoir that not only tells Karmen's story of growing up in the Bronxæabout his aspirations for musical fame conflicting with his parents' desire that he become a doctor - but also gives a revealing insight into his close childhood friend and bandmate, the legendary Bobby Darin, an enormously talented street-kid driven to escape the ghetto environment where he was born and raised. Written with sophistication and humor, ME AND BOBBY D. takes the reader from the Karmen and Cassotto households through their first kid-band jobs as musicians; from forming "the act" and making their first recording to their first TV appearance on Jackie Gleason's "Stage Show" (one week after Elvis Presley made his first TV appearance on the very same program); from Bobby's infatuation with Connie Francis to the stage of Detroit's Club Temptation for their first-ever nightclub booking as professional entertainers. What happens to their friendship during this two-week engagement is the dramatic centerpiece of ME AND BOBBY D. Karmen's descriptions are mesmerizing. He captures every image and nuance. From the drunks at the front table to the stripper's closing act, from Darin's many bedroom antics to Karmen's unsuccessful ones, from Darin's star performance to his final act of betrayal, the reader is drawn into the story and given the best seat in the house. This is Bobby Darin before "Mack the Knife" and "Splish Splash" and Steve Karmen before winning sixteen CLIO Awards. ME AND BOBBY D. is filled with excitement and disappointment, brashness and the loss of innocence - it's the story of two competitive kids from the Bronx who set out to make names for themselves. And how they both succeeded, each in his own unique way. # # # ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steve Karmen has been a composer/lyricist/arranger/producer of advertising music for over thirty years. He is the recipient of sixteen CLIO Awards, the Oscar of the advertising industry - composing "I Love New York," "This Bud's for You," "Hershey, The Great American Chocolate Bar," "Sooner or Later You'll Own Generals," and "Nationwide Is On Your Side" to name just a few. He is the author of The Jingle Man (a collection of 152 original jingles). The father of three daughters, Karmen lives in Westchester County, New York.
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