James J. Patterson to Write Liner Notes for New Country Rock Record
The North Star Band, formerly managed by ASP's own James J. Patterson, release a new LP, Then and Now
James J. Patterson, famed himself in the music world for his onstage-persona, Jimmy Pheromone, writes the liner notes for the new North Star Band album Then and Now. The North Star Band was formed in the 1970s by Patterson's erstwhile co-writer and co-performer Al Johnson (Al Pheromone). After recording two albums under the Patterson's management, the band went on a long hiatus from which they only recently returned. However, during this period, a third album was recorded but not released.
That recording sessions forms the bedrock of the reunited band's new double LP, Then and Now, which collects the previously unreleased album as well as 10 new songs in a genre the band calls "kick-ass country."
Fortunately, James J. Patterson remains connected with the project. But, instead of managing the band and booking shows, he plies a new talent to helping the boys soar: writing. Since his Jimmy Pheromone days, Patterson has released two books through ASP, a collection of essays (Bermuda Shorts) and a novel (Roughnecks). His newest project, Junk Shop Window, a collection of personal essays, is slated for release in 2023.
An article in the Washington Post details the history and regrouping of the band, and this article features an interview with band members while drawing heavily from Patterson's liner notes. You can find tour info on the band's website here.
Small Press Week 2018: Monday, a look back at the Inception of ASP
We’d been talking about founding a press for a few years. I was becoming increasingly frustrated and angry about what was happening to some of the books I’d edited, and to some of my writer friends. Some of the books I worked on already had committed publishers, who knew my work and wanted me involved, and that’s great. But sometimes I was hired by a writer who had a publisher but knew they were not going to give the book a thorough edit – there is less and less of that going on these days, as you can see from opening even a big-name title. And I think — we think — that that is awful. If you are published by ASP, you get a thorough and very fine edit…
Featured Audio: “The Lovesick Lake,” a Story by James J Patterson
“Lovers of the personal essay should be rejoicing in the streets at word of this collection. For readers and acquaintances of Jimmy Patterson, it is long overdue, but the author was born in Washington, D.C., where the machinery of progress is congenitally slow. So this book, in many important ways – is what all satisfying collections of autobiographical essays should be – a mirror of place.” Rick Walter
Armistice Day, known in the US as Veteran’s Day, is now a work week past, but for James J Patterson it is a memory and idea that refuses to restrain itself to a 24 hour period. Yesterday we published his moving account of those veterans of The Great War he knew growing up, memorializing and contextualizing them for an audience whose experience of the war may only be through the muddy, pained faces in old photographs…
The World of Yesterday (Armistice Day, 2018)
My father always said that his first memory was of standing on the couch in his parent’s living room, small hands on the back cushion, peering out a picture widow at a neighborhood street in Bend, Oregon. There is a slow-moving line of cars and horse-drawn carriages inching its way down the lane. The line of cars is there every day, and every day he stands there and watches. His street is a long one and at the end of it is the cemetery. He is not allowed to go outside to play. Death is all anyone talks about. Death from a great flu epidemic. Death from a great war just ending. Everyone has lost someone. Most have lost a few. It is 1918…