FOR ENTERTAINMENT ONLY

Stern reflects on his career in the music and film industries in this debut memoir.

Ever since reading about the behind-the-scenes production of The Wizard of Oz as a child, the author fantasized about working on film sets. After three decades in the film industry—a career that included The Lord of the Rings, X-Men, Alien Resurrection, and other blockbusters—Stern writes, “Those dreams came true for me.” The author’s meandering path to Hollywood began at his childhood home in Chicago. Born to a mixed Jewish and Catholic family, he emphasizes the eclectic cultural background of his upbringing (which was “nothing like what you’d see in shows about the 1950s”). Like many baby boomers, the author’s experiences include stories of Vietnam activism, spiritual seeking, and, of course, rock and roll; by the 1970s, after years in the music business, Stern had transformed North Carolina’s Milestone Club into one of the premier underground rock venues in the South. While readers looking for unpublished behind-the-scenes stories about world-famous rock bands and movie actors will certainly get their fair share of celebrity gossip, it’s the firsthand accounts of pivotal moments in modern LGBTQ+ history that make the book stand out among the myriad of celebrity tell-all memoirs. Living during a time when being gay was illegal and “considered a psychiatric disorder,” Stern highlights the societal alienation that made him feel like “the only gay in the world.” As the author of the landmark 1993 book Queers in History, Stern has been at the forefront of promoting the biographies of LGBTQ+ luminaries, including that of his close personal friend Ian McKellen, who plays a central role throughout the book’s second half. The author’s stream-of-consciousness writing style offers an engaging read, and the text is accompanied by a high-resolution online photo gallery of snapshots taken by the author of Hollywood stars.

A titillating, but never salacious, memoir from a music and movie insider’s perspective.