Autorentext

For those prone to disbelief, Josh Alan Friedman's landmark book, TALES OF TIMES SQUARE, serves as last will and testament of what once was. Still in print since its 1986 hardcover release by Delacorte Press, TALES became its own podcast in 2017. The demimonde of old Broadway bend your ear from the burlesque theaters, boxing rings and gutters of a fading 42nd Street. All 17 episodes-as well as 17 episodes of TALES OF... MY DEAD HEROES appear at Josh's legacy site, BlackCracker.fm Previous to that, the civil rights movement was turned upside down in Josh's autobiographical novel, BLACK CRACKER. A hardcover is available from Wyatt Doyle Books, as is Josh's collection of music journalism, TELL THE TRUTH UNTIL THEY BLEED. Before that: WHEN SEX WAS DIRTY; I, GOLDSTEIN: MY SCREWED LIFE (with Al Goldstein); and NOW DIG THIS: THE UNSPEAKABLE WRITINGS OF TERRY SOUTHERN (co-editor with Nile Southern).Before the age of graphic novels, Josh set off satirical fires and lawsuits as writer-half of the Friedman Bros cartooning duo. Two anthologies feature the art of Josh's brother, Drew: WARTS AND ALL and ANY SIMILARITY TO PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL. On the music front, as "Josh Alan," he barnstormed the state of Texas for 30 years, rocking whole arenas with his Guild D-40. Copping three Dallas Observer Music Awards for Best Acoustic Act, he released six albums: FAMOUS & POOR, THE WORST!, BLACKS 'N' JEWS, JOSH ALAN BAND, SIXTY GODDAMMIT, and his 2025 tour de force, ACOUSTIC INSTRUMENTALS.

Klappentext

JOSH ALAN FRIEDMAN, the inimitable voice behind BLACK CRACKER, TELL THE TRUTH UNTIL THEY BLEED, and TALES OF TIMES SQUARE, now invites you to tune in, turn on, and drop in on his latest trip: A kaleidoscopic tour of Great Neck, Long Island, at the dawn of a new decade: 1970.

This is ALL ROADS LEAD TO GREAT NECK, where you'll witness stoned student freakouts during high school productions of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, toke from sacred hash pipes, and annoy local cheese-shop proprietors. Navigate the generation gap and the confounding neuroses of high school faculty and administrators who secretly lust after aging beauty queens, marvel at miraculous sturgeon that scream Yiddish curses, and travel through space, time, and Olde New York in a fantastical tricked-out buggy piloted by the angel of sacred prostitution.

Get high among teen Vietnam War protesters and hangers-on at Grace Avenue Park; wait on line at Irving's Delicatessen with boxer Floyd Patterson, then join him on the therapist's couch while the former world champ struggles with post-retirement feelings of inadequacy. Head into the city to catch Leslie West and Mountain at the Fillmore East, with kasha varnishkes and Cel-Rays at Ratner's after, echoing forgotten spectacles and entertainments of times long past.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO GREAT NECK leads you on a hazy tour through the brief, intoxicated life of Bruce Disoto, doomed adolescent hippie trying to survive young adulthood, prone to visions of a 19th century Jewish pimp while tripping.

A literary culmination of the author's lifelong fascinations, ALL ROADS LEAD TO GREAT NECK is an exploration of Jews and Jewish identity, racial and societal confusion, the mysteries of sex and the extremes some will go to for it, and forgotten characters and lost history of New York.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO GREAT NECK is primo Friedman-bizarre, nostalgic, unique, tragic...and very, very funny.

Is everybody in? The ceremony is about to begin...