Book Review: My Dead Dad Was in ZZ Top: 100% Real,* Never Before Seen Documents from the World of Rock and Roll by Jon Glaser

As symbols go, asterisks aren't the biggest deal. After all, dollar signs probably take precedence for most people. But that doesn't detract from the influence the asterisk can wield. A case in point? The myth of Roger Maris' asterisk.

Jon Glaser knows the importance of the asterisk. After being estranged for years, Glaser was going through his father's belongings following his death when he stumbled across a couple pieces of rock and roll history.* He learned his father was a member of an early incarnation of ZZ Top.* The senior Glaser didn't make a mark on the music world, though, because he was the keyboard player who urged the band abandon the name ZZ Top and to become "Houston's biggest soul fusion quartet."* Yet the revelation his father was in ZZ Top led Glaser on a mission to uncover the hidden history of rock and roll, culminating in My Dead Dad Was in ZZ Top: 100% Real,* Never Before Seen Documents from the World of Rock and Roll.

But why is the asterisk important enough to end up in the subtitle? Because the bottom right hand corner of the book's cover bears the legend "(*100% Fake)". That's right. Glaser wasn't estranged from his father, his father isn't dead and his father was never a member of ZZ Top (although I can't vouch for whether he played keyboards in a soul-fusion band). The material in the book is all the product of Glaser's imagination, one tinged with an attention to detail that may border on minutiae. Yet it's the detail that lends the artifice a layer of authenticity. And some of the humor has a biting edge. Given how the music of rock icons such as Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers now seem omnipresent in television commercials, Glaser's section on songs these artists wrote to advertise local establishments is more biting than blasphemous. Likewise, his chapter on Jay Leno's efforts to replace Kevin Eubanks as The Tonight Show band leader has far more edge when you take into account Glaser wrote for and played various characters on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Article Author: Tim Gebhart

Tim Gebhart lives in Sioux Falls, SD, where he practices law in order to provide shelter for his family, his dogs, and his books. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and his blog de guerre is A Progressive on the Prairie.

Visit Tim Gebhart's author page — Tim Gebhart's Blog