Some people's lives are shaped by parents, an influential teacher, a coach or religion. Others' are transformed by Iron Maiden.
Ken Schwartz is part of the latter camp.
The 50-year-old recent Washington, D.C., transplant has easily been to more than 300 concerts — including seeing The Supersuckers 26 times — and has the ticket stubs from all of them. He's a consummate music fan whose obsession with rock bands and zeal for finding new music hasn't waned much since he was a teen. He recently detailed the joys and misadventures of coming of age in west Los Angeles in the 1980s and '90s, when rock shows were a larger-than-life spectacle and a record could change your life.
Schwartz released a book, "I May Be Old But I've Seen All the Cool Bands: One Fan's Story About Why Music Matters" on Kindle and paperback in July 2021 via Stillwater River Publications. The book was written from a fan perspective.
"It's just experiential," Schwartz said of music and the role it's played in his life. "Some people choose art, some choose opera, but for me it's always been rock 'n' roll. I've saved every ticket stub for every show I've been to."
Schwartz was a child of a music industry executive. His father, Red Schwartz, worked at RCA, Capitol Records, and Roulette Records — the mafia-associated record label that later inspired a character on the TV series "The Sopranos." Red Schwartz also had a short stint running his own label, Red Top Records, a nod to his fiery red hair.
Schwartz's dad was the one who signed Tommy James and the Shondells to Roulette Records and later released some of their music via his Red Top label. The group produced notable oldies classics, like "Mony Mony" "Hanky Panky" and "I Think We're Alone Now," among other '60s hits.
James wrote the forward to "All the Cool Bands," calling the author's decision to write from first-hand experience as a fan "a long overdue perspective." James also called Schwartz's father "the greatest record business promotion man there ever was."
Schwartz credits his late dad with keeping him in the orbit of music at a young age. His dad also helped him land an internship at A&M Records in college, when he was certain he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
"He used to take me to all the fun shows and the tamer parties when I was younger," Schwartz said of his father. "I fell in love with the glamorous lifestyle."
One of those "tamer parties" included the Soul Train Music Awards show in 1987, which he attended with his parents.
"Dad was friends with Dionne Warwick from way back in the day, so the stories flowed, drinks were drank, and a good time was had by all," Schwartz recalled of the event. "I sat down at one of the chairs, just hoping to eat my food without anyone paying attention to me, when a lovely young lady sits next to me and says hi."
Schwartz hadn't paid much attention to pop culture at the time and didn't recognize the "young lady" was Warwick's cousin, Whitney Houston.
"One hour later, I'm sitting in the seat next to my parents and she comes on stage and does one of her songs and the crowd goes nuts," he writes, with embarrassment.
As a young teen, he desperately wanted to see Def Leppard live. His parents couldn't abide it. Instead, his first concert experience was Elton John, with his dad. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
It was hard to beat the theatrics and showmanship of Sir Elton John, but Schwartz continued to soak up live music in everything from small L.A. clubs to far-away amphitheaters. In his book, he recalled making the seven-hour drive from L.A. to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in 1995 to see Pearl Jam and Bad Religion. "My buddy Michelle and I piled in her car and headed north, up the awful 5 Freeway to get to the Bay Area," Schwartz recalls. "Bad Religion — one of the coolest, and smartest, punk bands of all time — put on a great opening act."
It was a perfect show, Schwartz said, "until Eddie left." Eddie Vedder, frontman of Pearl Jam, was horribly sick, leaving the stage after about seven songs. The crowd grew restless, Schwartz recalled. "A lot of the crowd started booing. Some started throwing food and beer cups and other trash." Other fans left.
Turns out, Neil Young, a frequent collaborator with Pearl Jam, was backstage. Young had just released an album, "Mirror Ball," and in Vedder's absence, came on stage with the rest of Pearl Jam as his backing band, and played his new material. Young also treated the half-empty park to classics like "Rockin' in the Free World" and "The Needle and the Damage Done."
The following year, Schwartz got into a non-ticketed, semiprivate show at a UCLA frat house to see none other than his all-time favorite band, Def Leppard, as part of a radio station promotional event.
"No tickets were issued for the event. Just industry insiders, and drunk UCLA fraternity boys, allowed. What could go wrong? I called every contact I had in the record world. All my friends at A&M, who had contacts at Polygram," Schwartz wrote. "I believe that is how I got my name on the list to get in."
It was one of the 16 Def Leppard shows he's been to. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
Schwartz called the back yard performance "one of the greatest nights of my life," snagging photos from the event with his Kodak disposable camera, one of which later became the cover of his book.
"They stuck around and wanted to hang with the people," Schwartz said of Def Leppard after their set was over. "They grabbed a beer, walked into the crowd, shook hands and chatted us up."
Schwartz's book is a rough-around-the-edges read of first-hand accounts. It's a journey through the evolving soundtrack that fueled adolescence, young adulthood, fatherhood, middle age and everything in between, complete with cliches and goofy narration.
He's not trying to be the next Cameron Crowe, but he'd love to be the next person you strike up a conversation with about the best live show you've ever seen.
"I've read a million biographies from the rock stars in my life and I never saw a book from the fans. That's kind of what kicked this off," Schwartz said. "One of the reasons I did it is I truly believe music is a shared experience. I invite people in my book multiple times to come talk to me on my social media about why they think I'm wrong."
Despite his obsession with music, Schwartz never landed in the music industry, though he did have two very brief stints managing some local bands around Southern California, one of which later wrote a song to accompany his book. A D V E R T I S I N G | Continue reading below
"I tell people I play the guitar badly and the drums even worse. I tried out for bands, roadied for bands and it just wasn't meant to be, so I became a rabid fan," he said by phone. Oddly, he did get an offer in the '90s to tour with Def Leppard, working as part of the band's road crew, but turned it down to finish his master's degree.
These days, he works for a company that manages online charter schools.
When he started to raise kids, he tried to instill the same appreciation for music that he developed.
Since moving to Portland in 2021, he's already been to half a dozen venues and has a full calendar of live shows on the horizon. He's got tickets to see Rage Against the Machine at the Moda Center in June and has seen a spate of lesser-known emerging bands at smaller clubs like Holocene and Dante's.
He admits the music industry has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. "These days, you gotta go find it," he said of new music. "If you still love music, go support your band. Go watch them when they're in town. Go stream them, whatever, go buy their merch, support them any way you can."
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