This event will be in partnership with Byrdland Records, the sister record store to Songbyrd Music House.
POW is the fascinating memoir of a precocious English teen in the early 1980s who published a music magazine, interviewed many of the era’s top artists, befriended rock stars, ran a record label, appeared on television, played in a band and found first love — all at the same time
In this sequel to his Boy About Town (2013), Tony Fletcher’s incredible adventures in the world of British post-punk make for a compelling adventure of highs (an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney, friendship with Paul Weller of the hugely successful Jam, playing to huge audiences, discovering love and sex) and lows (heartbreak, learning the financial challenges of running a label the hard way, the collapse of his band). Despite the passage of time, he summons up all the enthusiasm he felt for the music and women he loved and marvels at the incredible experiences he had as a hard-working young striver.
The generation raised on MTV, the New Musical Express and bands like Madness, Wham , the Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Killing Joke will love reading this inside view of a knowledgeable fan who got to know them all.
Tony Fletcher is the author of eleven books, including best-selling biographies of Keith Moon, the Smiths and R.E.M., a memoir, a novel and more. As a London teenager, he started a fanzine called Jamming! in 1977 followed by a record label of the same name. He moved to New York in the late 1980s. Fletcher has played in bands, promoted concerts, DJed, written for numerous publications, hosted podcasts and appeared on and/or produced TV and radio shows. His hobbies include running mountains, from the Catskills to the Himalayas and any points in-between. He writes twice weekly at tonyfletcher.substack.com.
Fletcher will be in conversation with Seth Lorinczi, who writes on culture and music. His work appears in such publications as The Guardian, Narratively, Maggot Brain, Fretboard Journal and Sunday Long Read (upcoming) as well as numerous print and digital anthologies; he’s also the author of Death Trip: A Post-Holocaust Psychedelic Memoir (Spiral Path Collective, 2024). As a speaker and lecturer on music (and DC punk in particular), he’s presented extensively on both coasts at such cultural and academic institutions as Yale, Berkeley, Washington DC’s MLK Library and numerous other venues that clearly didn’t vet him thoroughly enough.
Byrdland is located in the Union Market District of Washington D.C. and carries over 5000 new and used vinyl records, curated to the tastes of DC music lovers. They carry the newest and best vinyl records in indie rock, pop, soul, R&B, hip hop, and jazz in addition to their robust used music section. Byrdland was named Washington D.C.’s Best Record Store by Washington City Paper in 2021.