Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses

Wolf, frontman for the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983, delivers a rollicking debut memoir. He begins with a charming recollection of his 1950s childhood in the Bronx: his father was a shy but talented singer, his mother politically conscious to the point that the FBI once came knocking at the door. Originally a painter, Wolf studied art in Boston—where he roomed with a young David Lynch—but a stint as the first all-night DJ on radio station WBCN convinced him that music was his true love. The Greenwich Village folk scene pulled Wolf back to New York, where he caught regular performances from the likes of Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, and John Lee Hooker. Immersed in this world, Wolf formed the Hallucinations, which eventually morphed into the J. Geils Band. Along with rapturous descriptions of music-making and behind-the-scenes details about his contentious departure from the group, Wolf delivers a series of satisfying name-drops, including a tender account of his five-year marriage to Faye Dunaway, a passage about brushing elbows with Peter Sellers, and sections on collaborating with Ray Price, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson. Worldly-wise but never too self-serious, Wolf makes for excellent company. The rocker’s fans will be thrilled. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency. (Mar.)