Please open https://hotaudiobook.com ONLY on your standard browser Safari, Chrome, Microsoft or Firefox to download full audiobooks of your choice for free.
Title: Next Big Thing
Author: Terry Kitchen
Narrator: Terry Kitchen
Format: Unabridged
Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
Language: English
Release date: 12-29-14
Publisher: Urban Campfire Productions
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 2 votes
Genres: Fiction, Contemporary
Publisher's Summary:
'80s Boston rock novel by scene veteran Terry Kitchen! After years in the sub-basement of Boston's teeming underground music scene, Lennon-spectacled wordsmith Mark Zodiac is used to enduring abuse, neglect, and indifference for his music. And that's just from his own band. But when he's thrust into the spotlight on the night of Shadowland's record release concert, the crowd tunes in as never before - much to the chagrin of Mark's best friend/Shadowland's star-in-waiting Will. With the record moving up the charts, their ego-librium gives way as Mark strives to keep control of his music without selling his soul in the process. Complicating Mark's world is the shadow of the loss that both drives and haunts him, even as he attempts to find love amidst the graffitied alleyways of Kenmore Square. On the eve of stardom, Mark must decide if being the Next Big Thing is really the most important thing.
At once disarmingly absurd and heartbreakingly real, Next Big Thing combines the gritty backstage vibe of Roddy Doyle's The Commitments with the emotional thawing heart of Jay McInerey's Bright Lights Big City, and every line crackles with the kinetic current of true rock'n'roll.
Critic Reviews:
"A great debut novel." (San Francisco Book Review)
"Kitchen gets all the details right - I felt myself back in the Rat, the Channel and the other clubs of that era - but most of all, he gets the underlying sense of adventure. Next Big Thing reminds me just how much it all meant and how exciting it was." (Brett Milano, author of The Sound of Our Town: A History of Boston Rock & Roll)
Members Reviews:
Highly entertaining read and relatable to struggling musicians of any genre.
Highly entertaining read and relatable to struggling musicians of any genre. It paints a picture of band life that most rock, pop artists have experienced. It is funny without being a parody and includes the pathos of attempting to make it while continuing hitting walls.
Next Big Thing Hits All The Right Notes!
This novel hits all the right notes- It details the passion and pressures of a rock band trying to get its big break. The descriptions of the Boston music scene and of the creative process of musicians are spot on, and the emotional turmoil of band politics and relationships is note-perfect.
This is a great read, highly recommended!
Tough, gritty portrait of life in a not-yet-famous rock band
Boston rocker Terry Kitchen has written a heartfelt and unflinching portrait of Mark Zodiac, a working-class guy trying to claw his way up the long ladder of the pop music business. Set in the 1980s in Boston, Markâs band Shadowland is just like thousands of other club-level combos found in every city and town â talented, determined, and hopeful. Theyâre good enough to get a local following but not yet ready to break out nationally. âNext Big Thingâ follows Mark as he navigates his complicated life: girlfriends, bandmates, competing musicians, radio guys, managers. They all have their own ideas about what it takes to get ahead. Mark has his ideas too, but heâs not an egomaniac; he makes an effort to be accommodating, especially to his best friend/band mate/musical rival Will. Like Lennon and McCartney minus the platinum records, the two partners argue and reconcile, and neither one is confident enough to get a divorce and go it alone.
