Ben Fong-Torres | Author

Ben Fong-Torres
An American rock journalist, author, and broadcaster

Latest News & Events

Dinner at the Silver Dragon

Oct.24.2011

For the reissue of my memoirs, The Rice Room, by the University of California Press, with new last chapters and photos, the Piedmont Asian American Club is hosting a dinner at the Silver Dragon. I'll sit for a Q&A with former CBS5 reporter-anchor Sherry Hu, and I'll do a few songs with backing from George Yamasaki on keyboard and Kurt Huget on guitar. A nice dinner is included ($30 for non-members) and I'll have books to sign. For more specifics, write Mary Geong at mmgeong@aol.com, or call 510.654.4417.

Featured Works

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PUBLISHED: Sep.23.2009

Grateful Dead Scrapbook: The Long, Strange Trip in Stories, Photos, and Memorabilia

Grateful Dead fans are legendary for their Dead-ication to the band and its enduring legacy of freewheeling musical exploration. "The Grateful Dead Scrapbook" collects a trove of rare removable memorabilia and evocative images culled from the Grateful Dead Archives at the University of Santa Cruz, including never-before-published photos, flyers, fan letters, and other...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.11.2011

Eagles: Taking It to the Limit

From their inception in 1971 through their smashingly successful 2007 album Long Road Out of Eden and the accompanying 2008-2010 international tour, The Eagles have seen it all and lived to tell about it. In Eagles, one of America’s top rock journalists delivers a comprehensive insider look at arguably the greatest American rock-and-roll band on the occasion of their...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.25.2006

The Doors

In 1967, the Doors broke through with their debut album, and one critic declared: “The Beatles and the Stones are for blowing your mind, but the Doors are for afterwards, after your mind is already gone.” Said another: “The Doors are the new group by which all other new groups must, for a time at least, be measured.” Well, time has passed. And, forty years later—that is,...

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PUBLISHED: May.01.2006

Becoming Almost Famous: My Back Pages in Music, Writing, and Life

This collection of favorite articles from Ben Fong-Torres features a slew of entertaining and informative music and pop-culture pieces on topics including Paul McCartney, groupies of the 1980s, Al Green, the Summer of Love, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, Cheech and Chong, Lou Reed, and Steve Martin. The book also features personal essays about what it was like for Fong-Torres...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.10.2001

The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio

This lively blast from the past peels back the many layers of the Top 40 phenomenon: the DJs, fans, singles, jingles, dedications, contests, requests and more. The book features interviews with such renowned radio personalities and programmers as Casey Kasem, Dick Clark, Wolfman Jack, “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, Gary Owens and many others, and includes an exclusive CD with “airchecks”—...

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PUBLISHED: Nov.01.1999

Not Fade Away

In 1969, young rock reporter Ben Fong-Torres was hired by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner to “come in and do what you think needs to be done.” Now Fong-Torres revisits his most intriguing pieces and—for the first time—reveals the stories behind the stories, the stars, and life at Rolling Stone.

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PUBLISHED: Sep.15.1998

Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons

Gram Parons lived hard and died young, and left behind a musical legacy that has influenced generations of rock and country legends. Ben Fong-Torres’ moving account of his story—from his poor-little-rich-kid childhood; through his seminal time with the Byrds and his own bands, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Fallen Angels; to days and nights spent with the likes of Mick Jagger...

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PUBLISHED: May.01.1995

The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American from Number Two Son to Rock 'n' Roll

The Rice Room is a brilliant and moving memoir of growing up in Oakland’s Chinatown, by one of America’s preeminent journalists. Ben Fong-Torres was the third child of first-generation Chinese parents. His father came to America via the Philippines, adding “Torres” to his name to convince immigration officials that he was Filipino, since there were strict limits on the number of...

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PUBLISHED: Oct.01.1990

The Motown Album: The Sound of Young America

When Motown Records founder Berry Gordy coined the term “the sound of young America” in 1960, he believed that his new sound would break down the barriers between black and white popular music. Through a once-in-a-lifetime confluence of circumstances and people, Gordy brought together some of the best young musicians of a generation, and they created the Motown Sound—a style, an...

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Ben's Latest Blogs

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Dec.23.2011 - 12:46 pm

Three books in three months?

Well, not really. But close. In October, I had two books out -- Eagles: Taking It to the Limit (from Running Press) and The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese American (a reissue, with...

Dec.23.2011 - 12:44 pm

Three books in three months?

Well, not really. But close. In October, I had two books out -- Eagles: Taking It to the Limit (from Running Press) and The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese American (a reissue, with...

Oct.24.2011 - 2:53 pm

Inside a Radio Promo tour for a book

I just flew in from Canada and a few dozen other cities, and boy, are my ears tired. Let me explain: It was a radio tour, as it’s called, for my new book, Eagles: Taking It to the...

Oct.22.2010 - 1:13 am

Victorious. V-I-C ...

Fatigue. That's the word that stumped me in the Oakland Public Schools' spelling contest of 1956, when I was eleven and attending Lincoln School, near our home in Chinatown....

Comments from Ben

Oct.24.2011 - 3:32 pm

In response to: Inside a Radio Promo tour for a book

what a fine sight to see...

Jennifer...Good question, but no; closest was KLPX in Tucson. I made a note about Winslow in my prep, but the DJ, Frank...

Nov.19.2009 - 4:15 pm

In response to: Blog, Blog, Blog...

Redwoods and Red Heads

Belated thanks, Eric. A Red Room band would be fun. Kathi Kamen Goldmark did form a west coast versiohn of the Rock...

Feb.19.2009 - 3:50 pm

In response to: Don't Stop Believin'

nuns 'n' such

I wonder if Milli Vanilli went to the same church...

Feb.19.2009 - 2:44 pm

In response to: Don't Stop Believin'

Riff-Raftery

Hmm...sounds like you like to sing, too!

Jan.30.2009 - 9:14 pm

In response to: Yes, Christine, You Can Begin Writing at 60

When I'm 64...

Thanks for the fine advice, Michelle. I'm over 60 and have published seven or eight books, and people still ask when I...

Writing

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Article: "Reality Radio": We're in the "golden age"

Published Reviews

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Oct.27.2009

Grateful Dead Scrapbook: The Long, Strange Trip in Stories, Photos, and Memorabilia

Published by Milwaukee Express

The handsomely designed, slip covered coffee table book is filled with band photos from the early days through the end, along with psychedelic poster art. The text by longtime...

Audio & Video

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Image Gallery: High School!

Audio: Rainy Day Bookstores

Audio: B'rack! Obama! The Song

About Ben

Ben Fong-Torres was born in Alameda, California, in 1945, and raised in Oakland’s Chinatown, where his parents owned a restaurant. Due to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Fong-Torres’ father, Ricardo Fong-Torres (born Fong Kwok Seung), changed his surname to Torres...

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