DATE: AUGUST 4, 2009
FROM: TODD BRODGINSKI/SARAH LUERY
WAYNE STATE PRESS TO RELEASE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE
LOOK INTO THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF
ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME
MEMBER BOB SEGER
–John Mellencamp
Weschler’s photos of the man who wrote some of the biggest hits in rock music– including “Night Moves,” “Turn The Page,” “Hollywood Nights,” “Like A Rock,” “Against The Wind” and “You’ll Accomp’ny Me”–feature highlights like Seger’s show at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1976, his first gold record in 1977, the first meeting between Seger and Bruce Springsteen in 1978 and Seger’s induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. The book features live shots from the very first Bob Seger System performances, backstage, on the road and at home having fun with the Silver Bullet Band, family and friends. Travelin’ Man also contains art from eight Seger album covers that Weschler designed and a comprehensive discography.
Graff interviewed Weschler extensively, who recounted being there when the stories behind the songs were actually happening: “’Turn The Page,’ Bob’s great road song, came along in ’72, while we were driving home from a gig. I think we were in Dubuque, Iowa, in winter and stopped at a restaurant. We stood out when we entered a store or a gas station or a restaurant en masse. At this restaurant, it was particularly bright inside, so there weren’t any dark corners to hide in. All these local guys were looking at us like, ‘What are these guys? Is that a woman or a man?’–just like in the song…Bob was writing the song in the station wagon on the way to Chicago that night. That was one incident, but there were so many others on the road that led Seger to write that song. ‘Turn The Page’ is an accurate portrayal of our lives back then.”
Explaining the power and intimacy of Weschler’s work, Graff writes, “…Tom carried his camera with him, chronicling what transpired with a probing eye but also with an empathy that came from being a participant in the story. The resulting images not only show what happened but convey the energy and emotion of the moment and a real feeling of being there, a rare achievement borne of both his talent and the circumstances in which he found himself.”
To learn more about the Press, please visit wsupress.wayne.edu.
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‘TRAVELIN’ MAN: ON THE ROAD AND BEHIND THE SCENES WITH BOB SEGER’; WAYNE STATE PRESS TO RELEASE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE LOOK INTO THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME
MEMBER BOB SEGER