Buzz Cason

Buzz: Worthy

by M.J. Fine

books

Singer-songwriter-producer Buzz Cason has almost too many stories for just one book. Living the Rock "n Roll Dream (Hal Leonard) isn't so much an autobiography as a loosely chronological collection of anecdotes often interrupted by timeline-tangling tangents. He recounts the early days of rock with an unflagging sense of good, clean fun and nary a bad word about anybody or anything -- bad musicians, drunks and payola get the "aw, shucks" treatment.

Cason dispenses with his childhood in a short first chapter and mentions two wives and five children only in passing; his stories are all about the music and the people who made it. Starting in 1956, when he went from lip-syncing R&B hits on a local Saturday morning variety show to fronting The Casuals, one of Nashville's first rock bands, Cason gives glimpses into sharing stages with Brenda Lee, Chubby Checker and Fabian; crashing parties given by Sammy Davis Jr., Ricky Nelson and Elvis Presley; demoing a young Jimmy Buffett; and playing on the 12-hour recording session that produced The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles. (Cason was Alvin.)

Leaving the road to write, produce and race cars, Cason has seen his success mostly in the form of royalty checks, with one song a hit in four different decades ("Everlasting Love," covered by Robert Knight, Carl Carlton, Rachel Sweet and Rex Smith, Gloria Estefan, U2 and Clay Aiken). In switching to prose, he could have used a good editor to tame his pretzely narratives (and to fix spelling and grammar -- too many sentences seem to be spiked with random words), but these stories are worth listening to, and his self-deprecating voice is one rarely heard.

Buzz Cason discusses Living the Rock "n Roll Dream: The Adventures of Buzz Cason, Tue., June 1, 7 p.m., Robin's Bookstore, 108 S. 13th St., 215-735-9600.

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there