The wait is over -- Bandstandland: How dancing teenagers took over America and Dick Clark took over rock & roll -- is here.
As listed on the publisher's website, here's a recap of what the book is all about:
American Bandstand, one of the longest-running shows in television history, spotlighted well-scrubbed, properly dressed dancing teenagers on every show. They mirrored the show’s perpetually youthful host, Dick Clark, who spun the music Clark often described as the “soundtrack to our lives.”
These are the memories Clark carefully nurtured as he crafted the alternate teen universe of Bandstandland during the formative years of American Bandstand, from 1952 to 1964. Bandstandland was a mythical creation by Clark, who saw the show as a springboard to immense wealth rather than a tribute to teen culture.
Clark was a relentless businessman who once had ownership stakes in 33 corporations, most created by him. He created rules to keep black teens off the show, promoted the teens that danced on the show when it served his purposes and banned them when it didn’t and effectively turned American Bandstand into his own personal infomercial.
Bandstandland sheds light on the little-known backstory of the TV program that was America’s top-rated daytime television show in its heyday and enjoyed a 37-year run from 1952 to 1989.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Larry Lehmer was a newspaper reporter and editor for 40 years, including 24 years at the Des Moines Register. He is also the author of The Day the Music Died: The Last Tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, which was nominated for the 1997 Gleason Music Book Award. As a result of that book’s success, Lehmer worked with the E! cable television network in producing an episode of its Mysteries and Scandals series, was a contributor to a VH1 documentary on Buddy Holly and was a featured subject on the ID-Discovery Channel’s The Will: Family Secrets Revealed program on Ritchie Valens.
He lives in Urbandale, Iowa, with his wife, Linda.
THE BOOK:
Bandstandland is published by Sunbury Press of Mechanicsburg, Pa. It's a 6 x 9 trade paperback of 382 pages (including several pages of photos) and costs $24.95. Orders of $30 or more from the publisher receive free shipping by entering the FS2014 coupon code. Why not order two or more as gifts for your Bandstand friends to take advantage of the free shipping?
Author Larry Lehmer's book about Dick Clark and American Bandstand -- Bandstandland: How Dancing Teenagers Took Over America and Dick Clark Took Over Rock & Roll --is available from Sunbury Press. Go here to learn the story behind the writing of Bandstandland or here to listen to the Pennsylvania Cable Network's interview with author Larry Lehmer.
Larry Lehmer's book about the last tour of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens -- The Day the Music Died -- is available at Amazon.
