Synopses & Reviews
THE YEAR IS 1967.
In England, and around the world, rock music is exploding—the Beatles have gone psychedelic, the Stones are singing "Ruby Tuesday," and the summer of love is approaching. For Jack Flynn, a newly minted young solicitor at a conservative firm, the rock world is of little interest—until he is asked to handle the legal affairs of Emerson Cutler, the seductive front man for an up-and-coming group of British boys with a sound that could take them all the way.
Thus begins Jack Flynn’s career with the Ravons, a forty-year journey through London in the sixties, Los Angeles in the seventies, New York in the eighties, into Eastern Europe, Africa, and across America, as Flynn tries to manage his clients through the highs of stardom, the has-been doldrums, sellouts, reunions, drug busts, bad marriages, good affairs, and all the temptations, triumphs, and vanities that complicate the businesses of music and friendship.
Spanning the decades and their shifting ideologies, from the wild abandon of the sixties to the cold realities of the twenty-first century, Evening’s Empire is filled with surprising, sharply funny, and perceptive riffs on fame, culture, and world events. A firsthand observer and remarkable storyteller, author Bill Flanagan has created an epic of rock-and-roll history that is also the life story of a generation.
Review
"If you thought you knew something about rock 'n' roll management, then wait till you read this book." -- Bob Dylan
Review
"Evening's Empire is an alternative history of the sixties generation that feels truer than what really happened. This is a funny, sad testament to the lost boys who wouldn't grow up." -- Bono
Review
"Bill Flanagan's great gifts as a novelist begin with his ear: his ear for idiom, for lunacy, for cant, and for affection. And his wit can cut through steel. In Evening's Empire, he gives us the hilarious, picaresque epic of a rock and roll lifetime." -- Sean Wilentz, author of The Age of Reagan
Review
“Evening’s Empire is epic.” —Vanity Fair
Synopsis
THE YEAR IS 1967.
In England, and around the world, rock music is exploding—the Beatles have gone psychedelic, the Stones are singing "Ruby Tuesday," and the summer of love is approaching. For Jack Flynn, a newly minted young solicitor at a conservative firm, the rock world is of little interest—until he is asked to handle the legal affairs of Emerson Cutler, the seductive front man for an up-and-coming group of British boys with a sound that could take them all the way.
Thus begins Jack Flynn’s career with the Ravons, a forty-year journey through London in the sixties, Los Angeles in the seventies, New York in the eighties, into Eastern Europe, Africa, and across America, as Flynn tries to manage his clients through the highs of stardom, the has-been doldrums, sellouts, reunions, drug busts, bad marriages, good affairs, and all the temptations, triumphs, and vanities that complicate the businesses of music and friendship.
Spanning the decades and their shifting ideologies, from the wild abandon of the sixties to the cold realities of the twenty-first century, Evening’s Empire is filled with surprising, sharply funny, and perceptive riffs on fame, culture, and world events. A firsthand observer and remarkable storyteller, author Bill Flanagan has created an epic of rock-and-roll history that is also the life story of a generation.
About the Author
Bill Flanagan’s books include the novels New Bedlam and A&R. His work has appeared in Esquire, Vanity Fair, GQ, Rolling Stone, Spy, and many other publications. He is executive vice president and editorial director of MTV Networks, and an on-air essayist on CBS News Sunday Morning. He lives in New York City with his wife and their three children.