Jon Kremer, Writer-Episode #319

Storybeat with Steve Cuden

The writer, Jon Kremer, has lived in Bournemouth, a town on the south-coast of England, since he was a teenager, coinciding with the start of the 1960s. That famous decade of cultural change allowed him to experience many aspects of the UK music industry via both the ownership of his town’s original vintage vinyl shop, Bus Stop Records, which opened during 1967’s Summer of Love, and a long-standing friendship with ‘Year of the Cat’ singer-songwriter, Al Stewart.

A 60’s music highlight was meeting the Beatles at the height of Britain’s Beatlemania. The story of Jon and Al finding themselves in the backstage company of John Lennon moments after the Fabs had first performed “She Loves You” live for an audience, days before the record’s release, became known as ‘The Men from Rickenbacker’. The tale of two teenagers pretending to be representatives of Rickenbacker guitars and needing to talk with the Beatles, eventually was retold many times in books, magazines, newspapers, tour programs, and on TV and radio.

Jon’s first book, Bournemouth A Go! Go! – A Sixties Memoir, visited the story in-depth, as it takes a look back at the Bournemouth music scene in the early 60’s, featuring future members of The Police, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer - Andy Summers, Robert Fripp, and Greg Lake.

A long-time fascination with the often obscure or overlooked key history-making moments that created and energized the story of pop and rock led to Jon writing the book, Chain Reaction, Rock ‘n Pop’s Magic Moments. I’ve read Chain Reaction and can tell you it’s a fascinating exploration of how artists influence one another as they build out their careers, especially so in the music industry.