Book Report Update
Explore More
■ Tony FletcherTony Fletcher is the author of eleven books, including best-selling biographies of Keith Moon, the Smiths and R.E.M., a memoir, a novel and more. As a London teenager, he started a fanzine called Jamming! in 1977 followed by a record label of the same name. He moved to New York in the late 1980s. Fletcher has played in bands, promoted concerts, DJed, written for numerous publications, hosted podcasts and appeared on and/or produced TV and radio shows.
POW! When UK Pop Went Punk 1980-1984
Someone asked me recently how magazines look on the Remarkable Paper Pro, after they saw me reading comic books on my color e-ink device. The short answer is that it’s not great. Most magazines are formatted too small, but you can zoom in 2.5x and it becomes readable. However, due to the nature of the technology, resizing the image is a chore and is much slower than modern tablets.
I think if you have an iPad, just stick with that until e-ink catches up to the speed and (reflective) brightness. Even when you are reading a traditional novel (black and white text), such as my advance copy of POW! When UK Pop Went Punk 1980-1984 by Tony Fletcher, you can see e-color’s “white” is a slight yellow-ish wash. The RPP’s border is “true”-ish white, so you can compare.
I think text looks fine on the RPP, similar to how it will look on a Kindle e-reader (preferably the larger Kindle Scribe). Since those Kindles uses black & white e-ink, there is no yellow-ish tint, so it does look a little whiter.
Anyway, the POW! book comes out August 18, 2026, and I’ve only read the introduction and chapter one… so I’ve still got a way to go. But can you believe it? Fletcher, at age 14, was already best friends with Paul Weller. That’s just a glimpse of his incredible life. I can’t wait when he tells us how he met The Smiths (Morrissey & Johnny Marr). It should be a hoot.
Speaking of books, I took advantage of the get one book free if you buy two on the recent Amazon sale… so I’m the owner of six new books. I’m not sure if I will have the time, but maybe I’ll file a book report in the coming months.
Description from the publisher:
POW! is the fascinating memoir of a precocious English teen in the early 1980s who published a music magazine, interviewed many of the era’s top artists, befriended rock stars, ran a record label, appeared on television, played in a band and found first love — all at the same time!
In this sequel to his Boy About Town (2013), Tony Fletcher’s incredible adventures in the world of British post-punk make for a compelling adventure of highs (an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney, friendship with Paul Weller of the hugely successful Jam, playing to huge audiences, discovering love and sex) and lows (heartbreak, learning the financial challenges of running a label the hard way, the collapse of his band). Despite the passage of time, he summons up all the enthusiasm he felt for the music and women he loved and marvels at the incredible experiences he had as a hard-working young striver.
The generation raised on MTV, the New Musical Express and bands like Madness, Wham!, the Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Killing Joke will love reading this inside view of a knowledgeable fan who got to know them all.
In this sequel to his Boy About Town (2013), Tony Fletcher’s incredible adventures in the world of British post-punk make for a compelling adventure of highs (an exclusive interview with Paul McCartney, friendship with Paul Weller of the hugely successful Jam, playing to huge audiences, discovering love and sex) and lows (heartbreak, learning the financial challenges of running a label the hard way, the collapse of his band). Despite the passage of time, he summons up all the enthusiasm he felt for the music and women he loved and marvels at the incredible experiences he had as a hard-working young striver.
The generation raised on MTV, the New Musical Express and bands like Madness, Wham!, the Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Killing Joke will love reading this inside view of a knowledgeable fan who got to know them all.
Remarkable Photo Gallery: Magazine, 2.4x Zoomed Magazine, and Comic Book
Deep Healing
Comedian Greg Barris and Michelle Newman released a self-help book. The interesting thing is that it’s pocket-size, so you can take it with you anywhere and pull it out for “instructions for life”. The book measures four by six inches… so you need a really big pocket or m/purse.
Description from the publisher:
Deep Healing is a surreal self-help book disguised as a comedy-or maybe the other way around. Created by comedian Greg Barris and Michelle Newman.
Through magik affirmations, laugh meditations and breathing exercises, Deep Healing is a book of poetic instructions for life, that invites the reader to a remembering of their truest, wisest self…and how that self is wrong. This is healing that doesn’t take itself too seriously-because healing is serious business, and nobody likes that.
Greg Barris illuminates practical ways to survive the apocalypse and he does it using joy and humor. You can happily tuck this guide in your pocket, but you won’t want to keep it hidden away for long, because, especially in times like these, the magik Greg conjures needs to be read aloud and shared. Deep Healing is a portal, and he’s inviting us to fly through it.
Perfect for burned-out creatives, recovering perfectionists, soft witches and blood wizards-everyone allergic to traditional self-help.
Through magik affirmations, laugh meditations and breathing exercises, Deep Healing is a book of poetic instructions for life, that invites the reader to a remembering of their truest, wisest self…and how that self is wrong. This is healing that doesn’t take itself too seriously-because healing is serious business, and nobody likes that.
Greg Barris illuminates practical ways to survive the apocalypse and he does it using joy and humor. You can happily tuck this guide in your pocket, but you won’t want to keep it hidden away for long, because, especially in times like these, the magik Greg conjures needs to be read aloud and shared. Deep Healing is a portal, and he’s inviting us to fly through it.
Perfect for burned-out creatives, recovering perfectionists, soft witches and blood wizards-everyone allergic to traditional self-help.