The PLEASE STEP BACK Party May 12, 2009

Join Melville House co-publishers Dennis Loy Johnson and Valerie Merians at the Galapagos Art Space to celebrate the launch of Ben Greenman’s much-buzzed-about, ferociously intelligent funk-rock novel, Please Step Back—praised by Walter Mosley for the way it "sings of the back-street, back-stage hyper-kinetic moment when music, stardom, and cultural sea changes pushed America irrevocably forward." New Yorker pop music critic Sasha Frere-Jones joins Greenman live on stage for a conversation on writing, music, and more, and DJ Doc Delay (Psycrunk) takes charge of the afterparty. The first 72 people to arrive in a fashion evocative of the era receive a complimentary cocktail and book (between 7-8PM). The program will begin at 8PM sharp. Galapagos is located at 16 Main Street at the corner of Water Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn. No cover.

Praise for PLEASE STEP BACK:

"fresh and explosive...driven by the author's undeniable passion for his subject" -- PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW)

"aims to reinstate some of music's revolutionary energy" -- TIME OUT NEW YORK

"in the tradition of Jonathan Lethem's You Don't Love Me Yet or DeLillo's Great Jones Street" -- THE VILLAGE VOICE

"Novels about pop music are exceptionally tough to pull off...Greenman proves the better of Lethem here: Please stays amped up all the way through." -- THE STRANGER

"Greenman has some fresh things to say about the familiar terrain of American pop stardom: the seeds of inspiration and shaping forces of culture, the personal excesses and isolation. He's a lyrical writer who can draw you into an image or musical description." -- SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"sharp and thoroughly entertaining" -- NYLON GUYS

"more than a veiled Behind the Music of one of SF's more famous native sons. Greenman uses Foxx's meteoric rise and fall to explore the darkness and cynicism that befell the love generation, and to question our culture's lingering nostalgia for the '60s. Plus, how many novels these days come with their own theme song?" -- FLAVORPILL

"I can't stop reading it." -- THE OREGONIAN

Official Website: http://www.mhpbooks.com/book.php?id=199