Short Synopsis
As a "schlepper" to recording engineer Phil Ramone at New York City's A&R Studios, Glenn Berger was witness to music history on an almost daily and nightly basis as pop and rock icons performed their hit-making magic, bared their souls, and threw epic tantrums. In this memoir, full of anecdotal observations of legendary musicians—including Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and Mick Jagger—Berger recounts how he quickly learned the ropes to move up from schlepperhood to assistant to the tyrannical Ramone, and eventually, to become a recording engineer superstar himself.

Full Synopsis
In 1974, at the age of seventeen, author Glenn Berger served as "schlepper" and apprentice to the legendary recording engineer Phil Ramone at New York City's A&R Studios, and was witness to music history on an almost daily and nightly basis as pop and rock icons such as Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, Bette Midler, and James Brown performed their hit-making magic, honed their sound, strutted their stuff, bared their souls, and threw epic tantrums. In this memoir, full of revelatory and previously unknown anecdotal observations of these musical giants, Berger recounts how he quickly learned the ropes to move up from schlepperhood to assistant to the tyrannical Ramone, and eventually, to become a recording engineer superstar himself. Not only is Never Say No to a Rock Star a fascinating, hilarious, and poignant behind-the-scenes look of this musical Mecca, but Berger, now a prominent psychologist, looking back through the prism of his youthful experience and his years working as a counselor and therapist, provides a telling and honest examination of the nature of fame and success and the corollaries between creativity, madness, and self-destruction.

"With humor and self-deprecation, Berger shares a glimpse of life behind the scenes with artists including the New York Dolls, and Solomon Burke." ---Publishers Weekly

"A fascinating and meticulously detailed virtual tour of life in the recording studio . . . It is also a collection of juicy thumbnail sketches of the show-biz titans . . . Dylan, Jagger, Sinatra, Fosse." ---Don Shewey author of Sam Shepard

"Glenn takes the reader to the universe of the great A&R studio in New York where some of the most memorable music of the past century was made. Congratulations, Glenn, you tell it the way it was. And I loved reliving it with you." ---Judy Collins, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and author

"This book is a delicious tonic for children of the 60’s, 70’s, 80's and children yet to come." ---Kevin Odegard, coauthor of A Simple Twist of Fate