The Rise of the Mad March - Paperback

by Rob Espenscheid (Author)

A tribute to bar bands, musical dreamers, and offbeat ambition....

Two admitted felons on probation, one 'Nam vet, and one Grosse Pointe deb collide to form an unlikely rock band. Internal conflict blows them apart. Faith in the music they make patches them back together for one wild-ride cross-country tour.

America, 1973. Christine on lead, Henry on rhythm, Gretchen on bass and Melissa on drums. A chaotic rise, fighting amongst themselves, battling self-destruction, finding their sound, learning to trust, finding a helping hand, overcoming convention (girls can't play guitar) to become one band, on one tour, for one month - New York to LA and all the stories in between.

This one is for all the rock bands who never headlined the big stage, who never needed protection getting to the limo, who never made any money, who never got signed, who had no answer to the cry of "why aren't you guys famous?" It's for those who wrote killer songs never heard on the radio, who never made a Rolling Stone cover--or even a mention inside. It's for those whose collars were always blue, who were promised this and wound up with that, who always opened and never closed.

Author Biography

ROB ESPENSCHEID, JR. is a Connecticut native and a 1966 Wake Forest College graduate. After an Army RVN stint in 1969, Rob pulled up stakes and moved to the rural Midwest, settling in southern Iowa in the early 1970s. Prairie life provided a career tuning and repairing pianos from cattle country small towns to colligate concert halls. When not tinkering on a piano, he can usually be found either on a golf course or working on a manuscript. In 1998, family connections led to a move, with his wife Sharon, to Smithville, Texas.