Harvard Book Store Presents:

Peter Wolf

presenting 
Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses 
in conversation with Peter Guralnick

Harvard Book Store welcomes Peter Wolf—Boston-based rock ’n’ roll legend and former front man of the famous J. Geils Band—for a discussion of his new memoir Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses. He will be joined in conversation by Peter Guralnick—Grammy Award-winner for his liner notes for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, and prize-winning author of the two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love. 

Ticketing

Tickets include admission for one and one hardcover copy of Waiting on the Moon pre-signed by Peter Wolf. 

About Waiting on the Moon

In the tradition of classic collections of observations and musings such as Christopher Isherwood’s I Am a Camera and Truman Capote’s The Dogs Bark, Waiting on the Moon is a treasure trove of vignettes from a legendary musical figure whose career spans more than six decades and is still going strong.

Peter Wolf grew up in the Bronx, a child of “fellow travelers” whose artistic inclinations influenced both his love of music and his initial desire to become a painter. Stories of his loving and sometimes eccentric parents complement scenes depicting a very young Bob Dylan as he arrived on the Greenwich Village folk scene. Reflections on Wolf’s studies in Boston—where he shared an apartment with David Lynch—are braided with accounts of first love, an untraditional literary education, and early musical influences such as Muddy Waters.

After Wolf joined the J. Geils Band as their front man and his musical fame grew, he rubbed shoulders with other notables who left significant impressions on him, including members of the Rolling Stones, Sly Stone, Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, and Van Morrison. Wolf’s marriage to Faye Dunaway is presented in a clear yet balanced and nuanced light.

Told with gentle humor and often heart-rending poignancy, the word portraits in Waiting on the Moon provide a revealing glimpse of artists, writers, actors, and musicians as they work—the creative forces that drive them to achievement; the demons they battle; the patterns of their human relationships. They are meant to inspire not only empathy but also admiration. Like Isherwood, Wolf remains “a camera with its shutter open.”

Praise for Waiting on the Moon

“Waiting on the Moon is the page-turner of the decade.  It’s as if my three favorite memoirs—The Kid Stays in the Picture, Running With Scissors, and Permanent Midnight—all got together and made a big, healthy, hilariously fucked-up kid who somehow managed to outdo them all.” —Peter Farrelly, Academy Award winning director and writer

“Arriving home from my 114th tour date, Peter’s book has kept me wonderful company. As the eastern sun rises through my airplane window, the warmth of its rays reminds me of the love of life and living so beautifully expressed in his writing.” —Bruce Springsteen

“This is the book I’ve been hoping Peter would write since we walked the streets of Paris together, back in the 20th Century. A true account of his life, love and music told with unique humor and rare humility.” —Elvis Costello

“Waiting on the Moon is a five-star memoir, and Peter Wolf is a solid gold storyteller. His eye for detail is exquisite, I felt like I was living these stories alongside him. A rarity in a rock star memoir, Wolf does not center himself, he lets the players in his extraordinary life take centerstage and shine. I loved every single minute.” —Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of None of This Is True

“Elegant, eloquent vignettes from a star-studded life . . . Recollections of a rock ’n’ roll life, charmingly related.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Bios

Peter Wolf, born in the Bronx NY, became a rock ’n’ roll convert at the age of eleven after attending an Alan Freed revue that included performances by Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others. Although at first, he aspired to a career as a painter and studied at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts, he experienced a life-changing epiphany after jumping onstage with a band of fellow art students at a loft party forming one of Boston’s early rock bands, the Hallucinations. Shortly thereafter, Wolf secured a job as an all-night DJ on the fledgling FM radio station WBCN, where he adopted the persona of the “Woofa Goofa” and spun obscure rock ’n’ roll and early rhythm and blues. His encyclopedic musical knowledge came in handy when he and some like-minded Boston players formed the J. Geils Band, much of whose early repertoire was drawn from Wolf’s vast record collection. In 1970 the band was signed by Jerry Wexler for Atlantic Records where they went on to release nine influential albums and earned a reputation as one of rock’s most exciting live acts. In 1979 they were signed by EMI America topping the charts world-wide with their hit songs “Freeze Frame,” “Love Stinks,” and “Centerfold.” With the 1984 album Lights Out, Wolf began his career as a solo artist. In the ensuing years he collaborated with Aretha Franklin, Merle Haggard, John Lee Hooker, and Mick Jagger, among others. His album Sleepless was voted one of the top five hundred albums of all time by Rolling Stone. He currently tours with his band ‘The Midnight Travelers’ and will be releasing his ninth solo album in 2025. He lives and works from his home base in Boston, Massachusetts.

Peter Guralnick’s books include the prize-winning two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love; an acclaimed trilogy on American roots music, Feel Like Going Home, Lost Highway, and Sweet Soul Music; the biographical inquiry Searching for Robert Johnson; and Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke. Guralnick won a Grammy for his liner notes for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, wrote and co-produced the documentary Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ‘n’ Roll, as well as writing the scripts for the Grammy-winning documentary Sam Cooke/Legend and Martin Scorsese’s blues documentary Feel Like Going Home. His 2015 book Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock ’n’ Roll was a finalist for the Plutarch Award for Best Biography of the Year, awarded by the Biographers International Organization. His most recent book is Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing.

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.