If you are a Who fan and are looking for a book to read about the Who, you know that there are hundreds of books already written about them. How could there be anything new to write? But in When Stars Were in Reach – The Who at Union Catholic High School – November 29, 1967, author Michael Rosenbloom has managed to write a new and unique book about an intriguing and true story of how the students of a small Catholic high school in New Jersey convinced their school’s administration to allow them to book a concert by one of the most high energy bands in rock history, the Who, to perform in their high school gym.
Rosenbloom, who neither attended the school nor the 1967 concert, did extensive research to unravel the tale, painstakingly locating and interviewing those students, faculty, and the promoter who were there 46 years ago. Rosenbloom carefully weighed the 40+ year old and sometimes conflicting memories and weaved them into an interesting and insightful story. It is a fun little-train-that-could tale born out of a mixture of youthful why-not naïveté and emerging adult perseverance. This book is an entertaining read. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in one sitting. It has great photos of the actual concert with basketball net and all.