In Conversation with Larry Platt
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.”
Larry Platt is the co-founder of The Philadelphia Citizen, a nonprofit news site that marries solutions-based journalism with civic action. He is the author or co-author of six books, including the New York Times bestselling memoir Every Day I Fight, the story of ESPN sportscaster Stuart Scott’s epic battle with cancer, and producer of Kelce, the Emmy-nominated Amazon Prime documentary. Platt is the former editor of both Philadelphia magazine and the Philadelphia Daily News, and a former columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. His writing has appeared in GQ, the New York Times Magazine, New York, Men’s Journal, Playboy, and Sports Illustrated, among other publications.
The 2024/25 Author Events Series is presented by Comcast.
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