Legendary Musician Richard Hell Interviewed by Bryan Waterman

Attend an exclusive evening in Strand’s rare book room to honor the paperback release of Richard Hell’s acclaimed I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp. The autobiography has been called “A candid, sometimes brutal tour of punk’s gritty early days" by The New York Times Magazine, and "radically self-aware…wielding prose keen as a diamond knife" by cultural critic Luc Sante.

Richard Hell grew up in Kentucky, but dropped out of high school to come alone to New York. He was a key figure in several bands of the original “punk” era, including Richard Hell & the Voidoids, whose classic debut album, Blank Generation, was hailed by Lester Bangs as some of the ’70s "most fitfully dangerous rock & roll." Since his 1984 retirement from music, Richard Hell has written the novels Godlike and Go Now and published essays and reportage in such magazines as Spin, GQ, Vice, Bookforum, Art in America and the New York Times Book Review.

Richard will read briefly from I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp before being interviewed by NYU professor Bryan Waterman (author of the 33 1/3 volume Marquee Moon), and will then take audience questions. At the evening’s conclusion, Richard will inscribe copies of I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp. No other memorabilia, please.