(TV) Re: New Book

["Tim Mitchell" <fireman9@btopenworld.com>]

Thanks to everyone for the interest in the book and here's a little
information about it.

It's a pretty straightforward run-through of the band's history up to the
present day, but I've also tried to ground it in some background on Tom's and
Richard Hell's respective upbringings and their friendship before Television
began. I've included a couple of appendices on their solo careers, too - but
they're just chronologies with some quotes to flesh them out and not part of
the main body of the text.

As has been noted, it's not a long book, but that was the deal with the
publisher and it's a standard kind of length for them.

I asked Tom and Richard Hell if they would help with the book but neither
wanted to. I did speak to Billy, though, who was great. Although I talked to a
few other people, too, what I wrote is based mostly on existing sources - but
plenty of them. The majority of the research material I used came from my own
archive of cuttings, which is pretty extensive (I've been a fan since
Television first started getting press in the UK), but I did, of course, also
refer to Keith's magnificent website and also to comments people here on the
list have made.  Santadog's Funpack, too, was absolutely vital. I've
acknowledged all this at the beginning of the book and tried to name-check as
many of the regular list contributors as I could but this is a good
opportunity to say another thank you to everyone for so many fascinating
discussions producing so much valuable information. Apologies for not
contributing to the list myself after those early posts but I hope the book
might help make up for that.

This is a list of the chapter headings, which may give some idea of the ground
the book covers:

1. Wilmington
2. Lexington
3. Running Away
4. Two Poets in New York
5. Theresa Stern
6. Neon Boys
7. The Invention of Television
8. First Broadcasts
9. TV at CBGB
10. Changing Channels
11. New Frequencies
12. Little Johnny Jewel
13. Elevation
14. Marquee Moon
15. British Television
16. Adventure
17. Foxhole
18. Closedown
19. Revolution

Appendices: Richard Hell Chronology, Tom Verlaine Chronology, Bibliography,
Selected Discography.

A couple of other things:

I did my best to ensure that everything I wrote was factually correct but of
course it's never possible to get it all right. Rest assured, though, that I
tried...

The title wasn't my idea - but then my suggestions were possibly worse.

Don't worry, I haven't made out that the band's first public performance was
at CBGB, that's just the impression mistakenly given by the blurb.

I'm not sure what the illustrations are going to be like as I haven't seen
them yet. I imagine some will be familiar but there should be others that are
either unusual or previously unseen. I think Richard Hell has given us some to
use but I'm not sure what they are. I'll report back when I know more.

Here's hoping you enjoy it.

Tim
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