Hello, It's Me: Dispatches from a Pop Culture JunkiePaperback, 1 July 2010

In Hello, It's Me, pop culture historian Chris Epting celebrates the cultural touchstones of the past 40 years--the music, movies, television, hobbies, and fads that have defined recent generations.

Whether it's shooting hoops with NBA legend Elgin Baylor, drinking whiskey in a Radio City Music Hall broom closet with Ron Wood and Rod Stewart while thousands of fans scream from below, sharing a milkshake with Jerry Lewis, running into Alfred Hitchcock's stomach as a young child, or jumping on a trampoline with Sally Struthers, Chris Epting takes us on his own strange trip through time, space and hula hoops.

Beginning in the 1970s and continuing through the 1980s, 1990s, and up to the present day, Epting writes about the humorous, ironic, poignant, and inspiring moments he's experienced with a host of pop-culture icons--Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jay Leno, Johnny Thunders, Edward Albee, John Cheever, Milton Berle, etc.--as well as his personal memories of the era's most famous pop-culture fads, products, and gimmicks--Pet Rocks, lava lamps, mood rings, 8-track tapes, bootleg records, Zotz, halter tops, strawberry wine. . . .