REVIEWS

"“You really feel like you're sitting there with Natale while he tells these stories.” What I liked most is that this doesn't feel like someone trying to rewrite his younger years into something neat and respectable. He remembers the good, the crazy, the mistakes, the music, the people, and the places. The Woodstock story alone is worth the read. You keep turning the pages wondering, What the hell happened next?

“This is the 60s and 70s from the guy who was actually there.” I've read plenty about Woodstock and the rock 'n' roll generation, but this felt completely different. Natale gives you the Bronx, the bands, the road trips, the friendships, and all those strange little moments that never make it into history books. It's funny, unpredictable, and sometimes unbelievable. The best part is that he tells it in his own voice.

“No plan. No ticket. Just go. That pretty much sums up the book.” Natale's stories have this incredible "let's see what happens" quality. One chapter you're in the Bronx, then you're traveling for a concert, then you're at Woodstock, and later the whole thing takes another turn. I especially enjoyed the music and travel stories because they capture a time when you could just get in a car and chase an experience.

“It's messy, funny, outrageous, and very human.” What stayed with me wasn't just the wild stories. It was the feeling of looking back at a younger version of yourself and realizing how much can happen in thirteen years. Natale doesn't pretend he had everything figured out. That's what makes the memoir interesting. You get the reckless young musician and, underneath it all, the older man looking back at the life he somehow built from all those experiences.

“I came for the rock 'n' roll stories. I stayed for the life story.” There is so much packed into these chapters: the Bronx, music, Woodstock, road trips, relationships, Florida, marriage, and eventually skydiving. It feels like every time you think the story is settling down, Natale finds another adventure. His storytelling is direct and conversational, which makes it easy to imagine him sitting across from you saying, “Okay, now let me tell you what happened next.”