Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You

by Andy Romanoff

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Overview

STORIES I'VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU is a young man's wild stories told with an older man's wisdom. It speaks to anyone with an interest in the 60s and 70s, subcultures (particularly bikers and hippies), and tells the stories of young men and women who hang out on street corners waiting for something to happen. "Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You" chronicles Andy Romanoff's troubled and troubling years, and how he went on to make a different life for himself.

Description

Andy Romanoff's memoir is a book about life and living, stories of hard choices and unlikely outcomes disguised as a book about running wild and raising hell. Filled with 80 years of stories told as fresh as today Romanoff takes you along for the ride as he makes a meaningful life for himself without turning his back on the person he'd been or the places he'd come from. "Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You," is a wild ride filled with tales of getting thrown out of five high schools; stealing cars and motorcycles; getting tossed in jail; finding his way into the sleazy end of the film business; being there for the invention of Gore Films; spending time with counterculture legends like Ken Kesey, the Hog Farm, and Nick Ray; then slowly learning about love, life, and death as he becomes a reluctant success. Come along with him as he shares eighty years of stories, learning to accept success, friendship, and family while raising hell along the way.

About the author

For half of his life, Andy Romanoff wasn't looking further ahead than his next meal. After getting thrown out of five high schools and going on to steal motorcycles, scam credit cards, and burn cars for weekend fun, it seemed clear to everyone around him that he was a screwup. He took that reputation and ran with it, working on the first gore film "Blood Feast;" living with the legendary commune The Hog Farm; and hanging out with tricksters, scammers, and legends like Nick Ray, Ken Kesey, and Wavy Gravy. As he got older and saw more of life and how it ended, he realized he wanted more for himself than a list of adventures. He pioneered the use of remote-operated cranes in motion pictures working with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Hal Ashby, Billy Fraker, Conrad Hall, and Vilmos Zigmond. He is a member of the Motion Picture Academy, an Associate Member of the American Society of Cinematographers, and a member of the Motion Picture Camera union. He is also a regular contributor to L'oeil de la Photographie, the leading photographic arts publication with 250,000 daily readers, and he writes regularly on Medium. Most importantly, he lives a peaceful life with his wife of forty years and two grown children, who he adores.

Emilie	Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You by Andy Romanoff is honest, funny, at times horrifying, and beautifully written. Romanoff brings to life his street kid years in Chicago expressing not just the teenage bravado of taking a joyride in a stolen car but the inner fears that accompanied those crazy events. Having been a California hippy in the 60s and 70s, his adventures in those years seem familiar. His drug experimentation is mind-blowing, relatable and terrifying. Much of his love of all things mechanical would ordinarily be of no interest to me, but the way Romanoff writes about motorcycles, cameras and the Louma Crane were fascinating. The trajectory of his career in the film industry is both wild and interesting. The expression of human feelings is beautiful and heart-felt, from the elegies of friends passed to the love for his family. Romanoff writes about himself with a truth which brings solid reality to his stories. I absolutely loved this book. Read more
Andy	More Reviews By Others A one-of-a-kind memoir about a very memorable life. Read it for stories about Ken Kesey, Steven Spielberg, Nick Ray, and a host of other larger-than-life characters. Andy Romanoff's life is a testament to how far wrong you can go and still come out right. Early readers have said things like: “Andy Romanoff may well be the last surviving beatnik. Not just a witness of the American counter-culture movement, he was a willing accomplice. STORIES I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU is a journey through the American underground that began in the 1950s and impacted all the generations after." "STORIES I’ve Been MEANING TO TELL YOU is a terrific read about chasing dreams while on the run from the demons that pursue those born wild and uncompromising." “This eloquent memoir from onetime troublemaker and roustabout turned cameraman turned film-biz executive turned artful photographer turned writer Andy Romanoff is a testament to the wisdom espoused by Oscar Wilde over a hundred years ago: "Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future ... the author offers a kaleidoscopic, impressionistic remembrance, filled with hair-raising exploits among his companion ne'er-do-wells in an incredibly frank and self-aware confession ... Andy Romanoff is happiest dwelling in the realm of all-things-possible (which of course also includes mortality). His concluding ruminations on old age and death are striking in their sagacity…” “Fascinating, impossible to put down, and deeply affecting, STORIES I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU is at once an insider’s oral history of the 60s counterculture, and a profound meditation on the healing love of family and friends. From his movie-industry camera work through Hollywood’s craziest years to his travels with the Hog Farm, Romanoff’s witness cred is impeccable---his are the stories I’ve always wanted to hear about this era which unfolded when I was still too young to take part. Yet it is the emotional power of this book that really shines. Building an emotionally compelling story—fiction or nonfiction—is the hardest of writerly feats, and Romanoff nails it. His vulnerability is real. His love blazes. And not just for family, but for his extensive and colorful cast of friends..." Read more
David	Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You "Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You" was a great read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It resonated with me; I could relate to his love of mechanical things, technology, and experimentation. And what a wild ride he writes about, including interacting with some of the most well-known people of the era. Having been born about a decade later than Andy, it was great to read and learn about his experiences during the 1960s. Read more
Mitch	A fast and fun adventure through the 60s and beyond! A smooth ride through a tumultuous time. Andy takes us on his adventures through his delinquent youth to his hippie days that he barely survived and then on to his life in the low brow and high brow movie business. Like all good stories he transforms - in his case into an exec for Panavision and husband and father. We feel everything along with him, even a bit of a contact high. And we gain the advantage of his wisdom. It's fast and it's fun and it's a story I've never heard before. It's definitely worth your time. Read more
mike	What a journey What a great read. A wonderful insight to the time, but also just a great series of stories. Read more
niki	A Wild and beautiful Ride At first glance, this book may appear to be another memoir of youthful rowdiness; in fact, it’s much more. Fascinating, impossible to put down, and deeply affecting, STORIES I’VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU is at once an insider’s oral history of the 60s counterculture, and a profound meditation on the healing love of family and friends. From his movie-industry camera work through Hollywood’s craziest years, to his travels with the Hog Farm, Romanoff’s witness cred is impeccable---his are the stories I’ve always wanted to hear about this era which unfolded when I was still too young to take part. Yet it is the emotional power of this book that really shines. Building an emotionally compelling story—fiction or nonfiction—is the hardest of writerly feats, and Romanoff nails it. His vulnerability is real. His love blazes. And not just for family, but for his extensive and colorful cast of friends; this is a man who keeps several thousand friends’ phone numbers. Unable to stop reading, I felt myself becoming part of his sprawling community, until the passing of several of his friends, whom I had never met, brought me to tears. Andy Romanoff has written a big-hearted book which touches your heart, even as it keeps you compulsively turning the pages. Along the way he manages to illuminate a watershed era that transformed America. And damn, did he tell his story. Read more

Stories I've Been Meaning to Tell You

by Andy Romanoff

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