Drake's stories take us from the Bi-Centennial of 1976 in New York up to the tragic event of 9/11.
John Drake is a painter, a poet and a hopeless romantic who spent many years traveling the globe while working in the movie industry. Anyone who grew up in the 70s or 80s has stories to tell certainly. Drake's experiences however provide for a wildly engaging retelling of raucous adventures that spanned the globe; a book that will resonate deeply with those who grew up during the golden years of rock and roll. Drake takes us from London in the 1950s to America in 2001. His first memoir, The Laughing Man, gives us the first part of that story. Stories From The Big Apple and Beyond picks up the tale in 1976.
The book is a must-read for anyone who has ever lived in New York and for anyone who has traveled and likes to travel. ‘Stories from the Big Apple and Beyond’ is the second memoir from John R Drake. The stories take us from the Bi-Centennial of 1976 in New York up till the tragic event of 9/11. Drake captures the nitty - gritty feel of the “Big Apple” of the “downtown life”- remnants of Bob Dylan’s days and left over’s from the Beat Generation, which has now disappeared forever.
Working in the film business for this period in time, Drake’s book gives us a look into the world of film. Starting as an electrician he works later as a gaffer, then a cinematographer and eventually finds himself directing commercials for a living. As in his other book, his wanderlust takes the reader back to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bali and many other places - some for work and other times for the sheer adventure of travel, still trying to keep the freewheeling, fun - loving abandonment of the sixties and seventies alive. The photographs and poems all help to capture the feel of over two and a half decades of the seventies and eighties when the world seemed a saner and more hospitable place to live.
“Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living’, Drake stated. “In Tahiti they say, “Eat life or let life eat you.”
Readers and reviewers have praised Stories From The Big Apple. One said, "A fascinating read in which the author John Drake takes us from the mundane normality of suburban Britain to the ridiculous, dizzy days of 70’s and 80’s New York and beyond. Starting out as a junior in the movie business and progressing to Cinematographer, the author leads us through the thrills and spills of those times with yarns overflowing with his personal flavour of charm and wit. His loves, travels and irony (interspersed with poignant poetry), left me yearning for those times once again. Hard to believe so much could be crammed into a single lifetime! It made me ponder just how hollow our lives have become and what great adventures pass us by. John, certainly took life by the horns and went for it."
John Drake is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at humanitybyjohn51@gmail.com. Stories From The Big Apple is available in e-book and print formats at Amazon. It will be available on Amazon at no charge on November 8, 2021. More information is available at his website at http://www.johndrakegallery.com.
About John Drake:
John Drake was born in London in the 1950s. He started his career in a photographic darkroom and went on to become a photographer in London. After much traveling throughout Europe and India he found himself in New York, after taking a freighter from England to Jamaica (these adventures can be found in his first memoir called THE LAUGHING MAN).
After settling in Manhattan (The Big Apple) he began a new career in the film business, and after a few years was working as a Director of Photography on feature films and commercials. In 1987 John moved to California where he worked as a director/cameraman for various companies in the United States and Europe.
Around 1998 he found a new Love in painting, and after a couple of gallery openings of his work now has over 600 paintings to his name. In the same year he had a photo exhibit of his still photographs on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
In 1999 John moved to Vancouver to continue working in film, but still keeps a place in Santa Monica. In 2004, he went to India to shoot a Bollywood film called 'My Faraway Bride'.
He still continues his nomadic gypsy lifestyle and lives in Mexico for half of the year, coming and going between Mexico, California and Vancouver.
In 2016, he compiled this memoir, “Stories From The Big Apple And Beyond” from writings and diaries from his life in Manhattan and Woodstock during the Seventies and Eighties and also stories of his adventures traveling once again through India and South-East Asia. The story ends on 9/11 when there in New York for a job, John witnesses the attack on the World Trade Towers.
Contact:
John Drake
humanitybyjohn51@gmail.com
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