Overlookin' at the Brooklyn Book Festival

Many thanks to all who attended the Brooklyn Book Festival yesterday - we had a FANTASTIC time meeting and talking books with everyone who came by the Overlook booth. We're always grateful to hear what you have to say about the books we publish. Our bestsellers for the day were: New York in the 70s, anything and everything by the great Walter Moers, Today I Wrote Nothing, Church Signs Across America, and Milton Glaser's Drawing is Thinking.

New York in the 70s: Hot Fun in the Summertime

Allan Tannenbaum's New York in the 70s is the perfect summer time capsule for that memorable decade. In this photo, Musicians United for Safe Energy present an Anti-Nuclear Power rally and concert on the Battery Park City landfill opposite the World Trade Center's twin towers in 1979.

Allan Tannenbaum's NEW YORK IN THE 70s: Pictures from the Exhibitions

Allan Tannebaum, award-winning photojournalist and author of New York in the 70s, was recently honored at the Not Fade Away gallery by the New York City Councilmember Alan Gerson with a proclamation for outstanding service to the community through his photography. For a spectacular tour of Allan's recent exhibitions at in New York, Los Angeles and London, click here.

Allan Tannenbaum's NEW YORK IN THE 70s on Display at Not Fade Away Gallery

Only one week left to see Allan Tannenbaum's spectacular photo exhibition New York in the 70s at Not Fade Away gallery in Manhattan. This amazing show features rare shots of musicians, artists, celebrities, politicians, athletes, and an amazing gallery of 24 hour party people. The companion book, New York in the 70s, is available at the gallery and in bookstores everywhere.

More Praise for Allan Tannenbaum's Look Back at NEW YORK IN THE 70s

Allan Tannenbaum's New York in the 70s exhibition and book is the talk of the town - featured in The New York Times Book Review Summer Reading issue, and also in Women's Wear Daily:

"PICTURE THIS: Nostalgia was in the air at the Not Fade Away Gallery on Thursday night, where New Yorkers of a certain age (and some of a younger one) gathered to celebrate former SoHo Weekly News photographer Allan Tannenbaum’s new exhibit “New York in the 70s,” a genre-spanning selection of pictures culled from the lensman’s recently re-released book of the same name, on view through June 25. “The Seventies in New York was a time where basically anything went,” explained Tannenbaum, taking a pause from signing books and greeting guests including music writer Danny Fields, photographer Bob Gruen, James Wolcott and Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye. “It was a very hedonistic period, which I’m not sure exists in this day and age anymore.”

To be sure, you’d be hard-pressed today to find a rock star willing to strip down to Skivvies for an impromptu shoot in an inflate-a-pool (see Tannenbaum’s “Patti Smith Soho Rooftop, NYC, 1974,”) or a world-famous couple allowing a newspaper photographer in on the most banal, private moments (as John Lennon and Yoko Ono did over several months in 1980). “These were one-on-one things,” Tannenbaum said of shooting famous faces, the results of which hung alongside his photos of seminal protests, parades, happenings and late nights at Studio 54 and Plato’s Retreat. All of which begged the question, Is there a trick to being at the right place at the right time? “I think the word is the ‘moment’ — you’re looking for a moment to happen. You have to pay attention. A lot of it is just understanding the scene, knowing where you are and being ready [for] when the moment happens,” Tannenbaum said, a moment before Patrick McMullan tapped him on the shoulder. “I hate to interrupt,” said McMullan, an old friend, “but I have the famous photographer Lynn Goldsmith, [Allan’s] contemporary, to bring over.” After smiling with Tannenbaum for a few McMullan shots, Goldsmith, who’s known for her portraits of musicians like Sting and Bruce Springsteen, offered her take on the show: “The interesting thing about Allan’s work, why it’s so good, is because it covers not just music or entertainment, but it’s like the title of his book — it’s the times. It’s very exciting to see [his work] all together in one place in that it’s really what life was like in the Seventies.” — Nick Axelrod

Overlook Celebrates NEW YORK IN THE 70s with Photographer Allan Tannenbaum at the Not Fade Away Gallery

Over six hundred of our closest friends packed the Not Fade Away gallery last Thursday to celebrate Allan Tannenbaum's new exhibition and book launch for New York in the 70s. Media Bistro's GalleyCat and George Whipple of New York One reported on the scene, and Patrick McMullan snapped some great party photos. In the photo here, Details writer Ian Daly, Village People cowboy Randy Jones, our own Vida Engstrand, and GalleyCat's Ron Hogan attempt to spell "YMCA."

See You at Book Expo America 2009!

BEA is here and The Overlook Press is ready, set, go. We're throwing a party tonight for the photo exhibition and book launch of Allan Tannenbaum's New York in the 7os - pics will be posted if you can't make it. On Friday through Sunday, you can meet and greet us at Booth 3552 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. Meet Rachel DeWoskin, author of Repeat After Me at our booth on Friday (5pm) and at a Saturday Autographing Session (12:30-1pm). Meet the lovely and talented Overlook Editor Juliet Grames at the Indie Buzz Editor's Panel on Saturday at 11am; and Amy Foster, author of the forthcoming When Autumn Leaves at the Downtown Stage on Saturday at 3:30pm, and at the Overlook booth at 5pm.

Remembering NEW YORK IN THE 70s

Here's to New York in the '70s - pictured here is Truman Capote at the bar in Studio 54.

Leonard Quart of the Berkshire Eagle recently reviewed New York in the 70s: "Photographer Allan Tannenbaum's book, New York in the '70s, evokes a world of Puerto Rican street gangs, hotels for the homeless, hookers in Times Square, and rubble-filled South Bronx lots that all existed simultaneously with the transformation of SoHo from a neighborhood of warehouses and the light manufacturing of small machine parts to one of artist lofts and the city's lively art gallery center. In fact, the city's economic decline meant there were many cheap spaces for artists to live and work in that allowed for a great deal of artistic experimentation. The book's photos by Tannenbaum, the Soho Weekly News' photo editor, emphasize that aspect of the '70s, and the sexual adventurism of its intense, burgeoning club life. The '70s also carried over some of the political protest from the '60s. There are photos of anti-Vietnam War protests, demonstrations for the rights of farm workers, and the first big Gay Pride Parade in 1975. The book also contains photos of the city's iconic figures including such disparate personages as Ed Koch and John Lennon, Roy Cohen and Andy Warhol. As one can see, decades defy neat categories. They are a combination of objective facts, and the way we perceive them." - Leonard Quart, Berkshire Eagle

Los Angeles Celebrates NEW YORK IN THE 70s

Allan Tannenbaum's recent photography exhibition, "Bright Lights Big City: New York in the 70s," was a great success. Sponsored by Art in Tune and Overlook Press, the opening night gala raised money for Inner-City Arts in Los Angeles. Pictured here at the April 2 opening is actress Rose McGowan, in front of a classic shot of Frank Zappa (on his 35th birthday in 1974) from the book. For a behind the scenes look at the making of this extaordinary exhibit, click here, and here for some views of the installation.

Allan Tannenbaum's NEW YORK IN THE 70s Featured in Paper Cuts

David Kelly at Paper Cuts, the book blog of The New York Times, takes a look at Allan Tannenbaum's New York in the 70s: "Only the 1970s could have brought Yoko Ono and P. J. O’Rourke together. Yoko provides the preface, and P. J. the foreword, for “New York in the 70s,” a new book of eye-catching photographs by Allan Tannenbaum.

As O’Rourke makes clear, that decade produced its share of odd couples (and odd threesomes): How did the 1970s become so wild? The squares did it. They got hip. … No one was too L-7 to be a hepcat. If you doubt it, turn to the last photos and see Roy Cohn, Senator Joe McCarthy’s chief persecutor of degenerate commies, lounging at the Mudd Club between Halston and Steve Rubell. O’Rourke also zeroes in on the practical problems all that widespread hipness created: The essence of hipness — besides sleeping until noon — is a knowing, clued-in superiority to average citizens. However, when the average citizens are hip. … You see the problem the 1970s faced. Everybody was more wised-up than everybody else and nobody was awake to make the bagels."

Allan Tannenbaum's NEW YORK IN THE 70s in Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair calls New York in the 70s, "Allan Tannenbaum's eulogy for that memorable decade." This unique and largely unseen picture of the excitement of New York in the 70s is a cultural time capsule that should not be missed. Filled with amazing shots of musicians from that era, including The Rolling Stones, Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, Donna Summer, Frank Zappa, Bob Marley, Patti Smith, Blondie, Miles Davis, Charles Muddy Waters, Elvis Costello, and many, many more.

Here's one of our favorites: The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, on Broadway.

L.A.Weekly Shines a Light on NEW YORK IN THE 70s

Libby Molyneaux of L.A. Weekly looks at New York in the 1970s, Alan Tannenbaum's magnificent new book of photographs: "New York in the '70s was like a jolt to the veins, har, har. Now it's a coffee-table book called New York City in the '70s. Allan Tannenbaum's photographs capture the glitz as well as the scum of the era. As photo editor of SoHo Weekly News , he covered the club scene and much more, and the book should satisfy your curiosity about what went on in those VIP lounges at the Mudd Club and Studio 54. John Lennon, Mick, Bianca, Debbie and Chris, the Ramones, Mayor Koch, Patti Smith, Kurt Russell (huh?) all show up."

On April 2, Art in Tune in Los Angeles will launch a photography exhibition, Bright Lights Big City: New York in the 70s, featuring Alan Tannenbaum's personal collection of photographs from that decade.

This Was NEW YORK IN THE 70s

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. New York in the 70s, Allan Tannenbaum's exhilarating look at this memorable chapter in the history of New York City goes on sale next week. Pictured above: actress Valerie Perrine dancing with the Village People (1979).

Overlook Preview: NEW YORK IN THE 70s

Coming in April, New York in the 70s is a personal collection of photographs documenting an exciting chapter in New York’s history—and a remarkable body of work produced by photographer Allan Tannenbaum while he was a photo editor of the SoHo Weekly News in Manhattan. The photographs encompass many aspects of New York life while capturing the heady exuberanceof the era—from SoHo and the art world to the city’s politics and society. By photographing everything from street gangs to disco divas, from homeless to Hollywood stars, Tannenbaum had assembled a personal diary of his journey as a photojournalist and raconteur through a strange and exotic era of New York life. New York in the 70s includes a Preface by Yoko Ono and Foreword by P.J. O'Rourke. On sale April 2!