I am honored that Arlene Sullivan agreed to write the book with me. We all have such history with her, dating back decades to when we first watched American Bandstand.

Besides her vast knowledge and remembrances about the daily happenings of the show, Arlene has introduced me to so many Regulars and famous names that will grace the pages of our book. She has her own fan club of people who absolutely love and respect her. Arlene is looking forward to being interviewed, and perhaps dancing, on major television, radio and in person shows for the book!

The other day she introduced me to Charlie Gracie, who I had a wonderful and very funny conversation with. As the first Rock ‘n’ Roller to emerge from South Philadelphia (along with James Darren, actually), Charlie has been making the music scene here and all over Europe since he was a teenager. This year he celebrates his 80th birthday!

Ray Smith, our third writer, was an occasional American Bandstand dancer. He is an eclectic gentleman who not only writes (he co-authored Dick Clark’s American Bandstand), but does theatre reviews, dances and is a good chef and baker. When we had lunch together in Manhattan last year, we stopped by the Today Show. As Ray continues to work with NBC one day a week, we got into the live broadcast of the 4th hour of Today with Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. Ray will definitely be pitching the two of them for a personal appearance with Arlene on that show!

And so we have two Bandstand dancers and one fan (me) who make up the writing trio for BANDSTAND DIARIES. Of course, there would be no reason to write this book if it did not preserve the Rock ‘n’ Roll days of America’s best known teenagers. But our book will be a happy, nostalgic journey filled with memories galore…and you will all be able to read it this Summer.