Danny Zelisko Releases The Book All Excess Occupation

Published: March 11, 2021, 4 p.m.

When legendary concert promoter Danny Zelisko says, “I’ve got some stories to tell,” he isn’t kidding. In his remarkable new book, ALL EXCE$$ Occupation: Concert Promoter, Zelisko takes you both backstage and on stage with music’s top stars, recounting his incredible five-decade career in which he has produced over 10,000 concert events throughout the country.

“I say that the book took me four years to write, but it’s really 60 years in the making,” Zelisko says. “Since all this stuff actually happened, the story wrote itself. I just had to be there to decipher it, which was the hard part!”

Along with his vivid, insightful and highly entertaining recollections, Zelisko shares an eye-popping array of never-before-seen photos from his personal archives that might have readers thinking he’s a rock ‘n’ roll Zelig: There’s stories and shots of him with Alice Cooper, Willie Nelson, Roger Waters, Aerosmith, the Grateful Dead, members of Led Zeppelin and the Doors, Herbie Hancock, Jeff Beck, Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson, Chuck Berry, Jon Bon Jovi, Tony Bennett, Muddy Waters, Genesis, Tina Turner, Billy Idol, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Billy Joel, Bob Seger, the Monkees, James Brown, John Prine – as they say, the list goes on and on.

“I went through box after box of photos, and I couldn’t believe how many there were,” says Zelisko. “With each picture, there’s a memory – ‘That’s the night such and such happened…’ Putting captions with the photos makes the accompanying anecdotes come to life.”