Journalist and author
Larry Sloman
Sloman at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born (1950-07-09 ) 9 July 1950Pen name Ratso Occupation
Writer Nationality American
Larry "Ratso " Sloman (born July 9, 1950) is a New York–based author.
Career
Sloman was born into a middle-class Jewish family from Queens. His nickname Ratso came from
Joan Baez who said Sloman looked like
Dustin Hoffman 's character Ratso Rizzo in
Midnight Cowboy .
He wrote for
Rolling Stone ,
Crawdaddy , and
Creem in the 1970s.
[1] He wrote a column, "Ratso's Pallazo", in
Heavy Metal in 1985.
[1]
He collaborated with
Howard Stern on the radio personality's two best-selling books,
Private Parts and
Miss America . He also appears in all of
Kinky Friedman 's mystery novels as the Dr. Watson to Kinky's Sherlock. Sloman wrote an account of
Bob Dylan 's 1975
Rolling Thunder Revue tour, On the Road with Bob Dylan . He also penned
Reefer Madness , a history of
marijuana use in the
United States , Thin Ice: A Season in Hell with the
New York Rangers , a 1982 on- and off-ice account of the
1979–80 New York Rangers season
[2] and Steal This Dream , an oral biography of
Abbie Hoffman .
His book The Secret Life of
Houdini , written with magic historian William Kalush, presented research that attempted to prove that early 20th-century American magician
Harry Houdini was a spy. The authors also raised the possibility that Houdini had been murdered by a cabal of
Spiritualists , prompting Houdini's great-nephew to call for an exhumation of the magician's body to test for poisoning.
Sloman's other collaborations include
Mysterious Stranger , with the magician
David Blaine and
Scar Tissue , the autobiography of the
Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer
Anthony Kiedis .
Starting in 1985, for a few years Sloman served as executive editor of
National Lampoon magazine. He was also editor-in-chief of
High Times .
[3]
On 5 April 2019, he released an album, Stubborn Heart , that includes a duet with
Nick Cave , among others. Sloman and
George Lois directed the
music video for Bob Dylan's song "
Jokerman ."
[4]
Works
Sloman, Larry (4 December 1975).
"Bob Dylan and Friends on the Bus: Like a Rolling Thunder" . Rolling Stone .
Sloman, Larry; Kinky Friedman (introduction) (August 2002) [1978].
On the Road with Bob Dylan . Bantam, Three Rivers Press.
ISBN
9780553116410 .
Sloman, Larry (1979).
Reefer Madness: The History of Marijuana in America . Bobbs-Merrill.
ISBN
978-0-672-52423-3 .
Sloman, Larry (1982).
Thin Ice: A Season in Hell with the New York Rangers . Morrow.
ISBN
978-0-688-00628-0 .
Stern, Howard ; Larry Sloman (October 1993).
Judith Regan (ed.).
Private Parts (1st ed.). New York, New York:
Simon & Schuster .
ISBN
978-0-671-88016-3 .
OCLC
28968496 .
Stern, Howard ; Larry Sloman (November 1995).
Judith Regan (ed.).
Miss America (1st ed.).
Regan Books .
ISBN
978-0-06-039167-6 .
Sloman, Larry; Howard Stern (introduction) (August 1998).
Steal This Dream: Abbie Hoffman and the Countercultural Revolution in America . Doubleday.
ISBN
978-0-385-41162-2 .
Kiedis, Anthony ; Larry Sloman (October 2004).
Scar Tissue . Hyperion.
ISBN
978-1-4013-0101-9 .
Kalush, William; Larry Sloman (October 2006).
The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero . Simon & Schuster.
ISBN
978-0-7432-7207-0 .
Criss, Peter ; Larry Sloman (2013).
Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of KISS . Simon & Schuster.
ISBN
978-1-4516-2082-5 .
Tyson, Mike ; Larry Sloman (November 2013).
Undisputed Truth . Harper Collins. p. 592.
ISBN
9780399161285 .
Further reading
Hershkovits, David (2017-10-18).
"The Life and High Times of Larry 'Ratso' Sloman" . Tablet Magazine . Retrieved 2017-12-29 .
Bienstock, David (2003-01-27).
"Bob and Ratso: Larry Sloman goes On the Road with Bob Dylan" . High Times . Archived from
the original on 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2007-12-30 .
"Larry Sloman" . Bold Type .
Random House . Retrieved 2007-12-30 .
"Larry 'Ratso' Sloman on His Time with Bob Dylan's 'Rolling Thunder Revue' " . rock cellar magazine . Retrieved 27 August 2022 .
McCormick, Carlo (April 1999).
"Larry "Ratso" Sloman" . High Times .
Bracy, Timothy (2017-06-01).
"Speaking With Behind-the-Scenes National Treasure Larry "Ratso" Sloman" . Men's Journal . Retrieved 27 August 2022 .
References
External links
International National Artists People Other