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Drawn from forty years of reporting in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere. Smart Ass from Parthenon Books will for the first time collect the work of the award-winning music journalist and best-selling author of Summer of Love and other books, Joel Selvin.

From the Redding ranch of country maverick Merle Haggard to the humble Hawthorne beginnings of the Beach Boys in South Central Los Angeles, Selvin tracked rock and roll lore throughout the state for the Chronicle since 1970. Smart Ass brings together his finest reporting on California rock and roll – a collection of feature articles ranging in subjects from Phil Spector to Tom Waits, Glen Campbell to CSN&Y, the Grateful Dead to the Beach Boys – all peppered with his trademark insights and acerbic asides. Highlights include Selvin’s historic interview with Augustus Owsley Stanley; the award-winning series on the Bill Graham probate case; the controversial account of the life and death of Sheryl Crow boyfriend and mentor Kevin Gilbert; his frightening chronicle of the making of “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” by Sly and the Family Stone that first appeared on the cover of England’s Mojo magazine.

Selvin specialized in coverage of the Grateful Dead and Smart Ass features a full selection of his greatest hits – from behind-the-scenes at studio sessions for “Terrapin Station” with producer Keith Olsen to his chilling tale of despair and anguish that led to the suicide of Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick. He also covered, almost as extensively, the Beach Boys and his classic interview with Dennis Wilson about Charles Manson is included. His interviews with John Fogerty earned Selvin a subpoena in the lawsuit by Fantasy Records founder Saul Zaentz and his liner notes to Creedence Clearwater reissues won the ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award.

Ironically, in March 2009, shortly after laying the initial groundwork for Smart Ass, Selvin left his staff position with The Chronicle, part of drastic staff reductions by the failing newspaper. With arts coverage in newspapers slashed and rock music producing fewer and fewer giants, columnist Selvin clearly operated during a golden era of music journalism. His epic biography of the little known rhythm and blues songwriter Bert Berns will be published next year and he is currently co-writing the Sammy Hagar autobiography for Harper Collins.

For much of the last 4 decades Joel Selvin has been one of the most revered (and feared) music journalists and critics in North America. His insights and purity of artistic standards put him in a class by himself. But Joel was unique in a way that set him aside from all other journalists. He had an innate ability to actually insert himself into the lives of many of his subjects -- counseling, advising and actually playing a pivotal role in the success of many legends. Incredibly, he played this role while maintaining his objectivity in evaluating the work of the people he befriended, and he had no hesitation in lambasting these artists when he didn't like what he saw and heard. The articles in “Smartass” are an invaluable collection that is a rare chronicle of modern pop culture. -- Joan Jett