By Michael Alago with Laura Davis-Chanin

A life story of chaos, love, beauty, loss, and passion reflected upon by the man who’s still living it. Michael Alago is a gay man, and he doesn’t hesitate to let you know it. If you’re a homophobe, then let me say: 1.) this book is not for you, 2.) good luck coping with the 21st century, and 3.) you’ll be much happier if you let go of that shit.
Quote from the book: “I’m passionate about music, art, theater, film, men, magazines, books, and my cat Harry, but it always comes down to men and sex at the end of the day.”

Following affectionate forewards written by Mina Caputo (Life of Agony) and John Joseph (Cro-Mags), the book brings us through Alago’s Brooklyn childhood, his family dynamics - - including one recurring instance of sexual abuse, and of his developing realization of his own preference for boys over girls. Soon, we see his burgeoning devotion to music leading to underage attendance at the legendary NYC Rock and Punk clubs of the 70s, which in turn led to his meeting tons of musical royalty. He somehow bypassed security, velvet ropes, backstage doors, etc and came into contact and friendships with iconoclastic street-level icons of the era, even briefly editing the fan newsletter for underground punk legends, The Dead Boys. Through this concert lifestyle and Alago’s fearless assertiveness, he was soon working as a booking agent at a few of these clubs, which eventually evolved into the next phase of his career: an A&R executive for Elektra in his young 20s, and later on for Geffen and Palm Pictures.
Metal fans will especially be interested in his account of luring Metallica to Elektra, away from Jonny Zazula and Megaforce Records, as well as his discovery and molding of White Zombie into the megastars they became, and his love of Metal Church. He’d become close friends with Kurt Vanderhoof, founding guitarist for Metal Church.
Unlike many autobiographies, even some with pro-writer help in the byline, this one is very well-written. The narrative sometimes jumps back in forth through time, but always in service the story arc of his life. Alago has not only dealt with HIV and destructive addictions, but he’s beaten them into submission and lived a full life. There are some harrowing accounts of the time periods where he was losing these battles, but survived and bounced back.
He talks at length of his friendship and relationships with eccentric art powerhouses as Robert Mapplethorpe, George Dureau, Cyndi Lauper, and Nina Simone, including his experiences producing late-career albums with the latter two.
Much of Alago’s passion is for the visual arts, including contemporary artists he reveres, and his own photography. The review copy I read is 100% text; I hope that the final print and e-book editions will include some reference images, to give readers some context.
Alago’s story has also been told in the documentary, “Who the Fuck is That Guy?” Of course the book and the film cover a lot of the same ground, but “I Am Michael Alago” puts you much more inside of his head throughout the scores of crazy events, and delivers even more unbelievable stories than the movie. This book is really a must for anyone who’s into Metal and music history, especially during the eras from the 70s through the 90s, and especially the NYC Rock club scenes of the 70s and 80s.
Culturally, it’s also significant to ride along through one gay man’s experience of growing up in the 70s into the 80s, living through the devastation and terror of the AIDS crisis, recounting some of his fleeting and more enduring love affairs as he goes.
Michael turns out to be a charismatic and compelling storyteller; you’ll find yourself cheering and worrying for him as you read through his ups and downs. Highly recommended.