Confessions of a Rock ’n’ Roll Name Dropper

Writer/producer/casting director Kaye begins her memoir with a vivid recollection of her most famous interview: the one she conducted with John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their Dakota apartment on December 8, 1980. She was the last person to interview Lennon hours before he was shot and killed outside their apartment building. Kaye’s memoir also explores her own life as a teen runaway, her time as an intern and reporter on KFRC-AM in San Francisco, and her work on RKO Presents the Beatles, which she cowrote and produced when she was still in her early 20s. She brings readers into her life by sharing stories of interviews with other Beatles—Paul McCartney (and his wife Linda) and George Harrison—and with other rock ’n’ roll greats (Mick Jagger, the Ramones, the Talking Heads). At times, the wandering accounts seem more focused on name-dropping than a cohesive narrative, but then again, the title of the book sets up that expectation.