Ron Hall Signing at Len Rossi's in Brentwood

The Scene hallways are strewn with first-time novels, self-help manuals and vanity-press dregs with titles like A Brief History of Dog Grooming in the South and Nine Steps to a Less Insufferable You, but when this gem hit our mailroom, we were fighting over it like Haystacks Calhoun, Treacherous Phillips, Gorgeous George and the Masked Assassins locking horns in a Rassle Royal. Compiling hundreds of fabulous black-and-white photos, newspaper clippings and just enough background info to provide context, author Ron Hall—the man behind the equally compelling Playing for a Piece of the Door: A History of Garage & Frat Bands in Memphis—wisely lets the pictures do the talking, chronicling the ’50s-through-’70s heyday of Bluff City grappling. As Hall writes in the preface, “The Memphis fans had seen the best come through town, and they knew a jabroni from the real deal.” Rest assured that Hall is no jabroni, and that this book is about the hippest holiday gift idea you'll find—and not just for wrestling fans.
Sat., Nov. 14, 1-3 p.m., 2009