Author: Richard Sanford

New American Café website

New Year's Eve, 1977. Mitch Lanier, striving to make it in music, has followed his college girlfriend to her hometown, Chicago, with its burgeoning club scene. Now the two have split, and he finds himself, frustrated and bitter, driving deliveries for Gonzo Pizza Pie. Fellow driver Corey McGowan, an aspiring novelist, insists they could subsidize their artistic pursuits by emulating the hugely successful Gonzo. Fueled by dreams of creative freedom, Mitch teams with Corey to open their cash-cow-to-be, New American Café.

But Mitch gets more than he bargained for. Struggling to keep the café afloat, he seizes a once-in-a-lifetime shot at the gold ring with his musical partner, flash guitar phenom John Wray. They hook an agent and high-stakes gigs fall into place, but a lovely new complication sweeps Mitch away—the exotic and older Anita Russo, a child of Chicago's Little Italy. When the café finally hits its stride, Mitch and Corey's arch competitor, a small-time drug lord, launches an all-out assault to crush the fledgling business. With the café and his music on the line, Mitch is lured into a faceoff with death in a Chicago alley.

Mitch, Corey, Anita, and their tribe of musicians, poets, and artists are all in collision, on the make, trying to thread the needle to freedom and fame. As Mitch's wild ride winds down, his ideas of art, aspiration, love, and impermanence have changed forever.