I've had a lot of people ask me about the articles at the beginning of each chapter in OFF THE RECORD. When I tell them that the articles were inspired/based upon real rock star/celebrity antics and the articles written about them, they always ask which ones. So, here they are.
When you're talking about rock stars/celebrities and ridiculous behavior, it really isn't that hard to find things that are just too weird to be real. It almost seems to be a pre-requisite.

Chapter 5
Ozzy Osbourne was arrested for uninating on the Alamo, a member of New Kids on the Block (Danny Wahlberg) was arrested for urinating in an airplane aisle. See, I didn't have to make that up. It's just too easy.
Chapter 4
Again, way too easy. Went to the Farm Aid web site and read the press release for the 1990 concert. The place, the participants, they're all real. Well, except for Teddy Rock, of course.
Chapter 3
Same goes for the Grammy press release. Again, all real people, places and times. Except Teddy Rock didn't really win for Best New Artist and Song of the Year. That would be Mariah Carey and "From The Distance." (note: when researching this I was amazed at how winning the Best New Artist category is such a curse. Remember Jody Whatley, Sheena Easton, Men At Work, Culture Club, Milli Vanilli? All winners.)
Chapter 21
UMass really does have a Spring concert every year out on the lawn, and for the most part, the singers/groups that perform are pretty much has-beens or people on their way down the ladder of success. No big head-liners, but people you've heard of, if never actually bought their albums. I read a lot of old articles from the Collegian, the campus paper.
Chapter 19, 20
Bill Mahar was hit with a palimony suit, so was Liberace (by his boyfriend) and Johnny Cochran. But it all started when Lee Marvin's live-in girlfriend introduced the world to the term palimony with a $113 million law suit. And the details available are plenty. Teddy had it easy by comparison.
Chapter 2, 15, 28
This was a no-brainer. I read a ton of Rolling Stone reviews for good, no-so good, and downright panned albums.
Chapter 18
Ever read InStyle? Then you're familiar with the regular feature of homes being sold by celebrities. Teddy's house was based on an actual house in Malibu, CaesarStone tub and all.
Chapter 16, 17
Passages is a regular feature in People magazine, listing who's getting married, divorced, sued, or buried. The piece about Teddy's suit against his manager is based upon a real situation between Nine Inch Nails frontman Scott Bakula really suing the band's manager.
Chapter 7
The 1990 World Series really did take place at Riverfront stadium, and it really was between the Cincinnati Reds and the Oakland A's. But, Teddy Rock didn't really sing the national anthem. For those of you who care, the final score was 7-0 and Cincinnati won. (could I say really one more time? Really?)
Chapter 8
The National Enquirer writing about Julia Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland? Can you imagine? Looked at old NE articles about the couple and speculations about their future, and then threw Teddy in as the spoiler.
Chapter 10
Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue was arrested after the band performed a concert at Mandalay Bay. Same charges, same city, different rock star.
Chapter 11
I found so many tours cancelled due to poor ticket sales: Kiss, Abba, - see, it doesn't matter who you are. If people aren't buying tickets, say bye-bye to a free trip to Europe.
Chapter 6
The stalker arrested outside Teddy Rock's Malibu home is actually based on a stalker arrested outside the home of Guns n' Roses frontman Axl Rose. Both stalkers were also on probation at the time, naughty girls

Well, there's a ton more, but you get the gist of it. This stuff isn't just fictional imaginings made up by me, it's actually a twisted version of real life that took hours of research - hours that were pretty fun and a wee bit informative as well, I'll admit. It was fun putting Teddy Rock in real life situations and letting him play troublemaker without having to bail him out of jail or clean the urine stains off the carpet in the airplane's aisle. That is the one benefit of fiction vs. real life.