It’s Not A Rumour – The Book
Since Rick’s memoir is sold out on Amazon, the book may be ordered directly from our publisher:
here’s a link to the book.
Best,
Renee
Interview with Mike Stark of LA Radio Studio about “It’s Not a Rumour” the book.
Hi Everyone,
Last Thursday I skyped with the lovely Mike Stark of LA Radio Studio. It was so good to talk about Rick and reminisce about the good times actually the best times of our lives back when The Kats and The Nu Kats were playing live. here’s a link to the interview which is sooooooo cool because of the way he edited it with previous interviews that he did with Rick and we all get to hear his voice and his personality the way it used to be. Made me cry but it was so good to hear the “real” Rick. What I love about Mike is he is on team Freddy!
Here is the link to the interview:
the interview airs this Friday morning at 9am on KKJZ 88.1FM-HD3 and at http://www.22westmedia.com/.
Enjoy…there’s a lot of music in the interview and it’s wonderful to hear Rick talk about his music and his stories.
love,
Renee
P.S. Band and book merch here: www.rumourmerch.com
“It’s Not a Rumour” Merch Shop is Open!
Attention all Freddy Moore, Skogie, Kats, and Nu Kats fans – the official Rumour merch shop is open!
We have taken original band logos and put them on all kinds of cool products from tanks to sweatshirts to mugs. You may have had a Skogie tee back in the day and now is your chance to grab one again. Or enjoy some stickers or original hand drawn posters to hang on your rock concert wall.
The book is almost here! (September 14th). If you haven’t ordered yet, here is an Amazon link!
All our gratitude to Freddy’s fans near and far who have rooted us on through this entire writing and publishing process. We can’t wait to share his story with you, and we are so excited to sport our merch!
It’s Here! Pre-order “It’s Not a Rumour” now!
Friends, family and fans of Rick “Freddy” Moore,
Shannon and I could not be more excited to announce the pre-order release of It’s Not a Rumour: A rock and roll journey through life and Alzheimer’s is available now at many online retailers!!!!!!
Release date: August 10, 2021
How to order:
To order a special stamped/signed copy, pre-order on our publisher Rare Bird’s site here.
Pre-order a regular hardcover book on Amazon here.
Pre-order a regular hardcover book on Powell’s Books here.
We could not be more grateful to everyone who contributed in the creation of this book. With his late-stage Alzheimer’s condition, he no longer realizes the impact of his life or his story, but Renee and I are certain he would have been so proud of how it came out. It is filled with all the adventures of his life, his heart, and chock full of memorabilia, photos, and of course, the most important thing – music.
Thank you to everyone who helped fill in stories where his memory lapsed. We hope you’ll be as proud of the end result as we are.
Please share this book with all your music-pop-culture loving friends. We appreciate you all.
Forever a Kat / Nu Kat,
Renee & Shannon
We did it!
We did it!
As Shannon said, the other day, the book “It’s Not A Rumour” is on track to be published by Rare Bird Publishing in the Fall of 2021.
This all started in 2014-2015 when Rick was posting his stories on Facebook and Ron Manus of Alfred Music Publishing commented that he should have a blog or write a book. Ron invited us to the NAM show, which was very cool to discuss the project. It proved to be too much work to pull the stories out of Rick for Alfred Music.
After that, I thought that it would be important to get Rick’s stories in a book and at the same time help him recall memories. We had so much material; his illustrious music career, songwriting, childhood, the Alzheimer’s and our love story. Telling Shannon his stories did help his memory improve a little even though it made him emotional while working on it.
I researched co-writers and bought a book on how to write a memoir. I realized that I needed help. I contacted the L.A. Writer’s Group. Nicole Criona recommended several co-writers. We met with one at the Daily Grill in Studio City. He was arrogant and said that he would send over a couple of typists to take down Rick’s stories and then he would develop those stories into a book. Rick did not like that guy. Then I went back to Nicole and she recommended Shannon.
We met Shannon at Aroma Coffee in Studio City we had an instant connection. Shannon is beautiful inside and out and she “saw” Rick. She truly understood his vision for the book. She wanted to do justice to Rick’s vision and she did. What is amazing about Shannon is how hard she works, how she respects the stories, how much research she did and she stayed true to Rick’s vision.. She helped Rick put across his stories that were; funny, heartfelt, interesting, unbelievable, and so cool. I am positive that Rick would be proud of this book.
During the process, we would get chapters from Shannon. Rick and I would cry at some parts because the truth of his disease hit us and we cried because this was really happening to him. We laughed out loud at some chapters, we were blown away by all the life that he had lived. This book became the best way to preserve Rick’s memories which were fading. We enjoyed every minute that we spent with Shannon. She is truly a gem. We are so lucky to have found her.
The pictures above are of Shannon and me celebrating the culmination of all our hard work and dedication to this project. This book will finally be published.
We toasted with Margarita’s that…WE DID IT!
Memorabilia
It seems that I am living without Rick these days and it’s so strange.
I just distract myself all the time by listening to books on Audible, watching a series on Netflix, talking on the phone and getting sucked into other peoples problems and lives. It helps me avoid my sadness.
I have heard from people involved in publishing the book “Its Not a Rumour” that it will happen sometime around June 2021. This is good news and I hope that things will come to fruition.
My latest obsession like Rick used to have of finding rare things and collecting them, is finding Kats and Nu Kats memorabilia.
here are my latest acquisitions:
I would love to buy a black Kats button, so if anyone has one they would like to sell, I’m in!
Love that Freddy Moore, my Rick, Ricky and Skogie!
Need to publish “Its Not a Rumour”
Hello All,
I have been trying to get Rick’s book published for some time now. It’s just not going anywhere. I know that his life story is a great one but I can’t seem to get any publishers interested. We have an agent and she’s been trying but no luck.
anyone who knows someone in the publishing arena or any of Rick’s fans from Skogie, The Kats or The Nu Kats have any connections would be great.
I would appreciate any ideas that you have. I tried the self-publishing route but they wanted us to change all the names of real people, famous or not and even though we have permission from 90% of the people mentioned in the book, they wanted us to take that part of the story out and that would ruin it. I guess our book isn’t cookie-cutter enough for self-publishing.
I just think that looking back on the good times, those nostalgic happy times would be good for us right now, right? Rick’s childhood was incredibly interesting, falling through the ice of a frozen lake, righteous riding, which is holding onto the fastest car you can find while wearing rainboots on the ice and crashing into a snowbank. His infamous marriage, our love story and Alzheimer’s robbing all of us of such a gifted songwriter, lyricist and cool person makes for a great book! I know, I’m prejudiced cuz I love the guy so much.
anyone who has any ideas, please email me at rschyjer@gmail.com.
I just want something to happen already. We have edited the book several times and obtained permissions from most of the people mentioned in it. I have invested years into this, a substantial amount of money, paid LA Writers Group editors to edit it. we have almost 100 color pictures and flyers and posters and song lyrics at the end of each chapter.
thanks all, and take care.
Renee
Excerpt from “It’s Not a Rumour” the upcoming memoir of Freddy Moore
Freddy Moore!
Madame Wong’s was probably the only tropically decorated Chinese restaurant playing live new-wave music that ever existed. Such an entrepreneur Madame Wong was, along with her husband George. She regularly lined up bands like The Knack, the Motels, the Textones, Plain English, the Bus Boys and Naughty Sweeties, but she seemed to like us best. She let us play whenever we wanted, and she’d knock other bands off the lineup if we became available. When Demi and I got married, Madame Wong demanded we have our wedding reception there. It’s the one venue we played in L.A. that felt most like home.
I’m not sure how Madame Wong found The Kats originally, but I know the way she usually picked groups to play at her restaurant. She’d listen to audition tapes in her car. In 1980 she told The Los Angeles Times, “When there’s a bad tape, I throw it out the window. One day I almost hit the Highway Patrol car that was right next to me.”
We were always real respectful to Madame Wong and packed her restaurant with nearly 400 people (capacity: 350). It’s a good thing, because you didn’t want to disappoint or mess with Madame Wong. She’d kick your ass or have her husband George do it. I heard she stopped the Ramones mid-set to make them clean up graffiti they’d written on the bathroom walls.
Renee: ewwwwww
practice..practice…practice
Outside In
Well, the frenzy about who Demi took her surname from is over.
What I would like people to know is the person that Freddy (Rick) really is; a music fanatic, Beatle lover, wild man on stage, nerdy shy guy in person, incredibly brilliant songwriter who was a driven bandleader, artist and poet.
Because Freddy (Rick) is suffering from Alzheimer’s, he’s not able to tell his story. But before his decline, he wrote a memoir about his life and it’s an amazing story. We don’t know who the Freddy Moore, Demi portrays in her book is, or who the tabloids are talking about for 5 minutes of sensationalism, but it isn’t him.
If you are interested in what made Freddy the person he is, who had a photographic memory, read voraciously, was an incredible songwriter and lyricist, still is a loving, sensitive and sweet all around guy, and wonderful husband, then read his book when it comes out! You’ll discover the incredible human being he is and all the talents that he possessed.
I love my brother-in-law and will always stand by his side. I am always with Renee who has never given up and fights to preserve his memories and keep him as healthy as she can. It’s a beautiful love story.
Sara
sisters forever
You Gotta Love Elvis!!!!!!!!!
Excerpt from “It’s Not a Rumour” manuscript:
The first time I saw Elvis in concert, it wasn’t actually Elvis. When I was still in elementary school in the late 1950’s in Minneapolis, my grandmother (and soul-spirit!) Nanny babysat me after school. Sometimes my brother Doug and I got to sleep over at Nanny’s, and she’d take us to see a variety show at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars community center a few blocks away. Afternoon light poured in through the building’s arched windows, illuminating rows of metal fold-up chairs. White columns scattered around the room seemed to be holding up its roof. A mix of senior men and families, but mostly widows, found open seats. Chatter settled into a low hum. I fidgeted and wiggled in my chair.
“Ricky, sit still, you’re gonna fold yourself up in that thing.” Nanny scolded me, with the kind of smile that told me she was just sayin’ it because she had to, not because I actually had to stop.
The lights dimmed and a teenage kid a few years older than me took the stage. He wore his hair slicked back with a curl in front, his outfit a button down shirt and jacket with wide lapels, baggy pants with pleats, and wing-tipped shoes like Ricky Ricardo.
My jaw hit the floor. It was the hippest costume I had ever seen.
A familiar song I’d heard at Nanny’s called “Heartbreak Hotel” started piping through the auditorium’s speakers. My legs stopped wobbling; I stilled in my chair.
07/14/19
Yesterday I downloaded Elvis essentials and played all those old Elvis songs (Heartbreak Hotel, That’s All Right Mama, Teddy Bear, Blue Suede Shoes and Jailhouse Rock” and Rick and I danced and tried to shake our hips and he remembered! He didn’t remember all the words but he sang every melody and he was doing his own Elvis impersonation and it was great to see him so happy! Thank you Elvis for being so great!
