Voice For Victims- Crystal Starnes- Host

Alan Bookman Songwriter, Entertainer https://www.facebook.com/Alangbookmanmusic   Alan Bookman grew up in “South Jersey” in Willingboro, NJ.  He has been playing piano most of his life; his Dad started giving him lessons at age 4 or 5. But Alan and his dad had a disagreement over practice habits when Alan was about six, and that put a temporary hold on Alan’s career in piano. He got sidetracked with some other instruments in middle school, such as trombone and guitar. But he returned to piano in the early 1970s through rock and roll, and joined many bands in high school playing keyboard. A high school career highlight was a summer he spent employed as the keyboardist for the house band at the Windsor resort in the Catskills. He continued playing keyboard with rock bands in college. Alan’s college career was interrupted when he was grievously injured in a car accident by a hit and run driver in Cleveland, Ohio in 1977. He was hospitalized for five months and had to relearn basic life skills such as walking, eating, reading, and math skills. In the ensuing decades after recovering his musical abilities, Alan joined or launched several “comeback” bands. Employed by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection for 39 years, he was sometimes asked to participate musically at department events, where he developed minor celebrity status for his specialty, writing and performing parodies of various rock songs tailored to particular events. In the 2010s Alan sat in regularly with shows given by Frank Pinto, a performer from Trenton, NJ. Frank produced Alan’s first CD entitled, “I Want Applause,” which was released in 2020. Frank also backs Alan up on vocals, guitar and keyboards on the album.