John Drake's Memoir Chronicles Global Adventures and Film Industry Career from 1970s to 9/11

John Drake has released his memoir 'Stories From The Big Apple and Beyond,' documenting his extensive global travels and career in the film industry from 1976 through the September 11, 2001 attacks. The book serves as a continuation of his earlier work 'The Laughing Man,' picking up the narrative in 1976 during New York's Bi-Centennial celebrations and carrying readers through decades of personal and professional evolution.

Drake's writing captures the distinctive atmosphere of 1970s and 1980s New York, describing what he calls the 'nitty-gritty feel of the Big Apple' that included remnants of Bob Dylan's influence and leftovers from the Beat Generation—elements he notes have 'disappeared forever.' His professional journey within the film industry forms a significant portion of the narrative, detailing his progression from working as an electrician to becoming a gaffer, then cinematographer, and eventually directing commercials for a living.

The memoir extends beyond New York to document Drake's global wanderlust, taking readers to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bali, and numerous other destinations. These travels occurred both for professional film work and personal adventure, with Drake consciously attempting to 'keep the freewheeling, fun-loving abandonment of the sixties and seventies alive.' The book incorporates photographs and poems that help convey the feeling of these decades, which Drake describes as a time 'when the world seemed a saner and more hospitable place to live.'

Drake explained his motivation for compiling the memoir, stating, 'For me it was a time for reflection and introspection as time was getting on and I was not getting any younger, so I decided that I already had a book written from diaries and logs, words that I had scribbled down in notebooks over the years from my travels and experiences.' He described the process as assembling existing prose and poetry into a coherent story rather than writing anew, creating what he calls 'a history book of my life which we call a memoir, an appreciation of life itself.'

The book is available in both e-book and print formats at Amazon, with additional information available at his website. Reviewers have praised the work for its vivid portrayal of 1970s and 1980s New York and beyond, with one noting how Drake's 'yarns overflowing with his personal flavour of charm and wit' left them 'yearning for those times once again' and contemplating 'how hollow our lives have become and what great adventures pass us by.'