Patoski, Joe Nick 1951-

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Patoski, Joe Nick 1951-

PERSONAL:

Born June 6, 1951, in Allentown, PA; son of Victor Albert Patoski (an engineer) and Irene Randall (a travel agent); married Kristine Anne Cummings (an artist), November 18, 1980; children: Jake, Andy. Education: Attended University of Texas at El Paso, University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, University of Texas at Austin, and Tarrant County Junior College. Hobbies and other interests: Swimming, kayaking.

ADDRESSES

Home—Wimberley, TX. Office—P.O. Box 1569, Austin, TX 78767-1569. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

KFAD-FM, Arlington, TX, radio personality, 1971; KUT-FM, Austin, TX, radio personality, 1975-79; Austin American-Statesman, Austin, TX, reporter and columnist, 1977-78; Joe King Carrasco & the Crowns (recording artists), manager, 1979-85; True Believers (recording artists), manager, 1985-86; Texas Monthly, Austin, staff writer, 1985-2003. Also worked for Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX, 2003. Weekly guest on radio program Kevin & Kevin KGSR in the Morning, Austin, TX, 1991—; Grammy Crafts Committee judge.

MEMBER:

National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(With Bill Crawford) Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1993.

Selena: Como la flor, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1996.

Texas Mountains, with photographs by Laurence Parent, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2001.

Texas Coast, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2005.

Big Bend National Park, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2005.

Also author of the blog Notes and Musings. Contributor to books, including The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll, revised edition, Random House, 1992; The Book of Tex-Mex, by Robb Walsh, 2004; Oxford U.S. Latino/Latina Encyclopedia, Oxford Press, 2004; Conjunto: Voz Del Pueblo, Canciones Del Corazón/Voice of the People, Songs from the Heart, University of Texas Press (Austin, TX), 2005; and My Soul Looks Back in Wonder: Voices of the Civil Rights Experience, by Juan Williams, Sterling, 2005. Contributing editor, No Depression. Contributor to periodicals, including Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, Spin, Texas Observer, National Geographic, No Depression, People, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Field & Stream, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Big Bend Sentinel, Southwest Spirit, American Way, Austin Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, Harp, Time Out New York, Country Music, National Geographic, Nature Conservancy, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Texas Observer, and Conde Nast Traveler. Contributor of liner notes to numerous albums.

A collection of Patoski's papers are housed at the Albert B. Alkek Library, Texas State University, San Marcos.

SIDELIGHTS:

Joe Nick Patoski is the author of two biographies of notable Texas musicians. Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire, which Patoski wrote with Bill Crawford, details the artistry and tragic death of the notable blues guitarist. Selena: Como la flor, released on the anniversary of its subject's death, explores the brief life of Tejano pop star Selena Quintanilla-Perez. In both cases Patoski worked without the cooperation of the artists' family members, as they were planning their own books. Nevertheless, he was able to reconstruct the lives of Vaughan and Selena while adding background on the musical styles each practiced. Billboard reviewer Trudi Miller Rosenblum found Selena "a thoughtful and extensively researched account of Selena's life." David Browne, in Entertainment Weekly, wrote of Stevie Ray Vaughan: "The authors are clearly fans, and their clean, straightforward prose downplays the lurid aspects of Vaughan's addiction to cocaine and whiskey."

Texas Mountains is a natural-history volume with photographs and essays about the mountain ranges that stretch over eight counties in western Texas. In Library Journal, Tim Markus predicted that the book "will amaze readers who have never visited this vast and remote area as well as those few who have."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Billboard, March 16, 1996, Trudi Miller Rosenblum, review of Selena: Como la flor, p. 95.

Entertainment Weekly, May 21, 1993, David Browne, review of Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire, p. 42; March 29, 1996, Alanna Nash, review of Selena, p. 55.

Library Journal, May 1, 1996, James E. Ross, review of Selena, p. 96; February 15, 2002, Tim Markus, review of Texas Mountains, p. 175.

PR Newswire, October 23, 1995, "Miramax Gets Rights to Best Selling Biography Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire," p. 1023.

Publishers Weekly, April 5, 1993, review of Stevie Ray Vaughan, p. 60.