BookPeople hummed warm and quiet last Thursday night, readers in every corner scanning the printed page rather than their phones. A page and a half of Ace Frehley’s new autobiography, No Regrets, convinced me to plunk down $26 to relive my youth in the Kiss Army. I’ll let you know how that turns out, but in the meantime, here’s a cache of rock & roll memoirs, poster books, and reportage to get your favorite Bad Santa through the next lean months of music industry hibernation.

This article appears in December 16 • 2011.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.