APRIL 6 • 2023 | 57

— at the time or future — musicians and 
other clients, but being a part of Frey’s 
early music career is among the best of his 
recurring stories. 
“Glenn was friends with a lot of my 
friends, and a lot of these guys were in 
bands,
” Rubin recalls. “Glenn and I just 
became good friends. He’
d come over and 
go in the laundry room with my sister and 
make out.
” 
Others who crossed paths with Rubin 
and Pioneer included Ray Goodman, 
guitarist with SRC, the Detroit Wheels and 
other bands, and a teenage Sixto Rodriguez, 
who would go on to fame as a recording 
artist under his surname and was the 
subject of the documentary Searching for 
Sugar Man.
Rubin recounts a great many tales 
and details in the sprawling Big Dreams, 
a coffee-table style tome that weighs in 
at more than 800 pages and combines 
commentary and stream-of-consciousness 
narration with diary-like entries. In 
addition to the studio, Rubin also writes 
about his upbringing and family as well 

as other pursuits and passions, such as 
the Detroit Tigers and screenplay writing 
(his older brother Bruce Joel Rubin is an 
Academy Award-winning writer whose 
credits include Ghost, Jacob’s Ladder and My 
Life). 
Rubin also delves into his views of the 
relationship between organized crime and 
the music industry.
“It seems to be that in the story of my life 
so many things are interconnected in so 
many different ways,
” Rubin says. “I try to 
capture that in the book.
” 
The project itself was inspired by a 

Grandfather’s Journal that one of his four 
grandchildren gave him as a present, and 
then the pandemic lockdown offered more 
time to put his thoughts on paper. 
“This isn’t a book I expect to make any 
money on. It’s too expensive and a bit too 
long,
” Rubin acknowledges, adding that he 
went the self-publishing route so he could 
have full control over the content. “It’s really 
just a keepsake. If you’re really interested 
in what this has to say, it’s a really nice 
keepsake.
”
Big Dreams is, in fact, just the first part 
of Rubin’s story. The second book is already 
written, and Rubin is hoping to develop “a 
TV series or a movie centering around the 
recording industry in Detroit.
” 
He’s also working with the London-based 
M & D Records label to re-release Pioneer 
titles by the Sensations and the Famous 
Brothers, among others. 
“It’s been fun going down memory lane 
doing this,
” Rubin adds. “It reminds you 
that everything’s cyclical. Not everything 
lasts. So just be grateful for everything you 
get out of life.
” 

Glenn 
Frey

WIKIPEDIA