Words and Music: An evening with singer-songwriter and author Bill Janovitz
Choose what you pay! Through 6:15 p.m. on the day of the show, Wednesday, October 22, tickets for Words and Music: An evening with singer-songwriter and author Bill Janovitz are available for as little as $5! Prices increase in $5 increments. You choose the price that's right for you. Choose-what-you-pay pricing is available on advance purchases only. Tickets purchased after 6:15 p.m. October 22 will be at the original prices, which start at $27, full; $15, Five College students and youth 17 and under.
Join the Fine Arts Center and the UMass Libraries as we celebrate the release of UMass alumnus Bill Janovitz's latest book.
Though he’s best known for his music — his career as frontman for the iconic alt rock band Buffalo Tom and as a solo artist has spanned nearly four decades — Janovitz also has enjoyed significant success as an author, journalist, and essayist. Janovitz is the author of the Exile on Main St. volume in the acclaimed 33⅓ series (Continuum, 2005), Rocks Off: 50 Tracks That Tell the Story of the Rolling Stones (St. Martin’s Press, 2013), and the New York Times bestseller Leon Russell: The Master of Space and Time’s Journey Through Rock & Roll History (Da Capo, 2023). His latest book, The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told (Da Capo, September 2025), explores the musical, cultural, and commercial impact of the Boston band whose new wave-inflected pop songs spent a decade at the top of the charts and propelled the band to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — not to mention an enduring presence in the hearts of their millions of fans.
Janovitz is a member of the UMass class of 1989. And it was during his time at UMass that he and fellow students Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis started Buffalo Tom.
It's our distinct pleasure to welcome Janovitz back to campus for an evening in which he’ll discuss his work as an author, share stories, and play a few songs.
Jim Neill will serve as host and moderator for the evening. Neill attended UMass at the same time as Janovitz and was the program director of UMass radio station WMUA. His career includes marketing stints at record labels Rykodisc in Boston and Rhino in Los Angeles. He currently hosts local music and new music shows on the valley's WRSI 93.9 The River on Sunday nights and has DJ'd over the years at KCRW, KLSX, and KXLU in Los Angeles, and WZBC in Boston. Returning to the Valley from Los Angeles in 2003, Jim was marketing director for concert promoters Iron Horse Entertainment until 2022. He is the manager of the Old Chapel at UMass.