bookburger pick--Mingering Mike: The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Soul Superstar

Sure, we're all rock stars in our own minds--but, as documented in Dori Hadar's amazing new book published by the hepcats at Princeton Architectural Press,  Mingering Mike took it a few steps further. 
A lonely teen back in 1960s and 1970s Washington DC, he created a completely imaginary career for himself as a soul singer. He designed incredibly elaborate record jackets and actually constructed fake vinyl records out of cardboard.  He made up song titles, song lyrics, bandmembers...Hadar, a DJ by night and criminal investigator by day, came across Mingering Mike's hand-drawn discs while digging through crates of records at a DC flea market. The story of how he pursued clues and eventually found the man behind the self-created myth is really compelling. Plus, this is a beauty of a book, reproducing Mike's cover art and liner notes in all their obsessive glory.

Since we at the burger are kinda obsessive ourselves, and because we too are very invested in our imaginary careers,  we love Mingering Mike. Go grab yourself a copy...it just hit bookstores today.