Rock & roll has produced plenty of fascinating behind-the-scenes characters — Sam Phillips, Kim Fowley, Jack Nitzsche, Huey P. Meaux — but Andrew Loog Oldham certainly rates as one of the gaudiest and most audacious of 'em all. With his newly minted memoir, Stone Free, Oldham re-examines his life as a sometimes raging megalomaniac, an often shrewd businessman and a full-time double-barreled wild child. His was a lulu of a life. The teenage hustler rampaged through Swinging '60s London, dabbling in mod Carnaby Street fashion, working in publicity for the brilliant, shotgun-wielding producer Joe Meek and discovering, along the way, The Rolling Stones, whom he managed and recorded during their most turbulent and fruitful period. (The alliance also resulted in the band's memorably filthy musical tribute “Andrew's Blues.”) A cat with an ego the size of Big Ben — this is his fourth autobiographical tome — and enough creative voltage to fry Phil Spector's wig, Oldham almost certainly will trip the jive fantastic at this Book Soup appearance, revealing a tall stack of lurid, lively, hopped-up truths, myths and mysteries. Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd.; Fri., March 15, 7 p.m.; free; book is $19.99. (310) 659-3110, www.booksoup.com.

Fri., March 15, 7 p.m., 2013

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