Hey I'm Brian Hyatt and this is Rolling Stone Music Now.

Even if you're way too young to have been reading Rolling Stone in the 1970s,

you almost certainly know the name Benfong Torres. If nothing else you know him from

almost famous where his old colleague Cameron Crow wrote him into the movie but he is of course a very real person he was one of Rolling

Stone's first star writers and he really helped define what a Rolling Stone

cover story meant what a Rolling Stone profile was he set the standard for the writing, the access, the depth of the reporting, and Rolling Stone's impact was such back then that he became way more than almost famous in his own right for his writing.

In a moment, Ben's going to join me to talk about his whole career

and some of his most famous stories, including interviews with Bob Dylan,

Ike, Tina Turner, Ray Charles, and a whole lot more.

Ben is the star of a new documentary called Like a Rolling Stone,

The Life in Times of Ben Fong Torres.

And that is on Netflix right now. It's a great documentary directed by

Suzanne Joe Kai everyone from Jan Wenner to Cameron Crow to Elton John to

Quincy Jones's in its singing Ben's praises.

I'd also recommend Ben's memoir, The Rice Room,

Growing Up Chinese American, from Number Two

Sun to Rock and Roll, which covers some of the same ground

as the documentary from his perspective,

his journey from a child of an immigrant

family to pioneering Rolling Stone writer. Ben also has a really essential compilation of his

journalistic work. It's called Becoming Almost Famous My Back Pages and Music Writing in Life, and I recommend you check that out as well. We talk about a lot of the stories in there in the interview you're about to hear. And here's my conversation with Ben Fong Torres. I think sometimes for journalists,

it can be uncomfortable to have the spotlight

...