"This is a great book...the only document I have ever read that truthfully deals with the saga of the big-time black disc jockeys during the 1950s and just what they had to go through just to be on the air. It's an adventure story that deals with a young black man traveling from city to city, plying his trade in the face of racism from whites and ignorance from blacks. It's the story of an individual with a lifetime of commitment to the preservation of black history. Magnificent Montague is a great black American. Perhaps more importantly, Magnificent Montague is a great American."
-- Bob Davis, CEO, Soul-Patrol.com
"Montague shows how the entire music industry was one hustle after another...The evocation of the hustle and Montague's access to the black masses makes the comparison with Malcolm X unavoidable...In addition to his career in the music industry, Montague also evolved, almost accidentally, as an astute collector, observer, student and commentator of the black experience. Just as Malcolm acknowledged his prison sentence as the seminal moment in his life when he realized what it meant to be black in America, Montague's epiphany came when he first heard Paul Robeson speak...The coalescence of Montague the hustler and Montague the collector is what makes the memoir so provocative."
-- Professor Kurt Edward Kemper, University of South Dakota
"A fascinating picture of a creative and dynamic spirit....A freewheeling, impressionistic mix of stories and opinions, poetry and prose, all delivered in an easy yet compelling style that's close to the spoken word. Marshall McLuhan said that television was a `cool` medium, demanding less in the way of its audience's imagination than books or radio, which he called `hot.` We get a good sense of this heat from `Burn, Baby! Burn!`..."
-- Merle Rubin, Los Angeles Times
"'Burn, Baby! BURN' is as entertaining as [Montague's trademark cry] promises. This slim but dense volume twists like a double-helix beween the subject's personal and professional lives...He provides a detailed description of how the record business really worked."
-- Don Waller, Los Angeles CityBeat
"...recounts his rise from clueless Jersey boy to one of L.A.'s most beloved radio personalities. The book is sad, joyous and ego-driven--just like Montague's classic shows."
-- Los Angeles Magazine
"The cultural integration of America forms a substantial subplot of this fascinating look at the life of a disc jockey...a human phenomenon with stories beyond imagination, a poet, producer, performer, promoter...a life that reflects both the struggle and triumph of black America through the '60s."
-- Vernon Ford, "Booklist"
"His undeniable energy and passion for life leaps from the pages."
-- Kathy Williamson, Los Angeles Sentinel
"Montague! Dynamic! Understanding! A brother in the struggle! Yes, the Magnificent Montague! A man who commanded so much love and respect it will never, never, never be replaced. Take it from the Godfather of Soul, paying homage to the Don of Radio: This book tells it all."
-- James Brown
"Webster defines 'magnificent' as splendid, superb, noble--truly a description of Montague. He was splendid in his ability to captivate the listening audience, superb in his role as a community leader, and noble in the way he showed young people how to move through life with class. As I looked up these definitions, I thought to myself, 'Webster must have known my friend Montague.' I'm so glad he was around during the infancy years at Motown. What a blessing he has been to so many of us."
-- Smokey Robinson
"The only sustained account by a black deejay who lived through the harshly segregated world of the 1950s and the explosive civil rights era of the 1960s. This book is a valuable contribution to the literature of black life and history."
-- Robert Pruter, author of Chicago Soul and Doowop: The Chicago Scene
"Montague's autobiography captures the heyday of personality radio, when hip jocks with names like 'Hot Rod' and 'Cool Daddy' rapped and rhymed as they played the latest hits. Yet this is also the remarkable story of an African American man whose pride leads him on an odyssey to document his people's forgotten history."
-- Lex Gillespie, producer of the public-radio documentary series "Let the Good Times Roll," a history of rhythm and blues
