Authors Stephanie Abbajay and Dominic Vaiana Talk 'A Bar In Toledo'

In 1963, Duane Abbajay-the 15th child of Syrian immigrants-took over ownership of a bar in Toledo, Ohio. And with the backing of the Detroit mafia, he would make it one of the legendary homes of music-first for rock artists like Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Chubby Checker and others in the 1960s; and then for a who’s who of country music legends in the 1970s.
We recently welcomed our authors Stephanie Abbajay and Dominic Vaiana whose book “A Bar in Toledo” tells the true story of a man, the mob, and a #1 song-Kenny Roger’s “Lucille,” which was written about the bar.
“A Bar In Toledo” is a cautionary tale about the American dream, told through the eyes of an infamous music club owner; it’s a story about the rise, fall and resurrection of a local business celebrity in Toledo, along with the scars that the hidden aspects of his life left on a family that adored him; as well as an intimate portrait of the power of organized crime in the Rust Belt, rock-and-roll-all told by an adoring daughter who didn’t know her father as well as she thought.