By Michelle Tedford, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

Is Steve Katz a rock star?

The founding guitarist of Blood, Sweat & Tears and three-time Grammy winner wrote his memoir to answer that question. His conclusion: Who cares?

Speaking by phone from his home in Connecticut, Katz said that “Who cares?” was the original last line of his book, Blood, Sweat and My Rock ‘n’ Roll Years: Is Steve Katz a Rock Star? But his editor talked him out of it.

He’ll share stories and songs on a tour that will bring him to Dayton’s Dublin Pub on Oct. 14 to open the JCC’s Cultural Arts and Book Fest.

Katz, 70, said it was time to put down on paper all he has experienced — including how his Jewish humor helped him survive rock ‘n’ roll.

“As soon as my brain starts going, it’ll be great to have an index,” he joked about his age. “If anyone has any questions, I can carry it around and look it up.”

It could also free him from having to make small talk at dinner parties, he said. Instead, he can simply answer: “You should read the book— and pass the salt.”

Like his live performances, the book takes audiences on a musical journey with a young Jewish boy from Queens. We tag along with him and his brother on a trip to Greenwich Village, where Katz will meet Dave Van Ronk, who

Katz writes was “a walrus of an Irishman” who taught Katz how to back-pick Candy Man. Katz will perform Green Rocky Road live in tribute to his early teacher.

Among the other songs he’ll perform are Richland Woman Blues by Mississippi John Hurt, Sometimes In Winter from Blood, Sweat & Tears and, from Blues Project, Steve’s Song, along with the story behind how the song got misnamed.

The next 20 years of his life are filled with the biggest names in music: Bob Dylan slept on the couch where Katz took guitar lessons; he produced Lou Reed’s bestselling LP Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal; Jimi Hendrix asked if he could borrow Katz’s horn section; Katz sat naked in a hot tub with Joan Baez; and as a rep for Mercury Records, he passed on signing a young Irish band named U2.

Katz isn’t the only one with stories. While he jokes that even his mailman doesn’t recognize him now, people do: couples tell him they were married to You’ve Made Me So Very Happy; a young girl came backstage to say her favorite song was Blood, Sweat & Tears’ recording of Laura Nyro’s And When I Die.

“To affect people like that is a fabulous thing,” he said. “To go through life and know you’ve touched them with music — especially so.”

For the last 30 years, he hasn’t cared about the rock life, saying that his next memoir could be titled, My Cars Were Always Slow and My Drugs Not So Great.

“Living a normal life — it’s more fun than the rock star life of drugs, infidelity and fast cars,” he said.

Today, he lives with his wife of 27 years, Alison Palmer, a ceramist. His days are filled with both her visual arts business and his music, which he said are great complements in their lives.

“She sees things in a certain way, and I hear things in a certain way, and we match notes,” he said.

On the book jacket, a quote by Chrysalis Records co-founder Terry Ellis says that Katz was a nice Jewish boy who became a star who became a nice Jewish gentleman. Katz said that while he hasn’t been religious since he was a child, his Jewishness has been a defining influence.

“I’ve taken it with me all my life, mainly through my humor and my sit-down-on-my-knee-sonny-boy, Al-Jolson, tear-in-my-eye sensibility,” said Katz, who is known for his ballads.

But is he a rock star?

Even at the height of his stardom, a visit to his parents’ home to eat overwrought pot roast and get clean linens would put doubt in his mind, he said.

“I didn’t know if I was a rock star or a kid who never grew up,” he said.

But on Oct. 14, when he picks up his guitar and stands again before the mic under the lights, there will be no doubt — a bit of both makes for great stories and songs.

The JCC will open its Cultural Arts & Book Fest with Steve Katz on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Dublin Pub, 300 Wayne Ave., Dayton. Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door, and are available by calling 610-1555, at the Boonshoft CJCE, or by clicking here.

To read the complete October 2015 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.