Book review: Canton musician chronicles life in new book

Scott Paris grew up in the Canton area and lives there today. He is well known locally as a musician. He has played guitar in his own bands and in other local bands, performing hundreds of shows for audiences in local eateries, bars, clubs, festivals and at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and has toured nationally.

His latest band is called Imaginary Cookies, in which he performs vocals and plays guitar. Paris also plays bass and performs vocals in a group called Tender Hearted Rascals.

Paris chronicled his professional life, with a few tidbits from his personal life, in a journal from March 2024 through Dec. 31, 2024. In 2025, he published the stories from that journal in a book titled A Guitar Called Harry V and the Cover Band Conundrum.

The book is available through many online retailers, including Amazon.com, Booktopia.com and thriftbooks.com.

Paris’ approach to documenting a year in his life began when he decided to purchase the guitar of his dreams – a special-edition Fiesta Red Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster – from music retailer Sweetwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

He opens the book by writing in the prologue about finding Harry V. “I have bought and sold (and sometimes rebought) SO many guitars over the last few decades in search of the perfect specimen,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, with each new one, the honeymoon fades quickly, and their snoring eventually drives you crazy. You then jump from one to the next, putting insurmountable expectations on each that follow, somehow still shocked when they don’t live up to your standard.”

His next line tells readers all they need to know about how he feels about his newest guitar: “This one, however … feels different … almost magical.”

Paris decided to journal one year of his life with the newly acquired guitar, which eventually became his first book. One of the early topics he addresses is the decision to put a sticker on Harry V.

Paris appears to have a fondness for stickers, writing, “To sticker, or not to sticker … is that a question?” He tells readers his guitars resemble “heavily stamped passport books.”

“I have always put stickers on my guitars,” Paris wrote. “Perhaps it’s about dominance and possession? It could possibly, but not necessarily, be about expression. I just always thought they looked rad, and didn’t care much past that. The first sticker on this guitar (Harry V) was the logo for our local Ohio attraction, Otherworld.”

Otherworld is an art installation in Columbus.

Other sections of the book that stand out include Paris’ recollections of gigs throughout his long career. He writes that he has been a musician since age 10, a songwriter since age 14, and that he formed his first band at age 12.

His current band, Imaginary Cookies, plays a few times a year around Ohio. “We are all in a good place mentally and physically, and people seem to want what we offer in a show,” he wrote.

Paris also writes about playing at the Canton restaurant Cheeseburger in Paradise, which operated for several years in the Belden Village area. He worked there as a server and was one of the musicians who performed regularly for patrons.

He describes gigs at Gervasi Vineyard Resort & Spa in Plain Township, performances around Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie and various appearances with or for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

This is a fun book to read. Paris details different days throughout the year, giving readers a glimpse into the life of a local musician with a family. He writes about items sometimes being stolen from band members’ cars, his anxiety about performing solo, what the pay can be like and how local musicians support one another.

Paris also writes in detail about purchasing the guitar, including where and why, and how he decided on its name.

“Ozzy Osbourne once sang, ‘I need a Rock ‘N’ Roll doctor,’ and so do I, damn it,” he wrote. “What better doctor than my current favorite fictional alien, Dr. Harry Vanderspiegle? What a perfect name for a guitar.

“So shall it be, this humble troubadour proclaims, my Telecaster is now and furthermore known as Harry V.”

Among the memorable passages is his “golden rule” for accepting gigs: “Always take the gig if there’s good food nearby.”

“A band is like a marriage … minus the sex part,” Paris wrote. “Platonically speaking, though, it is a relationship. It’s a very intimate thing to create art with another person, let alone several other people.”

Paris also shares his thoughts on green rooms – the good and the bad.

“Something I like: green rooms. Something I don’t like: unwanted guests,” he wrote. “I love a green room. That’s typically a place set aside for a band to change, or hide their stuff, or hide to do the kind of stuff that you’d want to hide while doing.”

Readers from around Stark County will recognize many of the locations Paris references, including his time working at the Camelot/FYE record distribution center in North Canton.

The title and description of the book entice readers to take a closer look, and the paragraph on the back cover may convince many to read it.

For a first book by a new author, this is a strong start. Perhaps Paris will continue writing about his life as a musician, songwriter and now author.