If filmmaker Cameron Crowe's career arc sounds like a Hollywood story, that's because it is one. Crowe's 2000 Oscar-winning film Almost Famous is based on his own teen years; he was 15 years old in 1973 when he became a music journalist, landing a backstage interview Gregg Allman . By age 16, he had written his first cover story for Rolling Stone. He'd go on to write about David Bowie , Jimmy Page and other rock stars.

Crowe credits much of his early success with his hometown of San Diego, which tended to come at the end of a band's tour. By that time, he says, musicians were open to talking.

"Here's a kid that comes to the door with a notebook full of questions based on the music that nobody was really asking them about," Crowe says. "They're like, 'Get that kid in here. Com

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