Amazon.com
Right in time for the Grateful Dead's 40th anniversary, eccentric bass player extraordinaire Phil Lesh has delivered fans a most welcome gift: his autobiography. There are many books out there about the Dead told from the perspective of roadies, journalists, third party observers, and fans. However, with the exceptions of Jerry Garcia's ramblings in Garcia: A Signpost to New Space and Conversations With the Dead, Lesh's Searching for the Sound is the first time a founding member of America's favorite band tells their own story of what it was like inside the Grateful Dead. And what a wonderful, strange tale it is.
Phil Lesh, considered the most academic of the group due to his avant-garde classical composition training, literate mind, and passion for the arts, decided to write his story himself. Written without the crutch of a ghostwriter, Searching for the Sound might be considered disjointed in places, but overall it comes across as conversational, intimate, informative, and candid (particularly regarding topics of drug use and death). If you are familiar with the band and their extended family, their history, the sixties' musical milestones and influences and all the band's famous tales (the Garcia/ Lesh "silent" confrontation, being busted on Bourbon Street, the Wall of Sound), you may be a little disgruntled there is not much new here in the way of content. However, what is "new" and totally satisfying is Phil's warm, optimistic perspective on the many events that helped shape his life. As described by Lesh, his life's journey, much like the Dead's music, is "a [series] of recurring themes, transpositions, repetitions, unexpected developments, all converging to define form that is not necessarily apparent until it's ending has come and gone." For the many fans who enjoyed the fruits of his life pursuit of sonic explorations, Searching for the Sound is a welcome addition to their Dead library. --Rob Bracco
Book Description
Right in time for the Grateful Dead's 40th anniversary, eccentric bass player extraordinaire Phil Lesh has delivered fans a most welcome gift: his autobiography. There are many books out there about the Dead told from the perspective of roadies, journalists, third party observers, and fans.However, with the exceptions of Jerry Garcia's ramblings in Garcia: A Signpost to New Space and Conversations With the Dead, Lesh's Searching for the Sound is the first time a founding member of America's favorite band tells their own story of what it was like inside the Grateful Dead. And what a wonderful, strange tale it is. Phil Lesh, considered the most academic of the group due to his avant-garde classical composition training, literate mind, and passion for the arts, decided to write his story himself. Written without the crutch of a ghostwriter, Searching for the Sound might be considered disjointed in places, but overall it comes across as conversational, intimate, informative, and candid (particularly regarding topics of drug use and death). If you are familiar with the band and their extended family, their history, the sixties' musical milestones and influences and all the band's famous tales (the Garcia/ Lesh "silent" confrontation, being busted on Bourbon Street, the Wall of Sound), you may be a little disgruntled there is not much new here in the way of content. However, what is "new" and totally satisfying is Phil's warm, optimistic perspective on the many events that helped shape his life. As described by Lesh, his life's journey, much like the Dead's music, is "a [series] of recurring themes, transpositions, repetitions, unexpected developments, all converging to define form that is not necessarily apparent until it's ending has come and gone." For the many fans who enjoyed the fruits of his life pursuit of sonic explorations,Searching for the Sound isa welcome addition to their Dead library. --Rob Bracco
Customer Reviews:
Moonlight Rain.......2007-05-31
I FINALLY finished this book. It took two or three false starts (i.e., read up to page fifty and stop; wait a month or two, read up to page 50 and stop) but 6 days in the hospital (nothing life threatening) gave me ample time to finish the book. Fascinating- yes. Filled with interesting facts- yes. Reads more a history text book than the autobiography of a rock star- yes. I kept referring to a dictionary ever time (frequently) Phil used a word that I had never heard before. One cool thing is Phil refers to composers (Stockhausen, Berio, etc.) that most Deadheads would enjoy. (BTW, I've been hip to Stockhausen for several years. If you think the Grateful Dead invented "Space", you are wrong.) The same goes for references to books he has read. Basically, it's a slow read but very interesting. What I want to know is with all of the LSD he took, how he was able to remember tiny details from 1966?
Bass-ically where its at!.......2007-05-14
As a bassist myself, I relate to Lesh's writing and train of thought. He documents being a part of Grateful Dead as more of an ironic string of occurances than a drugged out trip. His book is incredibly personal while he discusses such moments as learning an instrument overnight, attending classical concerts while on tour, loosing friends, and finding the inner peace in chaos. He is funny, sad, and everything in between. Although some of the technical parts get a bit too detailed for those unfamiliar with sound technology, one can understand how dedicated he was to his craft aside from the music and lyrics. I liked how Lesh pointed no fingers, rather pushed towards the positives in everyone. I would recommend reading this book with Rock Scully's Living With the Dead because they follow the same format and share similar situations. Lesh's however comes across more intimately humorous. I strong urge readers to dig into this book!
Interesting and Illuminating.......2007-03-26
I've never been to a Dead concert, but once had a roommate in college who'd recorded about 100 of them, which he constantly played, so I've certainly heard my share of Live Dead. Everyone w/ a passing knowledge of the Dead knows that their best stuff was live, not studio. Just an observation that has nothing to do with the Lesh book. It's an interesting read and Lesh is an interesting character. Especially funny was how he got out of the army:
Army Doctor: "read the bottom line on the eye chart" Lesh: "I can't see anything" Army Doctor: "You can't see the bottom line of the chart?" Lesh: "What chart?" Army Doctor: "The chart on the wall" Lesh: "What wall?" Lesh certainly is thoughtful and observant. A good journey through the history of the Dead and sometimes quite moving.
Good 'Ol G.D........2007-01-21
My brother got this book signed by Phil himself. Another biography of the Grateful Dead. Written by One of the band members. It's good. Phils good. Check it out.
Searching for a Ghost Writer.......2006-11-23
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. Not by the writing. In fact, some of the prose is quite unnerving, such as "if Mickey had been born Native American, his name would have been `Pushing the Envelope.'" Although he did remember the concept of foreshadowing from High School English, and he makes of point of highlighting all of the ominous signs of the chaos to come. But overall I was surprised, because, unlike many musicians' autobiographies I've read (for example, Miles Davis), Phil Lesh does not come off as a brittle narcissist. He does not use this opportunity as a format for squabbling, for giving his side of the story. He actually comes off as a thoughtful, sincere guy, and someone willing to take the time to reflect on the past.
I was interested to hear his take on the disintegration of the Grateful Dead in the eighties and nineties. His take on it was not unlike my own. He takes some ownership for his role, admitting that the Grateful Dead had become too large of an organization, too much of a money-maker with too many dependents. The band had to keep up an outrageous tour schedule, despite the obvious decline in the quality of the music and the painfully obvious deterioration of Jerry Garcia.
He makes a note-worthy observation about the parallel process between the band and the audience. At first, it was a bunch of guys with different musical backgrounds, but all with open minds, all in the right place at the right time, who used drugs to expand the individual consciousness of each member as well as the group consciousness in step with the counter-cultural revolution happening around them. They pushed boundaries but they also communicated with each other through the music, with novel sounds erupting organically from their collective experiments. But the drugs that fueled their creativity would also eventually isolate each of them from each other and from themselves. As alcoholism and heroin addiction destroyed the sense of community within the band, the dead head scene would suffer as well. By the end, prior to Jerry's death, you had a band on stage pretending they were playing together, pretending to play with even a fraction of their potential. And as an audience, we pretended too. Or at least those of us who still believed we were there for the music pretended, and the frat boys just came for the party. And they continued to sell out stadiums, while shows were marred by police stings, gate crashers, riots, tear gas, and death threats.
When I was catching shows, late eighties early nineties, you would hear two different kinds of fans as you filed out of one of their 2 in 3 mediocre shows. The Pollyanna-heads would be glowing, talking about how Jerry lifted his arm at one point, or almost rocked his shoulders with the beat, "Yeah, he was really into it tonight." The more jaded heads would just be complaining, complaining about the lackluster set-list, complaining the Jerry continued to tune himself down in the mix, that he was quitting on solos, that Bobby was trying to steal the show again. Both types annoyed me. I like to tell people that I quit going to shows because I realized that the fans who supported the Dead were enablers, burying our heads in the sand. But in reality, that's a post-hoc, grandiose explanation. I quit going because I was paying $35 for tickets a mile away from the stage, to see dishearteningly bad performances, while the drunken frat boys all around me didn't even know enough to get quiet during those increasingly rare moments of musical transcendence. The breakdown was complete, and for both band and audience, going to show meant little more than participating in a ritual.
Phil spends the most time on the early years. That's a good thing. That's the most interesting part. When they were actually hippies, living like hippies, and things were just starting to happen. Woodstock and Altamont are recounted not just as events but as contrasting symbols of everything that was good about the hippie scene and everything that was wrong about it. Ultimately it is a commentary on human nature, the capacity to love and experience ecstasy versus the tendency to retreat into hostility and hatred.
Like I said, Phil owns his role in it all, admits to mistakes, and doesn't spend a lot of time defending himself or trying to bolster his reputation. The only part where it felt like he had a little bit of a self-serving agenda was when he talked about the different directions he wanted to push the band, more experimentation with exotic time signatures for example. But even then, he talks about it in terms of lessons learned. He realizes he misread the mood of the band, they were content to play their songs and didn't want Phil as martinet. I think Phil is giving an honest account here. If you listen to the post-Dead music coming from all the living members of the Dead, it is Phil and Friends who continue to be the most exploratory. Though not the most charismatic of a stage presence, he may have been the biggest "believer" of the bunch, the most devout in his quest for the divine through the psychedelic. Along those lines, it's also interesting hearing Phil weave in and out of magical thinking. He's often grounded and very down-to-Earth, but moments later can go off on a tangent about any kind of mystical spirituality that he can tie in to the moment.
It's worth a read. Not great writing but good enough, readable, and will certainly be of interest to any fan of the band. The book ends with the recent history, the fall-out from Jerry's death, some of the ugly fighting over who owns the rights to what, and ultimately Phil's hepatitis and liver transplant. He really does end up sounding like a likeable guy, the grinning musical little brother of Jerry, the classically-trained marching band nerd, and the survivor who gets a second chance at the gift of being a father.
Amazon.com
Do you know the way to Fennario? Or wonder where the Nuthatch winters? What is the "Buck Dancer's Choice?" And where do the four winds dwell? If these are questions that leave you wondering then David Dodd's The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics may just be the skeleton key you've been looking for. Every Deadhead knows there is something profound hidden within their lyrics, even if most of the nuances go by unnoticed. Why are the obscure tales of their characters' (Jack Straw, Black Peter, August West, et al) trials and tribulations on the psychedelic Americana landscape so intriguing? What is the deal with the reoccurring imagery that popped in and out of their songs for decades (the crows, light and darkness, rolling rivers, gambling, playing cards, space, and, of course, roses)? It is clear the Grateful Dead's lyricists Robert Hunter and John Barlow tapped into the well of the collective subconscious for material, but rarely were any explanations provided. Fans were basically on their own to put the pieces together themselves, until now.
The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics began as a research project for David Dodd while he was working at the University of Colorado. Like many fans before him, Dodd spent hours passionately trying to find the deeper meanings in the Dead's songs. In 1994 the Internet may have been in its infancy, but Dodd knew the Web was the perfect to tool to help him annotate the entire Dead catalog. So began the building of his incredibly popular Web site. The fruits of his labors lie within the pages of this encyclopedic book. Where Robert Hunter's A Box of Rain only includes his lyrical contributions to the Dead's catalog, Dodd's book is expanded to include John Barlow's songs, as well as tunes the Dead covered so many times they became their own. It is worth mentioning, this book should not be viewed as a cheat sheet, but a tool giving lots of background and cross-references. The interpretations are still up to you. Be forewarned, this book can be extremely habit forming. --Rob Bracco
Book Description
When the Grateful Dead's in-house publishing company, Ice Nine, decided that the band's fortieth anniversary was a good time to publish their entire lyric catalog, a wave of excitement swept across the world of Deadheads, or would have had they known. What was that unclear word in "Uncle John's Band"? Would "Revolutionary Hamstrung Blues" be included? Which Cassidy is John Barlow writing about? Would Robert Hunter reveal the meaning of anything at all? These questions are finally answered with the publication of this book, but in true Grateful Dead fashion you'll have to dig around to find the answers and have fun doing it.
The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics is an authoritative text, providing standard versions of all the original songs so that you can win an occasional bar bet. Or not. There are songs you've never heard and others you've never heard right and still others you didn't know existed, and some, indeed, that may not exist at all. To provide a context for this formidable body of work, of which his part is primary, Robert Hunter has written a foreword that goes to the heart of the matter.
These are some of the best-loved songs in the modern American songbook. You will hear them hummed and spoken among tens of thousands as counterculture code and recorded by musicians of all stripes for their inimitable singability, mysterious presence, and obscure accessibility. How do they do all this? The annotations on sources provide a gloss on the lyrics, which goes to the roots of Western culture as they are incorporated into them. Be it fairy tale or folksong that the lyricists have drawn on, ancient verse, biblical narrative, or T. S. Eliot, the references are here. This has never been done before. There are things here that would not have otherwise been known or imagined, which also goes for what was in the minds of the lyricists themselves. They would be the first to admit that the incursion of imagery into their creative memory banks was a chancy business.
Annotation is a venerable literary tradition. It's been done for the works of Dante and Shakespeare, and for Finnegans Wake annotations may be essential. Mother Goose and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland have been annotated. All genres of writing can be illuminated by it, and that fundamental revelation that comes from reading books -- "Oh, I always wondered about that" -- becomes especially meaningful. David Dodd is well suited to the task of annotation. An avid Grateful Dead concertgoer for two decades, he is a librarian who brings to the work a detective's love of following a clue as far as it will take him. He first began the annotation as a research project in 1995, in the early days of the Web, through the medium of a website. As in all things virtual, it grew, and with input from interested correspondents from around the world, the website evolved continually. With their publication in book form, the Grateful Dead's lyrics can be newly savored, couched in the cultural traditions that spawned them.
With the addition of artist Jim Carpenter's illustrations, whimsical elements in the lyrics, aspects cognitively unreferenceable, and imagery often repeated are brought to light. What he has seen to illustrate itself illustrates the American legend that is present in The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics. You won't think of the cultural icon that is the Grateful Dead the same way again.
Customer Reviews:
30 Years of tapping into the Collective Consciousness.......2007-10-16
I was a fairly late bloomer as a Dead aficionado. Notice I didn't say "Deadhead". Sadly, that term carries a negative connotation. Most people instantly associate the term with dilated pupiled kids traveling from town to town in a beat up VW van. To paraphrase The Who, ...those kids are alright...
If I ask people what their first impression of me was, they'll peg me into a few descriptions, but I can't recall anyone ever saying "yep...instantly figured you to be a deadhead". I suppose my point is you can't judge a book by its cover. That goes for both the Grateful Dead and me, because the cover of David Dodd's book reveals its subject at once in a funny and cheerful way.
As many know, this book was David Dodd's website for years before he compiled it into a book. I consulted the website many a time over the years, and marveled at the depth of descriptions and associations between the Dead's songs, other musicians' songs, the Bible, literary and historical figures throughout history, and on and on and on.
Some people will always dismiss the Dead and their listeners as nothing more than a bunch of druggies. While Garcia, et. al were heavily influenced by psychedelics, there is so much more going on in their music if you'll just take a little more careful listen.
The Dead's principal lyricist, Robert Hunter, is unquestionably one of the better read people on the planet. For starters, he has near encyclopedic knowledge of the Bible, not to mention American cultural history, world history, etc.
One soon realizes, however, that no one person can possibly hold this much information in his/her head. The interaction between Hunter and Garcia and the rest of the band, and the band with its followers, is a phenomenon that can only be described in terms of a massive flood of the larger Collective Consciousness that we all experience from time to time.
This phenomenon really defies description. It's a cliche to say that music can take you to a different place. In the example of the Dead's music, it can literally take you to a different reality.
I could ramble on here, but maybe the best way to summarize it is to quote the Dead themselves:
"Once in a while you get shown the light
In the strangest of places if you look at it right."
Thanks, Mr. Dodd, for a book I'll be going back to again and again for a lifetime.
Best Dead Companion's Book!.......2007-02-18
If you are a Deadhead at all-this will be a revoltionary item for you! It explains all of the songs-provides the actual lyrics, comments, and even pictures for individual songs! There are even about 10 glossy pages of Dead song-art pictures! I love it and includes every single Dead song-even rare, in studio or live songs. This is probably the most important Grateful Dead book to have for each fan.
Nice Quality.......2007-01-21
This book is real nice. It has lot's of interesting trivia and Americana. Reminds you how deep the Deads' roots go. Very nicely bound and printed, many great illustrations. Insightful, gives a good look into the context of the songs, and of course it's got all of the lyrics! This book was given to me when my brother died (look up Tennessee Jed)and I can attest that it makes a meaningful gift.
Great Reference Book.......2007-01-17
Any fan of the Grateful Dead needs this book. Although it may not have every Dead song in it (how can it, it'd be huge), it's comprehensive for 90% of their songs and provides lyrics when the notes aren't available.
Again, if you're a Dead fan, get it.
The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.......2007-01-12
I ordered two of these books and gave them as gifts. I personally didn't get to read them but both recepiants loved them and thought they were awesome gifts.
Book Description
The origins and secrets of the Grateful Dead's magical sound are told! This book is the first in-depth examination of the Dead's technical side, including their recording methods. From the "Acid Tests" of the mid-'60s to the famous "Wall of Sound" PA setup in the '70s and on to their exceptional later touring systems, the Grateful Dead were always on the cutting edge of technological innovation and experimentation. This exhaustive study includes clear and concise explanations of the band's equipment technology, instrument design, and studio recording techniques, plus a history of the group. Features: more than 100 photos and diagrams, many never before seen; new interviews with band members and tech personnel; suggested listening for every era of the group's history; and more!
Customer Reviews:
Awesome deatil & really fun.......2007-09-27
This well-written book provides both an overview of the progression of the Grateful Dead alongside a detailed description of the equipment the band used at each step along the way. For the gearheads out there, it's a great read. The same holds for Dead fans and fans of music from the golden era in general. It's really enjoyable.
Not the last word on the subject, but a great start.......2007-09-11
If you're into music technology, this book is a must-read. It's a breezy, well-informed overview of the Grateful Dead's evolving battery of instruments and sound systems, with plenty of good photos.
My only gripes are:
1. There isn't enough technical detail. For example, we get many pictures of Phil's amazing "brown" bass, but no diagram showing which knobs and switches did what. Tape track assignments for more than a couple of tunes would have been nice, too.
2. There isn't enough philosophy. What were the engineers and musicians thinking about when they made design decisions? More in-depth interviews with key personnel ... especially Bear ... would have been fascinating.
A 'must' for any collection strong in either rock music history or technical gear........2007-05-17
The technology, equipment, and musicians who have mad up the long-lived band Grateful Dead is reviewed with a focus on behind-the-scenes recording studio action in GRATEFUL DEAD GEAR: THE BAND'S INSTRUMENTS, SOUND SYSTEMS, AND RECORDING SESSIONS FROM 1965-1995. Surprisingly (given all the books on the market covering nearly every facet of the Dead imaginable), it's the first to consider the band's technical side, including their recording methods, and examines the equipment design, studio techniques, and influences on the group's evolution, adding over a hundred color photos - some never before published - and interviews with not only the band but its roadies and technical producers. A 'must' for any collection strong in either rock music history or technical gear.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
This book is meant for you to read = ).......2007-03-14
This book is a step forward in understanding what the Dead tried to achieve in thier 30 year career . We have much literature on the band s lives and their ' whole ' system of living and playing , and doing everything that characterizd the Dead at being the Dead ( especially by Silberman who wrote an excellent review here ) . But the technical details of this are only a marvel or wise - literary - move that B Jackson could ve only pulled off .
The entire book deserves deep analysis and discussion . But the 72 - 74 time period . And the 1976 - 1977 years are worth reading into . The awesome details of the making of Terrapin St ; I could never thought that they went thrrough what they went through . And the percise changes , actions and decissions that took place during that album s making . As well as other albums , and the tours that functioned around the records that the Dead would be working on oftentimes .
The entire Wall of sound bit is also quite worth reading deep into .
I wonder if David Gans has read this book ? If so it d be nice to read his amazon.com customer opinion . As he is perhaps the best literary reference that the Dead has had since books about them have been published ( aside from the Relix magazine editions from the 70 s ) .
Thanks Blair Jackson for the magnificent book that only experts can create ( I still remember Blair s excellent articles in Dupree s diamond news , a too excellent magazine that accompanied our lives through the Dead s touring days , and also your superb show reviews in the Dead Base volumes )
A head in Chile
J G
Not For Gearheads Only.......2007-02-16
Another nice job from Blair Jackson. I love the music but am not a musician myself so wondered if I would find the tech stuff boring. For the most part, the answer is no. For those of you who have read Jackson's earlier works, you will feel right at home. There are plenty of details, stories etc to hold the interest of anyone interested in the history of this, the best of all bands.
Average customer rating:
- Grumpy Old Stoners
- So Much For the Golden Years
- Crunchy on the outside, soft at the core
- Taking a walk on the "wild"& unique side...
- Comic romp and frightening parable wrapped into one
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Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty
Tim Sandlin
Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover
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ASIN: 1594489335 |
Book Description
It's 2023, and Guy Fontaine is an unwilling new resident at Mission Pescadero, an assisted-living facility outside San Francisco. It doesn't take him long to realize that his fellow residents have reverted to the lifestyles they embraced in the sixties, complete with sex, drugs, and rock and roll (with a little Viagra thrown in for good measure). The Mission Pescadero staff, and the world outside, would like nothing more than to forget these aging hippies, but the residents want-no, demand-to be treated with respect and dignity. And they'll fight for it. When one resident's prohibited cat is discovered by Mission Pescadero's domineering administrator, the resulting confrontation mushrooms into an epic battle between authority and anarchy, complete with twenty-four-hour media coverage and the involvement of California's governor, Drew Barrymore. As tensions escalate, Guy finds himself cast as an unlikely radical in a drama he doesn't understand.
By turns outrageous, hilarious, and, ultimately, touching, Tim Sandlin's new novel is a fascinating exploration of how the baby boomers are facing their own mortality. Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty is Sandlin at his iconoclastic best.
Customer Reviews:
Grumpy Old Stoners.......2007-08-14
As much as I would love to take credit for that descriptive title, I cannot. That is merely another gem from Tim Sandlin.
If you enjoy reading a well written, entertaining, laugh out loud funny book with a whole lot of heart then you are in luck because "Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty" will deliver on all counts.
So Much For the Golden Years.......2007-08-03
I must admit to being a big fan of Tim Sandlin, ever since "Sex and Sunsets" he has had my attention. This book is way to close to my age group and Tim is too young to know all the 60's music references. Scary as the prospect of my future in an "assisted living" facility may be, send me to this spot, I want to sit between the two Sunshines, I think I met one of them at the Fillmore at a Paul Butterfield Concert many years ago. Congrats to Tim, this hilarious book has a brutal honest side that is longer than Jerry Garcia's beard.
Crunchy on the outside, soft at the core.......2007-05-19
In this old-age romp, Sandlin turns his sharp satirical talents loose while doing that other thing that hilarious satirists can't always do -- empathy. Sandlin is able to both poke fun at sentimentality and yet he has a soft touch too; when these old peeps aren't expsoing their rear ends in mass-moonings, they expose their sadnesses, bewilderments, regrets, and disappointments at the lives behind and in front of them. The best part of JHT80 is the highly refreshing take on stereotypes of old age: the wisdom, feeblemindedness and bloody boringness with which old people are often relegated don't feature here. These old folks stick it to that portrayal and fling an adult diaper at anyone who ever says growing old means acting like it.
Taking a walk on the "wild"& unique side..........2007-04-02
All "baby boomers" should read this book. The references to the sixties and people and places of the time are nostalgic. The honesty about situations that the elderly of our generation are realistically written about. Alot of food for thought, I enjoy the authors writing style.
Comic romp and frightening parable wrapped into one.......2007-03-08
It's 2022, Jenna Bush is President, Gulf War VI is going on, and Gen Xers are warehousing their aging boomer parents in "assisted living" communities and taking control of their money under false pretenses.
Guy Fontaine, a retired sportswriter from Oklahoma, has moved in with his daughter, Claudia, in California after the death of beloved wife Lily. But when he has a senior moment--he hallucinates and drives a golf cart onto the freeway--he is locked up in Mission Pescadero, an assisted living community that encapsulates the frightening world Sandlin posits for our future. An evil administrator runs the place with all the humanity of the worst lunch lady in the boomers' past, peopling it with patients brought in on the flimsiest diagnoses of dementia, with residents going "through the tunnel" to the nursing wing on even flimsier diagnoses by her corrupt doctor/near lover, where they are drugged comatose and quiet.
The Mission's population is mainly leaders of the leftist movements of the Sixties, who have created a hierarchy based on when and what they did in the decade that you're only supposed to have been there if you've forgotten it. Guy, straight, drug-free and monogamous all his life, finds himself struggling to adjust with the proponents of free love and drug use in the golden years. But when the administrator discovers one patient has--shudder--a cat in his room, Guy is driven to violence to defend someone who had befriended him, setting off a revolt to liberate the Mission.
Sandlin carries this absurd yet realistic situation with aplomb, showing real understanding of the concerns and difficulties faced by old people, as well as the trends of society that, if left unchecked, could lead to a world like the one he imagines here. Even minor characters are given some depth and the good lines are dispersed amongst them. Guy's unconventional romance with Rocky is counterpointed by other love stories, from a lesbian encounter between one of the youngest residents and a yoga instructor to an alley cat of a man who doesn't realize he has terrible breath. Even the villains are given some back story and some sympathy. And all to the tunes of Jefferson Airplane and The Who.
My favorite character is a woman who comes out of a drug-induced coma to lead the revolution, barking orders in a remarkably cogent and prepared manner, which foreshadows revelations about her character that end up shocking the residents and prolonging their isolation. Full confession: I once met a woman who might have been a model for this character while doing work in a prison. Sandlin has the type down perfectly.
He also has the good sense to provide a bittersweet ending, reminding us that mortality and fragility occur even among the worthy.
Whether the book will become non-fiction, as Sandlin predicts, is really up to all of us.
Amazon.com
Michael Getz and John Dwork are serious deadheads. The two "passionately and relentlessly record and trade the Dead's music on tape." Who better then to compile a "database" of recorded Grateful Dead music? In this, the first volume, Getz and Dwork cover the years 1959 (the date of the first pre-Grateful Dead recordings) to 1974 (the year the band took an 18-month hiatus from touring). The listings are chronological and include the location of each show, the set list, source and length information, a quality rating, and a review of the recording.
Just in case this mass of detailed information about every known Grateful Dead recording made over an almost-20-year period does not satisfy your yen for the Dead, the book includes a centerfold of color photos of the band in concert. Additionally, the authors introduce the compendium with a philosophical assessment of the taping phenomenon, and interviews with the likes of soundman Owsley "Bear" Stanley and official Dead tape archivist Dick Latvala. A smattering of black-and-white photos and reproductions of original ticket stubs are sprinkled throughout. This book is almost sure to extend the long, strange trip of the Grateful Dead fan who opens it.
Book Description
The ultimate, must-own book to building a collection of tapes of the Grateful Dead in concert The Deadhead's Taping Compendium, Volume 1, offers Deadheads the most complete guide ever to the more than five hundred shows the Dead played between 1966 and 1974 that are available on tape (a few shows as far back as 1959 feature band members pre-Grateful Dead). Every entry includes: * the date and location of the show * a complete list of all the songs played and the tape length * the source of the tape and a rating of its quality * a comprehensive review of the show, often song-by-song, that captures the special moments of each concert Also featured are rare and exclusive interviews with legendary early Dead soundman Oswley ("Bear") Stanley and Dick Latvala, the official archivist of the Grateful Dead. More than seventy-five never-before-published photos of the Dead make this among the most lavish and indispensable books on the Dead yet--a bible for Deadheads for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome compendium guide.......2005-09-11
I love the book, It came so quick, I was very happy with amazon.
a deadhead's book of tales should be the title.......2004-01-23
This book has mis-directed focus. It proclaims to be a 'compendium' of recordings, set lists and reviews, but it is certainly unrealistic and virtually impossible to create a printed volume that doesn't become wildly inaccurate in a very short period of time. The advent of electronic media over the internet makes the print medium obsolete for this. And there are at least half a dozen different consistently updated online resources out there already for set lists and recordings.
So, if you leave out the set lists and notations of a relatively small group's collections, you are left with reviews. This part is an anecdotal amusement park. Absolute fun but in no uncertain terms should it be used as a reference for whether the 'tire-kickin' collector should check it out.
Very rarely would a serious or knowledgeable deadhead concur with even their closest and dearest friend on each other's unique and personal experience with the music. I'm paraphrasing, but even Jerry Garcia once said that he pushed Phil Lesh down a flight of stairs following a performance he thought was aweful, only to discover later while listening to the tapes that the show was "crackling with energy".
So, the title should be "an in-depth guide to the fiction known as 'deadheads opinion's of grateful dead on tape'"
The most important Dead biography!.......2003-01-12
Will the Dead's music continue to be sought and traded a hundred years from now? Perhaps, but regardless of that possibility, this book and its two proceeding volumes will continue to stand as unique testaments to the art of the band. Currently marketed as resources for tape traders, these volumes will evolve into something much more vital as the members of the band and their fans fade into time.
Never has music been more thoroughly documented and described in the context of it composers. Unprecidented! Imagine a biography about John Coltrane that included descriptions of each performance of his career!
If future generations are curious about The Grateful Dead, they will be interested in the band's art, not the personal flaws or outside experiences of its individual members. I believe these volumes will outlive all the many conventional biographies about the band. They cover the things we should be allowed to know about The Grateful Dead. The rest is "better left unsung."
reply to "bible".......2001-01-17
in reference to : "This book should be used as a guideline for enhancing the experience of Grateful Dead taping and tape trading - not as a Bible. No Bible will ever exist for all the shows the band played because some were unfortunately either never taped or the tapes were lost to time."
Well...I believe that the grateful dead themselves should be the judge of that. They are the ones who possess almost all recorded versions of shows in existence. Only then should a comprehensive "bible" of tapes be published/.
A necessity for any tape trader.......2000-06-19
I bought this book when I was just beginning to trade Grateful Dead tapes, and now I use it every time I set out to make a trade. This book gives me at least some idea about the show before I trade for it, allowing me to pick only shows I'm really interested in. In short, I highly recommend it to anyone who is at all interested in collecting Grateful Dead tapes.
Book Description
The Grateful Dead have left us a musical bounty of thirty years and thousands of shows. Now Dead to the Core: An Almanack of the Grateful Dead takes Deadheads through the seasons and years of the Dead's dazzling array of music, with lavish treatment of those "bumper crop" eras from which their most succulent songs and shows and shows can be harvested. It is part reference, part critical companion to the best the Dead have to offer, a work liberally stocked with trivia, lore, humor, and arcana. No Head "farmer" wanting to reap the dankest of the Dead kind will want to be without this essential resource.
Includes...
Show-a-day seasonal calendars
Detailed show reviews from key years
Musical and lyrical analyses of the Dead's core tunes
Annotated lists of hot versions of key tunes
Capsule reviews of shows from throughout the Dead's career
Personal anecdotes and observations from Deadheads
A guide to the best Dead-related sites on the Internet
In-depth essays on the Dead's prime eras
...And much, much more, including the Dead-Dylan connection, the Dead and Garcia's place in the musical universe, the Deadhead pantheon, tour lore...
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable reading and lots of good lists.......2007-08-11
It's Eric's personal opinions of dead shows, now somewhat dated. But it's fun reading if you're a deadhead. There's some "must have" shows he describes, lots of anecdotes and "oh by the ways" . He's got a lot of enthusiasm and it's clear he has the true religion.
It's a good book to pick up if you find it remaindered, or used.
I bought it new and it's dog eared, highlighted, and back broken. Obviously I liked it and kept it around.
so many roads.......2004-12-16
This book sneaks up on you. Is it definitive? No. Is it all-encompassing? No. Is it authoritative. No.
It is, however, a unique love letter to a unique organization. I fell in love with this book little by little, often while having a beer or ten. A feeling of old friends reminiscing about shows gone by creeps over me until I can stand no more, put the book down, and head for the tapes.
And ultimately that is the reason I recommend this book so highly. It'll make you want to taste the dead again for the first time. Or something like that...
Cheers
In response to reviewer: are you dead to the core?.......2003-12-17
Lyrics from "Fire on the mountain"
"Your playinÕ cold music on the barroom floor
Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core."
An incomplete masterpiece.......2001-07-24
The book provides some very useful and insightful information. As a veteran of some 50+ shows I learned more than I thought I would I read the book. However, it is almost like it was written in a hurry. The author should have had more friends and heads contribute to the book.
For instance, how could the writer completely overlook some of those great 1988 shows (e.g., when the Boys broke Ripple at the Cap Centre). Also, he rambled on and on about how great he thought the Maine shows were that summer. Obviously, he was there and had a great time, but those shows were just plain average at best. There was just too much subjective content and not enough input from other heads.
I also disagree with the fact that he skipped over whole periods of Dead evolution. To skip over the years 1982-84 is ludicrous. Remember this is when we heard St. Stephen again and Brent came into his own.
Also, he should have had more fact checkers. He referred to a Cap Center show in 1991 as a great one in which the Boys broke out a Stir it Up Jam for the first time, but he overlooked the Stir it Up Jam in Hampton in 1988. (Again, his review of this show baffles, because he does not even mention the Ruben & Cherise show from two nights before, which was the highlight of the four-night run at the Cap Centre that year. Obviously, he went to the show he reviewed and not the Ruben & Cherise show).
That said, if you want to read one head's subjective ramblings of his own experience mixed with some very insightful information, this is a good book. Plus, if you are building a collection, he gives some excellent suggestions for additions.
Are You Dead To The Core ?.......2000-08-04
The title actually allready answeres the question if this book should be bought. It is a good read and it is fun to search thru the book (you can always find something interesting), it is full of more or less valid information , the only thing i have to say against this book is that it is questionable how many people are interested in the kind of information that this book provides (taping, quallity of cassetes, etc.)and that it is only apropriate for people who have been deadheads for a long time. So if you are an old deadhad and have miles on the road with the Dead behind, go on and buy the book.
Book Description
"The standard text for firsthand Dead wisdom" (Rolling Stone), updated with band-member interviews, and a new introduction by the author.
A collection of interviews-some vintage, some recent, and some brand-new-Conversations with the Dead is the first (and only) book in which the Grateful Dead speak in their own words about their music and their lives. David Gans, a self-professed Deadhead and host of the nationally syndicated radio show "The Grateful Dead Hour," asked Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, and the rest of the band the questions their fans would have asked if given the chance. And Gans goes far beyond the musicians, talking with such often-overlooked key players as the recording engineer, sound man, and road crew -those who have had the coveted opportunity to witness the Dead's decades of music-making. This updated and expanded edition includes rare, never-before-published interviews with former and current members of the band and a new introduction by the author. With a readable combination of intensity, inquisitiveness, and candor, Gans has created an unprecedented portrait of a band who, after more than thirty years of music-making, have earned a unique place in American culture.
Customer Reviews:
Another Must-Have for Deadheads.......1997-05-09
This is probably the single best book I've ever read about the Dead. It's so much more immediate and satisfying to hear how things went down from the Dead themselves than from a faceless biographer. David Gans asks the questions *I* would have asked Jerry & Bob & Phil & Mickey & Billy. You'll feel like you're there hanging out in their living room with them. A wonderful insight into what made that magical machine run for over 30 years...
--Mike Dobbs
Book Description
The complete history of one of the most long-lived and legendary bands in rock history, written by its official historian and publicist–a must-have chronicle for all Dead Heads, and for students of rock and the 1960s’ counterculture.
From 1965 to 1995, the Grateful Dead flourished as one of the most beloved, unusual, and accomplished musical entities to ever grace American culture. The creative synchronicity among Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Ron “Pigpen” McKernan exploded out of the artistic ferment of the early sixties’ roots and folk scene, providing the soundtrack for the Dionysian revels of the counterculture. To those in the know, the Dead was an ongoing tour de force: a band whose constant commitment to exploring new realms lay at the center of a thirty-year journey through an ever-shifting array of musical, cultural, and mental landscapes.
Dennis McNally, the band’s historian and publicist for more than twenty years, takes readers back through the Dead’s history in A Long Strange Trip. In a kaleidoscopic narrative, McNally not only chronicles their experiences in a fascinatingly detailed fashion, but veers off into side trips on the band’s intricate stage setup, the magic of the Grateful Dead concert experience, or metaphysical musings excerpted from a conversation among band members. He brings to vivid life the Dead’s early days in late-sixties San Francisco–an era of astounding creativity and change that reverberates to this day. Here we see the group at its most raw and powerful, playing as the house band at Ken Kesey’s acid tests, mingling with such legendary psychonauts as Neal Cassady and Owsley “Bear” Stanley, and performing the alchemical experiments, both live and in the studio, that produced some of their most searing and evocative music. But McNally carries the Dead’s saga through the seventies and into the more recent years of constant touring and incessant musical exploration, which have cemented a unique bond between performers and audience, and created the business enterprise that is much more a family than a corporation.
Written with the same zeal and spirit that the Grateful Dead brought to its music for more than thirty years, the book takes readers on a personal tour through the band’s inner circle, highlighting its frenetic and very human faces. A Long Strange Trip is not only a wide-ranging cultural history, it is a definitive musical biography.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Buy this book with a dictionary........2007-10-02
While a most in-depth book about the Dead - A warning: You will either need to be a graduate English major or keep a dictionary close by to understand the points conveyed.
Dennis McNally uses every word in the English language (and a few of his own design) to flower up the 620 pages of this book.
I found the overuse of obscure wording very annoying. Sometimes "less is more".
Nice Try.......2007-07-15
Although the author is no doubt bright, he's not a great writer. Characters are introduced as if we should already know who they are, and he can't seem to keep a linear time path (Garcia's father died, and - oh yah, his finger got cut off before that). He assumes we know who important people are, so there's no need to introduce them properly. He almost has a "wink-wink" style, like we all know who Kesey is, or who Kantner will grow up to be, so he can just straight away start moving along without any background or introduction. I had read prior Grateful Dead books, so I knew all the characters, but I still found the style jumpy and awkward. One minute the band mates are in their 20's, then we're at a board meeting 20 years later, then back to the original timeline. Lesh is driving a postal truck when he hears JFK got killed - I assume he worked for the post office. Not a good introduction to anything, really. It gets confusing when writers use the forum of biography to do creative writing. "Garcia" by Jackson is a superior work.
Great rock journalism!.......2004-11-12
This is a terrific portrait of the unique phenomenon called The Grateful Dead. It's thorough, but never plodding, and quite lievely to read.
Official but hardly definitive.......2004-08-19
This is a troubled book. For one thing, you've read most of it already if you've read the other 4 or 5 important books on the band that have come out since Garcia's death. He quotes liberally from all of them, including the hilarious but scarcely dependable "Living With the Dead" by Rock Scully. In fact, that's probably where you need to start - with Scully's book. For fun, to remind yourself that it was all about fun after all. Then treat yourself to one of the best biographies you'll ever read with "Garcia", then get a look at the dark underbelly with "Dark Star", and you'll begin to get a sense of the big stories from at least 3 perspectives. Then if you still need more read "A Long Strange Trip" to patch in the cracks. McNally's unbalanced but highly detailed work provides loads of names, dates, places, addresses, etc.; enough to keep trivia buffs and collectors busy for years. But the big questions (you know the ones) will still go maddeningly unanswered. I cynically opine in my idle hours that this is because access to The Band is still probably limited to those who don't kick up too much dust, like it always was. The Grateful Dead is still one of the most potent social and musical phenomena of the post war period, and their influence continues to echo (ripple?) throughout countless millions of lives, and will for the next several thousand years. (Stop and think about it. There will be Deadheads 1000 years from now.) This is a good but not great look into the origins of that organism.
good book ...at times a little much though.......2004-02-12
Someone gave me this book recently as a gift I'm very glad to have received it . Overall the book is well written , and offers a good look at what the band was really like . It also goes into the beginning of the Dead's contemporaries , and tells a little about how The Airplane , Big brother , and Quicksilver got started... In addition to history you get a fairly good idea of what the band members were like as people , when out of the "lime light". At times though too much is covered and too many little details are discussed that really aren't relevant . I mean all the little details about marriages ,divorces,etc. back in 1963 could have easily been left out .But there is also the opposite of this with Keith Godchaux's death covered in all of one sentence , or "...that summer Jerry Garcia discovered heroin..." (you get the point) . Another strange thing about this book is like most have said as you read through it the years arent very detailed at all . In the beginning of the book (which recalls the mid and late 60s') chapters cover six to eight months . But as you read and the book get into the late 70's and early 80's chapters get to the point where they cover 4 to 5 years . Which is both good and bad , its good because the main question with bands who manage to last this long is often: "What happened? , What was the "magic" in the beginning?" but by summarizing the later years McNally left a lot of questions unanswered . That and there a lot of almost "filler" stories that have nothing to do with anything ,dont take place in any particular time , and are just there to fill pages. And yes , McNally doesnt really give you a good look at how big or serious the drug addictions were (he says it but in most cases does little to illustrate his point) This all might be to avoid trashing the band and to keep certain stories of the past in the past. Keep in mind almost every time someone says "Jerry Garica" these days it seems like one of his ex-wives demands money.
So bottom line yeah its good , lengthy and boring at times yes , but still worth your time and money.
Book Description
Steve Silberman's tribute to Jerry Garcia, 1942-1995
Skeleton Key: A Dictionary for Deadheads is 400 pages of lore, history, interviews, and thoughts on the Meaning of It All, from what guitarist Jerry Garcia calls "the Grateful Dead outback" - the diverse global community that is nourished by the music of the Grateful Dead and the shared experience of Dead shows.
Skeleton Key is a labor of love and "deadication" by Deadheads David Shenk and Steve Silberman, published by Doubleday/Main Street Books in 1994. Skeleton Key celebrates the magic, humor, and significance of the Deadhead community, while it investigates the history of the Long Strange Trip - from the days of be-bop jazz and the Beat Generation writers whose literary adventures inspired many Deadheads' own on-the-road journeys, to now, when Deadheads swap tapes and tales around the virtual campfires of Deadhead cyberspace.
1995 marks the 30th year of the Dead's experiment in improvisational telepathy. Skeleton Key is the first detailed road map of the culture and lifeways of Deadheads, featuring interviews with hundreds of fans and family, including Elvis Costello and Bill Walton, and thoughts on the music and community by people like Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, mythographer Joseph Campbell, and Grateful Dead Hour host David Gans.
Skeleton Key features a foreword by John Perry Barlow, Dead lyricist and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The psychedelic lettering on the cover is by Alton Kelley, one of the original San Francisco poster artists, who also designed the covers for the Dead albums American Beauty and Europe '72. The icon on the cover of Skeleton Key is a 200-year-old Tibetan thangka used for meditation, of skeletons dancing in a cloud of fire, an image of enlightened consciousness awakening even in the midst of death.
We hope that whether you are a committed Deadhead, or just a curious Websurfer, you'll poke around this site and get a taste of the beauty, joy, humor, and mystery of Deadhead life. Feel free to pop on a tape and make yourself comfortable as the first notes sing your blues away, and you enter the Skeleton Zone...
A Word from the Authors
Since the publication of Skeleton Key last fall, Steve and I have been overwhelmed and overjoyed by the nice reviews from fellow Deadheads and from the press. To me, the best compliments have been along the lines of, "I can't wait to show this to my Pop - now maybe he'll understand!" I wanted to help articulate why we all love this music so much, and report to the world about the generous spirit of the community which has formed around it. If you haven't yet, I hope you'll get a chance to check out the entire book sometime soon. We'd love to hear what you think. Drop us a line at
Skeleton1@aol.com.
Howdy folks! After spending 20 years of my life dancing happily in the Phil Zone at Dead shows, I'm deeply thankful I was given the chance to offer something back to the community which has given me more joy and meaning than any other: a deep picture of our extended family. I hope you enjoy it, and you may learn a few things along the way, whether you're an old-time tourhead or a newbie who just got on the bus. Be well. See you in the Zone!
- Steve
Customer Reviews:
And when the day had ended, with rainbow colors blended.......2007-05-09
The year I moved from England to live in the United States was a momentus year in which Jerry Garcia died and the Dead were to be no more. In a strange twist of fate I was able to see one show over here, in Giant's Stadium, so that I could at least claim to have seen shows on both sides of the Atlantic.
It was that experience at the stadium which was my raison d'etre for buying this book, the Dictionary for Deadheads as the differences between here and in Britain were very different.
There is a saying, "there's nothing like a Gratful Dead concert" which is mystifying for a number of reasons to those of us from Britain and Europe. The saying is much more expansive however, than refering to the actual music and performance or even to the state of the audience and their, ahem, participation. For example, seeing non-ticket holders outside waving a finger in a circle for no apparent reason to name just one.
I reread this book on a recent vacation to San Francisco in the run up to the 40th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" and much of my memories of that single show came flooding back. It is a comprehensive tome which provides a considerable insight of the practical applications of being a member of the Deadhead community (I had answered the call when the double live album initially came out in 1971 and still have thenewsletters today) in the American heartlands. It is an insider's book with their attendant nods and winks which could act as a guide for those who are still getting on the bus today or even to their children and their children's children for whom the past is now no more than a part of a sociology textbook.
Skeleton Key is a book of considerable charm and though it's usefulness as a guide in 2007 is considerably diminished it contains throughout a joy of composition which can only have come from the love and care of true Deadheads who compiled it. It is a little treasure trove to be buried in the attics of your life to be dug up and enjoyed again many times down the line.
Grate Book!.......2005-06-12
I've had this book since 1995 and my copy is about worn through! I've read it dozens of times from cover-to-cover and still find new and interesting things. Great book for anyone interested in the scene and/or the music!
Awesome!.......2000-02-24
Hey everybody!i have just finished this book! it's awesome! it really takes me back to the tours of the day! If you want to be taken back too, then take a copy of this book home with you today! i guarantee you won't regret it!
This is the ultimate book for deadheads........1998-10-27
A brilliantly written book for anyone who has ever loved their music and their vibe.
definitive.......1998-06-04
This book is a labor of love from a person who has been immersed in the cultural phenomena known as he "Grateful Dead".
Any person who has attended Grateful Dead "shows" will find that this book tremendously enriches the memories and experiences.
Amazon.com
What a long, strange trip it's been, indeed. Carol Brightman's examination of the Grateful Dead's history supports the widely held belief that it was more than just a psychedelic band. The Grateful Dead was a cultural phenomenon from its beginnings in the late 1960's up until its untimely demise following the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995.
Brightman does more than just present a chronology of the band's history. She explains how the Grateful Dead both influenced and was influenced by the turbulence of the events unfolding around them in the 1960's. Rather than just telling the same old story of how the band evolved from a house band for Ken Kesey's infamous Acid Tests to the top-grossing act of the early 1990's, she presents detailed histories of the band members, their families, their friends, and everyone else they came into contact with. It is also a fascinating look at the emergence of the 1960's drug culture and the involvement of everybody from Timothy Leary to the CIA.
Whether you're a baby boomer Deadhead who has followed the band since its beginnings or a Generation X Deadhead who jumped on the bandwagon when the band hit the Top 40 in the late 1980's, this book is a must-read. Sweet Chaos is a compelling report of a period in United States history and of a band that is truly beyond description. --Michael Mariani
Book Description
San Francisco's Grateful Dead brought its psychedelic blend of folk, bluegrass, and blues to the 1960s counterculture, along with a romance for the Beats and a love of anarchy that made it something more than a bond. Without radio play and virtually unnoticed by the press, the Dead forged a vast underground following whose loyalty survives to the present day.
National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author Carol Brightman returns to the bond's roots -- to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, the acid tests and the heady days of Haight-Ashhury, the free concerts in Golden Gate Park and the formative shows of New York's Fillmore East -- to uncover the secrets of the band's longevity. Drawing on exclusive interviews With band members, staff and crew, Deadheads, other musicians, journalists -- and her own experience as a '60s activist -- Brightman shows us how, amid the turbulent Free Speech Movement and antiwar rallies, the Grateful Dead's abandonment to music, drugs, and dance offered the faithful a shelter in the storm. Her riveting, in-depth portrait of Jerry Garcia, the "nonleader leader" who held to a vision of the Grateful Dead's destiny even as he recoiled from the juggernaut it became, shows us how it was that a Dead concert become something halfway between a revival meeting and a family reunion.
An absorbing and exhilarating exploration, Sweet Chaos offers, at last, a complete understanding of the Dead phenomenon and its place in American culture.
Customer Reviews:
Glimpses of Heaven Amidst the Chaos.......2007-03-01
I'd read every book out there about the Dead...or so I thought. Somehow this one passed me by, and I'm glad it did, because because maybe if I read it 8 years ago when it first came out I wouldn't have like it so much. I still listen to the Dead almost daily and sometimes I wonder why, what it is about what they did that I find so profound. Sure, it's about the music; but not totally. The Dead's music operates at so many more levels than simple sound than a collection of instruments and poetry. It emerged from a certain concoction of musical history, personality, drugs, group dynamics, and social context. Brightman looks at and analyzes that context and those forces better than anyone else. To me reading her book gave me a wider perspective, and even greater appreciation, for why I'm so moved when I listen to the Dead. It gave
Definitely a book worth reading, whether you like the Dead's music or not, if you are interested in understanding how people explore the world we live in and somehow find ways to achieve moments of transcendence amidst all the chaos and suffering.
A Pleasant Surprise.......2005-04-06
I got this book as a Christmas gift, and I approached it with kneejerk Deadhead prejudices (fueled by some of the reviews here, I must admit.) I was pleasantly surprised.
One criticism I share: I don't think that Ms. Brightman's activist past and her insights about it are interesting enough to stand alone in the market.
I was intrigued by what she has to say about the spiritual aspects of the Dead experience. It seems to me that she understands and respects certain facets of the experience that most outsiders don't. It is equally clear that she doesn't really "get it."
A Unique Angle on an American Phenomenon.......2003-10-08
Carol Brightman, sister of GD lighting designer Candace Brightman and veteran activist, has an interesting take on the Grateful Dead. Her book is an outsider's look in, particularly from the point of view of a antiwar activist who cut sugarcane for Castro and travelled to Vietnamese hamlets. Now she asks: how come this freakin' band is the only thing left from the 1960s?
Dennis McNally's biography of the Dead is still the first book anybody interested should read (well, after Wolfe, Kerouac, Kesey, and David Gans' Conversations with the Dead), but Brightman has an interesting angle. Her take on the reasons for the Dead's staying power is evenhanded and convincing, and her criticism of the Dead has haven for people disillusioned with politics is only fair. It almost doesn't matter that she could have used some help with structure--the organization is a mess, jumping from the 60s to the 90s, from Berkeley to Europe 72, from history lessons in the Weatherman to sharp-eyed analysis of Hunter lyrics. You never know what you'll find when you turn the page.
Or maybe with a book called Sweet Chaos, that's intentional.
What a long, strange read it was.......2003-09-02
Looking for a history of the Dead? Go elsewhere! As other reviewers have commented, this book is self-indulgent, and spends too much time on the politics of the Sixties (as if that was the only decade during which the Dead were performing and recording!), despite tha author's repeated statements that the band was apolitical.
Aside from the above, this book is also a poor choice because it leaves out so much. There is no mention on the deaths of Pigpen and other deceased members of the group. TC gets very little coverage, as did the albums on which he played. "Europe 72" is ignored, as are many of the post-Sixties albums. I could go on and on...
Save your money, friends.
A better book than shown by reviews here.......2002-08-10
This book has gotten hammered because it has a lot of autobiography and a lot of political and sociological content.
Listen to most people talk about the Dead, and it's autobiographical, it's about the experience and less about the music. I'm not faulting Brightman for writing about it in that context.
Also, if you are a boomer deadhead, then marches on Washington or the draft as political happenings during the time you began listening, or the Dead's playing on your college campus and your conscious effort to adopt hedonism instead of politics may be describing your trip. This book touches on your life and how the Dead fit into it.
It's NOT a biography of dead members, either.
It's for deadheads, for sure. Ones who had or have other interests outside the minutiae of each song in each performance.
But if your only interest is classifying that really awesome bass line from Philly, or what the best Scarlet Begonias was in 1977, then look elsewhere, the Compediums or Wybenga's book. (I like the latter as well, for different reasons.) If you really want to know all the gory details behind the trip, then Scully or McNally are your guys.
Books:
- Shakespeare the Thinker
- Silent Stars
- Stardust
- Swanson's Family Practice Review: A Problem-Oriented Approach, Fifth Edition
- Sweet Man, the Real Duke Ellington
- Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World
- Thanks For The Memories ... The Truth Has Set Me Free! The Memoirs of Bob Hope's and Henry Kissinger's Mind-Controlled Slave
- Thanks For The Memories ... The Truth Has Set Me Free! The Memoirs of Bob Hope's and Henry Kissinger's Mind-Controlled Slave
- The Beatles Anthology
- The Beatles Anthology
Books Index
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