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.
Average customer rating:
- Thanks Crystal for Painting a Complete Portrait of Warren
- Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll
- The Life and Times of an 'Excitable Boy'...
- If you're interested in a behind the scenes look- get it!
- Great Book!
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I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon
Crystal Zevon
Manufacturer: Ecco
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ASIN: 0060763450
Release Date: 2007-05-01 |
Book Description
Told in the words of his musical accomplices, fellow–travelers, friends, and lovers, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is an intimate and unusual biography of fabled singer–songwriter Warren Zevon, the musical force behind such dark, witty rock–and–roll classics as "Werewolves of London" and "Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner."
Narrated by Crystal Zevon, Zevon's former (and only) wife, it draws on interviews with Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Emmylou Harris, Linda Rondstadt, Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, the Everly Brothers, and a host of other denizens of Southern California's influential rock scene to tell the story of the original "Excitable Boy": literary hoodlum, OCD sufferer, brilliant songwriter, and rock–and–roll icon.
Customer Reviews:
Thanks Crystal for Painting a Complete Portrait of Warren.......2007-09-21
I read this book in 4 days, and I can't remember the last book I read. Crystal Zevon does a wonderful job of conveying Warren's life and times. As well as personal insights, there are points of view from many others, including Warren. I really feel like I got the full picture by reading several versions of the same event. I cursed, I laughed, I cried and at one point I declared "Warren's a God". Of course Warren was a human like the rest of us. He just happened to be a human who was a great song writer and entertainer. Enjoy Crystal's book and Enjoy Every Sandwich.
Sex, Drugs & Rock and Roll.......2007-09-12
with heavy emphasis on the sex and drugs. If you're looking for some insight as to what went on in the studio, how Warren's songs were constructed, details behind each album....forget it. If you want to learn all about Zevon's personal life, the drug addiction (and his subsequent withdrawal), his rabid sex addiction, the women (verbally, mentally and sometimes physically abused by Zevon) who seemed to never go away...what IS it with groupies, anyway?...this is the book for you. It's like watching a train wreck in slow motion. And just when you think he's straightened his life out by kicking drugs and alcohol, the seemingly uncontrollable sex addiction takes over. Fascinating stuff, though I probably won't play a Zevon album for awhile. Sometimes the distant image of a favorite rock star is best left that way.
The Life and Times of an 'Excitable Boy'..........2007-09-11
Sometimes its' hard to find out the truth about your heroes. You'll read some un-authorized biography of a celebrity and half way through you'll put the book down and realize it's nothing more than a tell-all, hatchet job. You tell yourself, "I liked this person's public persona, enjoyed what they contributed to our culture and I really don't want to know these kind of facts about their personal life. In other words you really didn't want know that your heroes could be such as*h*les. It sort of ruins it for you.
Crytal Zevon's biography of her ex-husband, rocker/singer/songwriter, Warren Zevon, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon" is an aptly titled book, which is the exception to this notion. It is an oral history using the voices of the late (Warren died of cancer in 2003) rocker's friends, family, lovers, collegues and musical peers to chronicle both his life and career.
Make no mistake about it, this book dishes the dirt and describes in detail, some of the more horrible aspects of Zevon's life, which included harrowing battles with alcoholism and the disease, OCD. It shows a man who had an almost Jekyll & Hyde personality. One moment he could be loving, kind...your best friend. The next moment he could be cold, callus and dismissive, ready to cut you out of his life over the smallest things. But despite these apects of his personality, It dosn't come across as a bitter tell-all. You can tell, that the people who contributed to this book really loved and cared about this guy, despite his many faults. In the end the book paints an intimate, moving portrait of a complex man, who was literally a musical genuis in his artistic, professional life, yet, led a very messy, dysfunctional, personal life. The vibe I get from reading this book is that he will be dearly missed by a lot of people, who were important to him.
There are a lot of great quotes in this book, but my favorite comes from Warren himself. His ex-wife, Crystal quotes a conversation she had with him towards the end of his life about the writing of this book in which Warren said the following, "You are my witness. The story is yours. But you gotta promise, you'll tell 'em the whole truth, even the awful, ugly parts. Cuz, that is the guy who wrote them excitable songs". That just about says it all...
If you're interested in a behind the scenes look- get it!.......2007-09-04
I read this is 24 hours. I thought the writing style was very enjoyable and the nitty gritty details were out there for all to see (as it seems Warren wanted it). I think my favorite biography is Belushi by Judy Belushi Pisano but this is a close second.
Great Book!.......2007-09-03
Regardless of Warren Zevon's character flaws and various addictions, this is a great portrait of a talented musician. If you're a Warren Zevon fan, it is a must read. I disagree with reviewers who claim this book is swayed by Crystal Zevon's need for revenge. Rather, I see this book as an undeniable expression of her love for him, as a person, musician, former husband, and father of her daughter. She did an admirable job organizing and compiling all the available data concerning his personal and professional life. I wish her much success with this book and any future writing endeavors. She deserves it!
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:
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.
A detailed, in-depth survey unparalleled in its scope........2007-01-07
A 'must' for Grateful Dead fans is the new COMPLETE ANNOTATED GRATEFUL DEAD LYRICS, providing standard versions of all the original songs. Robert Hunter himself has provided a foreword to a book which offers songs even avid fans have probably never heard or heard right. And this offers more than just lyric recaps: slang is explained, annotations on sources provide insights into the lyrics and their many cultural roots, and comparisons to quotes and literature make for a detailed, in-depth survey unparalleled in its scope.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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:
- This may not be what you expect
- one of the best things i've ever read...
- Hip Hop and Poetry
- something old, something new
- Saul Williams - poetry in motion
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The Dead Emcee Scrolls: The Lost Teachings of Hip-Hop
Saul Williams
Manufacturer: MTV
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Book Description
In the underground labyrinths of New York City's subway system, beneath the third rail of a long forgotten line, Saul Williams discovered scrolls of aged yellowish-brown paper rolled tightly into a can of spray paint. His quest to decipher this mystical ancient text resulted in a primal understanding of the power hip-hop has to teach us about ourselves and the universe around us.
Now, for the first time, Saul Williams shares with the world the wonder revealed to him by the Dead Emcee Scrolls.
I have paraded as a poet for years now. In the proc ess of parading I may have actually become one, but that's another story, another book. This book is a book that I have been waiting to finish since 1995. This is the book that finished me. The story I am about to tell may sound fantastic. It may anger some of you who have followed my work. You may feel that you have come to know me over the years, and in some cases you have, but in others...well, this is a confession.
Download Description
"In the underground labyrinths of New York City's subway system, beneath the third rail of a long forgotten line, Saul Williams discovered scrolls of aged yellowish-brown paper rolled tightly into a can of spray paint. His quest to decipher this mystical ancient text resulted in a primal understanding of the power hip-hop has to teach us about ourselves and the universe around us. Now, for the first time, Saul Williams shares with the world the wonder revealed to him by the Dead Emcee Scrolls. I have paraded as a poet for years now. In the proc ess of parading I may have actually become one, but that's another story, another book. This book is a book that I have been waiting to finish since 1995. This is the book that finished me. The story I am about to tell may sound fantastic. It may anger some of you who have followed my work. You may feel that you have come to know me over the years, and in some cases you have, but in others...well, this is a confession.
Customer Reviews:
This may not be what you expect.......2007-03-23
This is Saul Williams but it is not a book of poetry. It is well written and I would recomend it to anyone who likes Saul Williams, poetry, hip hop or both.
one of the best things i've ever read..........2006-12-16
i've written tons of academic papers (including my current thesis) on williams; his work is unbelievable and should be taught everywhere. his attempt to uplift hip-hop is honorable and appreciated.
Hip Hop and Poetry.......2006-04-28
I first heard about this book on a message board (I think it was the one from DaveyD.com) and I really enjoyed reading the publisher's excerpt, and it was just the introduction. With it, I didn't know how to take it. Whether it was truth or just a very well worded story from Saul Williams. Either way, I could feel the vibe of Hiphop Kulture coming from it. So of course, I went out and bought it.
I was blown away.
I first heard of Saul from the book ", said the Shotgun to the Head." So I already thought I knew what to expect. But I was completly blown away by the deepness of these poems. Whether really taken from a strange manuscript in an old spray can or just a way to publish his own poems about Hiphop's preservation of love, peace, and unity, this was great. I recommend it for anyone who like poetry, spoken word, rap music, or just books. Very good.
something old, something new.......2006-04-07
The Dead Emcee Scrolls start out with a great new poem called NGH WHT. After that, a good deal of the material is from older poems that he has in some cases edited, while in others, left mainly the same. NGH WHT is filled with subtle nuances that are not always easy to pick up on, so multiple reads are likely merited.
While a bit repetitive for die-hard fans, the work gives a very strong representation of where his work comes from, but also has some great new material. As to where he will go from here, that is anyone's guess.
Saul Williams - poetry in motion.......2006-03-21
Hip-hop has long been viewed by many as a watered-down genre. Those people have not yet discovered Saul Williams. I had heard of Saul because of the movie Slam a while back. I was really getting into underground hip-hop at the time so I decided to give Saul's music a listen. What I found was a breath of fresh air and a style that was powerful and poetic. This book is an insight into the world of Saul's lyrics and inspiration. I am an aspiring emcee, not aspiring to be famous but aspiring to become a better lyricist. This book has helped me greatly in seeing how a great emcee is inspired. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who has a great love for hip-hop music or just hip-hop culture in general. It is a deeply personal and thought provoking book. It pays for itself in the first few pages. Don't skip out on this one.
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.
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