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There's lots of 'em! Books about the Dead, by the Dead, both collectively and individually. And then there's books about us, the Deadheads, too! What's your current read?
just read phil lesh's book.
just read phil lesh's book. very agreeable, read the whole thing in 2 days
Books/Reads/Etc....
Reading two:
*Rolling Stone Collection or J.G stories and articles.....
*A Long Strange Trip--D.Mcnally
Both have plenty of info and quotes from almost anybody and everybody associated with the band.
Can't get enough...
LenG
American Book of The Dead
I LOVE this book...
Click on it to go to Amazon.com...
Click on it to go to Amazon.com...I finished Phil's book too
Excellent book. I think I finished it in about a week's time. Did anyone go to Barnes and Noble in Midtown NYC when this came out and he did the instore signing for it? I was there and met the man, thanked him for all the years of great music and I treasure my signed copy!
Living with the Dead by Rock
Living with the Dead by Rock Scully has some great stories and perspectives on his time with the Dead
@~~~~~~~>~~~~~~>~~~~~~~~~>~~
When you want that groove that invokes dreams, close your eyes and focus on the dream not the groove
books i have
i have hunter's "box of rain" personally signed to me, and somehow i obtained an uncorrected advance proof of "living with the dead" by scully. the ones that have gotten the most use have been the compendiums though - i almost need to buy new ones.
books, I love 'em
Yes, I do love to read. Have the Deadbase XI, which as been a great source of info. The 3 Deadhead's Taping Compendium's by Getz & Dwork. I loaned out McNally's book (which I loved). I loaned out Brightman's book which I enjoyed as well. Phil's Searching for the Sound (wonderful stories of appreciation for his bandmates/others and the times) which was last summer's read. Scully/Dalton's Living with the Dead (a little agenda noted there). Rolling Stone Editor's GARCIA, which has wonderful photos and interviews. What a Long Strange Trip by Peters with stories about all the Dead's original songs and their album process. The Official Book of the Deadheads by Grushkin, Bassett, & Grushkin which was given to me by a dear departed buddy who turned me on to the dead in '72 and is really about us all. Blair Jackson's Garcia- An American Life which will be my reread for vacation (in the next couple weeks). I must say that one of my all time favorites, has been 'Dead to the Core', by Eric F. Wybenga. Great passion and prose about the times, the band, the performances, and the songs themselves by Wybenga.
Got several of these used (I am very cheap) on amazon.com. I am sure I forgot some and apoligies to those (I will remember after I post this) that I forgot. Oh, yeah, Hank Harrison's The Dead with the flexy disc inside with the GD jamming behind Neal Cassady 'rapping'. Well, I'd better call that good. Or I will go on and on. So what else is new?
Dead Books..
I have Grateful Dead Family Album, Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia and Phil Lesh: Searching for The Sound.
Summer Of Love
Not a book, but the newest Rolling Stone is all about the Summer of Love - 1967. Lots of photos of the Dead and other bands. Short piece by Bobby. Article about Owsley. Great fun. Further.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)
Walt Whitman-Song of Myself
David Gans interviews
Some years ago I came across a book called "Conversations with the Dead" by David Gans. This is an amazing collection of in-depth and penetrating interviews with Garcia, Lesh, Weir, Hunter, Barlow, Bear, and Healy. Most are from the early '80s. The Garcia interview from '81, in particular, is enlightening. Gans really knows what questions to ask, and it's obvious that Jerry trusted him and really opened up. An expansive interview ranging from Garcia's thoughts on music and the Dead, to philosophy, Terrence Mckenna, religion, and even Jerry Falwell! Wow. Every deadhead should own this book. Oh, and the interview with Weir takes place while they are hanging upside-down at Weir's studio. This would be strange if it were any other band. Within the context of the Grateful Dead, it seemed logical and downright appropriate.
The copy I have is copyright 1991 from the Citadel Underground Press. Amazon has it listed as being printed by De Capo press.
Yo Soy Boricua!
A Bloomin' BOOK!
Books are good. Books CAN be great, & even bad. But, isn't it a tad bit better to be out there, living, PARADING... instead of sittin' there, with your head stuck betwixt some papers, all bound together by a Job who was probably forced in some labour camp to cut & bind & paste his or her way through the day, whizzing every now & then, just so some Ashley could sell you the book for a pittance???? I mean, ask yourselves. But, look at ya, pinin' away with the thoughts of yesterworlds. Readin', dreamin', driftin'... YEAH, Books.Now, on the other hand, Librarys are cool... they're full of books. Looks like rain all stacked up on neatly aligned shelving units, with a lodged ceiling fan gently scattering the stuffy air inside your town. Remember the Library in the motion picture "The Time Machine"? Hu, well, do ya, kid? Don't let that happen here. OK?
Support your loco wordsmiths....
The Dead by Hank Harrison
I have just recently begun re-reading this book. I got this book a number of years ago from my good friend/deadhead/excellent guitarist Bob.
I read the book in the early 90's and was living in the Bay Area at the time. This book was particularly interesting to me because i was living in the Bay Area. Reading about Jerry and Pig and Bobby and Phil jamming at the coffee shop in palo alto, the boys living in SF in the early days, familiar addresses in which the structures of those days are no longer . . .It just made me feel even closer and a family member and gave me a chance to relive all those moments i was born a little too late for . . . Check it out!
~KRISSY~
home before daylight
i like the book home before daylight by steve parish,great stories from the crew
I love the Parish book too
Definitely a unique perspective.
Re Hank Harrison, we do all know he's Courtney Love's father, right? (You know it's gonna get stranger...)
New Grateful Dead Book
...shall we go, you and I while we can...
By Steven Gimbel called "Grateful Dead and Philosophy", available now thru Amazon.com and probably through bookstores, I'm just not sure.
Grateful Dead and Philosophy
It's available at Amazon and through book stores, but it's cheapest if you go through the publisher, Open Court
It was a heck of a lot of fun to put together. It's a collection of essays from a bunch of different folks, all heads turned phil profs coming from Eastern, Western, classical, modern perspectives all looking at different aspects of the band and deadhead culture.
Man, I love having tenure.
song book
i'm looking for the underground songbook "whoa oh what i want to know"if you have any leads e-mail me at
zapme340@hotmail.com
thanx
majick
you might want to post that request in the In Search Of,,, topic. I'm sorry, I have no clue about this myself, but someone there might.
Dead to the Core
I'll agree with the comment Oroboros posted earlier - Wybenga's book is a great read. I've had it for probably ten years now and it's one I go back to all the time - very conversational, funny. Dude's got a good turn of phrase.
Dead to the Core
I have to second (third?) the comments by Oroboros and Cactuswax: "Dead to the Core: An Almanack of the Grateful Dead" by Eric Wybenga is a consistent favorite Dead-related book of mine. A mixture of great show reviews, "best version" lists, essays, and generally cool trivia. Last I checked it was out of print, which is too bad. Well worth looking for a used copy...
And Cactuswax is so right about Wybenga's turn of phrase. For example, Wybenga says of 9/28/75 "There's a live-wire energy attendant on this show..." -- I still find myself using that phrase to describe the show (one of my favorite shows too).
Another book that I'd recommend: A novel by Deadhead tour veteran Max Ludington called "Tiger in a Trance" which is a fictionalized account of life on the road following the Dead. I used to frequent the Dick's Picks discussion board in the old Deadbase site, and a regular poster there recommended this book - he was good friends with Ludington. I didn't know what to expect, but boy was I surprised. One of the most engrossing novels I've read in the past decade.
Books
I have and have read dead head forever, this is a cool book to flip through when listening to tunes I usually put on later dead since the book is a scrap book and most the stories and ticket stubbs are from after 1980. Ive also read Phil Lesh book and Steve Parish's book. Both were great. Lately I just bought a book called complete annotated grateful dead lyrics. This book is great its another one thats good to flip through when listening to tunes.
LOVE the annotated lyrics!
David Dodd has been known to show up around here now and then...
Grateful Dead Family Album
By Jerilyn Lee Brandelius. Very interesting,full of alot of fun stuff :)
Tiger in a Trance
I'd put in a vote for Max Ludington's Tiger in a Trance. A very well-constructed and well-written work of fiction that takes place on Dead tour, with very specific references that are historically accurate.
GD Hour blog
Station list
Thank you!
... to Leadbelly27 for the kind words about Conversations with the Dead. You have the original edition, published in 1991 by Citadel Undergound. A new edition was published by Da Capo a few years ago, with a lengthy interview with Ned Lagin ("Seastones") bolted on at the end.
GD Hour blog
Station list
Garcia: An American Life
One of the best books I've ever read and certainly one of the best biographies of a musician ever written, imo. My mom gave it to me for Christmas (2002 if I remember correctly) along with the DVD, "Anthem of Beauty" (grate Christmas!). For me, the book brought Jerry to life again, in a strange (how else could it?) and beautiful way. As I read the book, I redefined my definition of a "hero". I still have heroes, but now I can be one, myself. I think that's what Jerry tried to tell me himself. No one person is perfect but that fact makes life not only bearable but immensely beautiful, "if you look at it right". The book also deals with several subjects of being a deadhead that I thought were too intangible for publication but Blair Jackson did a marvelous job of getting it ALL down on paper. I'll never forget the feeling I got from reading that book - Grateful.
"I tell you Max, I don't know why I ever leave this place. I've got all the company I need right here." - The Grinch
Night Cadre
is an excellent collection of poems by Robert Hunter I also dig Skeleten Key "The Grateful Dead Outback" ( or so Jerry called it)
PEACE
Just got the book...
Phil Lesh Searching for the Sound My Life with the Grateful dead.... gonna start it now :)
Garcia: An American Life
right on Dr Evil. I love that book and still often read random passages of it. So much so that it has largely fallen to pieces. The story of the genesis and blossoming of the Dead is ..well just a great story. Reading the tale of Garcia's personal struggles brings out many different and conflicting emotions. Jackson is careful to avoid making judgements and does not really attempt to get too far inside Garcia's head and answer the question why? But on reflection I think Jackson is right to leave it to us to answer that question ourselves.
I always thought he could have done much better with the title though...sounds to me like it was invented by the publishers!
Deadbase
Deadbase is indispensible. I am always looking up stuff in it. From setlists to places played it is worth more than its weight in gold. When I'm watching college hoops I usually check to see if the boys ever played in that venue. And if they did, how many shows, what kind of setlists and breakouts happened. Then I like to imagine the magic of "way back then"...
Do you suppose that some of those wonderful notes are still bouncing off the rafters?
:)
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I'm not Beethoven
Tiger in a Trance by Max Ludington
Thanks to Claney and Gans for recommending this one - I just tore through it in about three days, it was really good. So realistic I had to wonder if much of it's autobiographical.
Deadhead mystery novel available for FREE! (sponsored by author)
I am Kearney Street Books' publicist. Kearney Street Books is a small, independent publishing house which focuses on books about music. Currently, we are sponsoring free book discussions for Gary McKinney's new mystery novel, "Slipknot." "Slipknot" is a mystery featuring County Sheriff Gavin Pruitt, Deadhead.
Set the year before Jerry Garcia's death, "Slipknot" takes place in picturesque rural Washington, and revolves around the murder of a politically prominent environmentalist - who was going to decide whether a local forest is logged or not. The future of the local logging industry is dependent upon the decision - but so are the lives of the wildlife within the forest.
Gavin must figure out who the killer is, all the while quoting classic Grateful Dead songs, taking up jamming sessions, and dealing with his daughter's new "hippie" boyfriend.
If you are interested in learning more about "Slipknot," there are limited free copies available. If enough people are interested, a discussion group can be started.
This isn't spam - we just want to get the word out about a great book featuring the Grateful Dead. Since the music can be downloaded for free, why not allow the same in literature - except this offer is available for a limited time.
(Again, this isn't spam - there will only be a few offers made at similar sites devoted the Dead)
You can also read the entire first chapter of "Slipknot" for free at Kearney Street Books' website, kearneystreetbooks.com
You can contact me for more information,
Laura Clement
Deadbase
i have a few Deadbases from over the years including some yearbooks, i also have most of the older GD books, unfortunately not Read Phil's or Parish's books or the DK book
my Deadbase is getting ragged, could do with a new one being published perhaps with solo setlists also
Bob
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Spanish Jam
Books...
Well, Garcia: An american life from B. Jackson is the best, to me, and Searching for the sound, by Phil is a good one too (no frills, more focused on the musical side). Then I got the one from McNally, and I think that it is quite good..a little boring sometimes.The book from Rock Scully is funny, maybe too much gossip but I think that it's a nice way to look inside the life of a band outside the stage.
Last, try this one, "Hippie" from Barry Miles, not specifically about the GD, more about the years '65-70, it's a good book, very funny and full of wonderful pictures.
Looking for a Jerry Garcia Picture
Hello all. First post here because I am trying to find a book with the picture of Jerry holding up his hand missing his finger. The photo is famous, but I can't find any books with it. Do you guys know of any?
Deadhead memoirs
the storyteller makes no choice...
Does anyone know of any non-fiction books (memoirs) about actually going to Grateful Dead shows? I don't mean any insider or academic stuff, but a book purely from the standpoint of someone touring and writing about it.
I ask because I have just that kind of book coming out next spring with Da Capo Press (leadbelly27 references them here with the David Gans interview book... I have the same excellent editor at Da Capo that supported Gans' book!) and I want to know if there is anything like it that I should check out. I've searched high (cough, cough) and low, but haven't found anything. Which really surprises me. But then again, having written this, I know how hard it is to remember... stuff.
yeah dude,
i saw one at the bookstore about 6 month ago, was at my daughters chorus recital and was leafing through it. sorry i don't remember the name of it or the author or the publisher but i swear i saw it! peace
What a Long Strange Trip
I recently pulled this book from my library shelf: Stephen Peters' "What a Long Strange Trip--the stories behind every Grateful Dead song 1965-1995". Its 20 chapters give an anecdotal history of every GD studio album from "The Grateful Dead" to "Built To Last" with critical/historical discussions of every song on each album, as well as songs performed live but never recorded "officially" such as "So Many Roads". It includes period photos, lists of every track on each album & how many times each song was performed live (approximately). For trivia lovers & historians, I'd recommend this as an entertaining read & reference, as well as a companion volume to "The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics".
(: "Everywhere I go the people all know everybody's doin' that rag." :)
Jay
Grateful Dead 365
I've been hearing some good buzz about this book, which is lots and lots of photos by the likes of Jim Marshall and Jay Blakesberg. I just checked, and it IS available on Dead.net here.
new book discovery
Have found a book that am so excited about-wanna tell about it. Is called "Three Bags Full" by an Irish woman called Leonie Swann. Is her first novel, and I am blown away. Is a murder mystery, told from the perspective of a flock of sheep. This book is absurd and brilliant, and has been cracking me up from the first page that introduces the characters.
Cloud:the wooliest sheep in the flock
Mis Maple: the cleverest sheep in the flock., maybe even the cleverest sheep in Glennkill, quite possibly the cleverest sheep in the world. Has an enquiring mind, never gives up, sometimes feels a sense of responsibility.
Othello: a black hebridean four-horned ram, with a mysterious past
A lamb:who has seen something strange
Cornelia:likes unusual words
Mopple the Whale: the memory sheep:once he has seen something, he never forgets it. A very stout merino ram with round, spiral horns. almost always hungry
that is just a sample of the character introduction. The story stays almost completely in "sheep perspective" and is tons of fun!
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Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live.
Samuel Clemens
glad you saw that marye
cuz had been thinking of you especially when I posted that. remembered when we talked bout the Lynley mysteries before :-)
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Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live.
Samuel Clemens
My library has Three Bags Full...
and it sounded fluffy so I've requested it.
Another book my library has is "Acid Dreams", which had been recommended in an earlier post (might not have been this forum). Who knew how much Kentucky had to do with the early history of LSD? I thought the invention of the toothbrush was Kentucky's only claim to fame that didn't involve horses.
Happy Boxing Day,
MarkintheDark
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I have a sigfile! --> www.kindveggieburritos.com
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Mark
Three Bags Full is fluffy indeed! Not to mention hilarious. And occasionally even "deep". These seem to be very philosophical sheep, and what they learn about God, and the conclusions they draw from overhearing human converstation during their detective work are side-splitting. (these sheep do seem to both speak in and understand human Irish English) They find it obvious that humans have no soul, because "everyone knows that the soul is connected to the sense of smell, and humans have no sense of smell, so..." Priceless! HeeHee HoHo! Would be curious whether you guys find this book as refreshingly brilliant as I do so far.**********************************
Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone, you will still exist, but you have ceased to live.
Samuel Clemens
Grateful Dead 365
lots of very nice fairly large photos, many of which I have never seen. Am really enjoying this, only look at a couple of pages at at time. Nice color watercolors of the band by Stanley Mouse Covers the years 1965 - 2008. Check it out.
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.
William Blake
many...
I've been on a tear with GD books lately, just can't seem to get enough.. Anyway, quick run-downs on some of the ones I've read in the last couple of months:
Slipknot!, by Gary McKinney (got this from the nice people who posted about it earlier in this thread, if they're still doing it shoot 'em an email and they'll send you a copy absolutely free - all they ask is that you write a review of it somewhere, as I'm about to do right here!) - this is a good Pacific Northwest mystery involving the timber industry, a small town and a local Dead-quoting sheriff. The story rolls along pretty well, chases down some dead-end cul-de-sacs and ultimately (not giving anything away here) ends at the person you thought it was gonna end at. Maybe. The writing is definitely solid and can hold the reader's attention, but I did find myself at the end wondering why certain things happened that didn't really turn out to have anything to do with anything. But, that's life, right?
Skeleton Key, by David Shenk and Steve Silberman - indispensible, how did I live without this for so long?! A truly fun - and at times enlightening, even for those who have read the history from a thousand different perspectives -read that touches on the band's history, legacy and, of course, fan base.
Playin' in the Band, by David Gans - made up of quotes and interview bits, intercut with David Gans' capable narrative, this one's a lot of fun and also has tons of great photos.
Dead Tour, by Alan Izumi - this is one of the worst books I have ever read, period. The lead character is a contemptible little shit who somehow is able to make self-depracating humor seem self-righteous, and the story is weak and full of absurd generalizations about "the sixties" ... and the only actual deadhead in the book is a perpetually stoned non-character who serves no purpose. Why Robert Hunter wrote a forward for this book is surely beyond me.
That's it for now, though I did just get Cooking with the Dead by Elizabeth Zipern, a Deadhead road-recipes cookbook that I'm excited to delve into. And I'm currently in the middle of This Wheel's on Fire by Levon Helm, his memoir about being in The Band. It's really excellent so far, if you dig The Band you'll dig it.
Okay, just a couple more things....
Damn, I just posted another long comment but then Dead.net got all wonky. Anyway:Forgot to mention I also just read TC's memoir, which was pretty interesting. A decent storyteller and obviously absurdly intelligent (it'll raise your IQ by a couple notches, no doubt), his time in the Dead was brief and thus so is the segment about it, but it's illuminating to see how he got there and what he's been up to since.
AND - and I swear this is it, at least for a little while - I've been deeply submerged in Blair's Golden Road zines for the last few months, and I can't recommend 'em highly enough. They ran (mostly) quarterly from like '83 to '93 and are especially interesting because each one is centered squarely in it's own particular time, providing direct insight into where the band and heads were at these moments - for example, on-the-spot reactions to and reflections on Jerry's coma, the post-Touch boom (and it's early stirrings), the trouble that caused for the band and for heads with resulting gate-crashings, bunk tickets, cop trouble etc etc etc. And also of course reviews of now-classic shows, early reactions to "new" songs, and on and on and on. These pop up on ebay from time to time and are usually pretty reasonable. Pick 'em up or dig 'em out for sure!
Ok, enough out of me!