Living With the Dead: Twenty Years on the Bus With Garcia and the Grateful Dead

Rating:
Summary: cold
Review: Cold heartless writing. Does not capture the heart, soul, spirituality surrounding the Grateful Dead. Unenlightened author who did not get it, in spite of being there all those years.

Rating:
Summary: A Tabloid Account with Some Funny Stories
Review: I have to admit that I was entertained by this book. Scully and Dalton share some anecdotes about the salad days of the Dead that you probably couldn't find anywhere else and do it in an amusing language they seem to have copped from Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test." (By the way if you're interested in the San Francisco acid period that is THE book to read.) As with Wolfe's book, the combination of detail and the "psychedelic" writing style make you feel like you're there.

Unfortunately, like the individuals portrayed, "Living with the Dead" has some serious flaws. The only person other than himself that Scully treats with any depth is Jerry. As others reviewers have mentioned, the other band members are given short shrift. Scully seems to see them as unnecessary appendages, but anyone who has ever listened closely to the Dead's music knows this isn't the case. He reduces them to charactertures and the reader can't help but feel that either Scully didn't know them very well, didn't have much regard for them as people, or thought that a cartoonish treatment would make for more sensational reading and better sales. Quite possibly all three explanations were factors.

Moreover, there is only the most superficial discussion about the music and how it evolved. Anyone interested enough in the Dead to read this book is presumably doing it because they love the music and want a deeper insight into it. Don't expect much here.

What you do get is a somewhat seedy, albeit amusing, view of the sex and drugs elements without much rock and roll. Ironically, on pg. 69, Scully derides the "irreproachably trashy memoir" "Going Down with Janis," then proceeds to write one that is probably only slightly less sensational.

If you are a fan who wishes he/she could have been there at the beginning, read this book for an intimate glimpse. However, be prepared for some unflattering portrayals of people you revere.

Rating:
Summary: More Dead, not as much Garcia
Review: I've read a ton of books on the Dead and this is my favorite so far in that it's more about the band than Garcia. Granted, there's a lot more about Garcia, but it's not as bad as some of the other books. I was thinking that I'd love to see a book written by Donna -- or any of the other members of the Dead. Hell, a quick essay by Tom Constantine would be great too! Scully tends to write more about the party atmosphere of the Grateful Dead. Great anecdotes and personal stories that you don't really find anywhere else. Things like "The Bobby Problem" had me giggling as I read... it's funny and chock full of good info. I definitely recommend it. The only thing this book is missing is more discussion of the music. Blair Jackson's "Garcia" handles this better, but there's still room for improvement. Overall, I've loved reading this book. A real pleasure for any fan of the Dead

Rating:
Summary: Managing Perspective
Review: This book doesn't really represent the music of the Grateful Dead - it's from the perspective of Rock Scully, one who managed them for their first twenty years - not performed with them.

Does this book tell of the Dead's drug abuse? If your looking for something that doesn't then you're not interested in their history - drug abuse was the foundation of their music. It was through Ken Kesey's "Acid Tests" where they developed their "devil may care" approach to performing.

This book explains why the Dead weren't radicals because all that mattered to them was performing, but it doesn't get too much into technique, just things like: why Phil Lesh plays the bass like a lead guitar, why Bob Weir struggled to learn electric guitar, how and where Jerry Garcia learned the pedal steel guitar, why Kreutzmann and Hart are a drumming dichotomy, and why Pigpen hated playing psychedelic music.

If you liked Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" then you'll enjoy this one too.