Life in Double Time: Confessions of an American Drummer

Rating:
Summary: bravo!
Review: Finally a book comes along that tells the REAL story of how 99% of the musicians in this world live! Oh joy! This is not another dribbling ode to the "genius" of some stupid adolecent drunk who got famous too fast and couldn't understand that what he was "creating" was making him rich because it was simply a marketable product. How refreshing not to read yet AGAIN about how the "purity" of the music is tainted because someone was (gasp!) making money at it. And, Mr. Lankford, you spared us from the cliche of cliches: "O.k. kid, even though it's NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE, we're gonna let you try it YOUR way. We'll probably all get fired for this, but go for it kid..." Thank you Mr. Lankford for helping the rest of the world see through all the romantic [junk] of the entertainment business and show them for what it is...a business. Those of us who work in the music industry appllaud you for enlightening readers that his is our JOB. We could be pumping gas or working at burger king, but we'd rather do this. And yes, we (gasp!) make money doing it.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly entertaining
Review: I can only echo the sentiments of other reviewers when I beg Mike Lankford to write some more.

Even if you have no interest in the subject matter, Lankford's fluid style will thrill you to the end. We start with his love affair with rock music & drumming, the numerous bands he was in as a youth and conclude with a series of anecdotes regarding his time in a small touring every-band with a couple of ageing yet highly-talented black guys who needed a drummer. Brilliant!

Rating:
Summary: Road stories for the rest of us
Review: I've loaned this book to several of my fellow musicians (most of whom have seen a little time on the road) and most of them have since bought copies for themselves. I've also recommended the book to my son, who has visions of a life in a rock band (and whom I feel hypocritical in trying to dissuade since it was my young adult dream, too). Mike's book speaks directly and honestly about the life of the journeyman musician and the danger and boredom that it entails. But at the same time, he conveys the wonder of a young teenager discovering the magic of the music. This book makes great reading for those who've been there and for those who could have been contenders.

Rating:
Summary: Road stories for the rest of us
Review: I've loaned this book to several of my fellow musicians (most of whom have seen a little time on the road) and most of them have since bought copies for themselves. I've also recommended the book to my son, who has visions of a life in a rock band (and whom I feel hypocritical in trying to dissuade since it was my young adult dream, too). Mike's book speaks directly and honestly about the life of the journeyman musician and the danger and boredom that it entails. But at the same time, he conveys the wonder of a young teenager discovering the magic of the music. This book makes great reading for those who've been there and for those who could have been contenders.

Rating:
Summary: An absolute must read for anyone who loves a drummer.
Review: Lankford's memoir is the best book ever written about life on the road as a musician. Not the glamorous life of the superstars, but the daily grind of living out of a van and dodging beer cans in a redneck honky-tonk. His story begins like all musicians' stories begin: practice practice practice in somebody's garage and then high school band contests, all in preparation for the big time with groupies and stardom. But Lankford takes us on the road traveled by most musicians: long drives, cold nights, minimum wage pay. His description of the time he spent as the white drummer in a black trio is rendered in prose that is both meta-physically insightful and descriptively physical. Lankford's journey is laced with violence and drugs and sex, but his language is brilliantly funny as well as graphically disturbing. If you know any kid who is beating on a drum or strumming a guitar, this is a MUST gift book. For anybody interested in the real life of a musician, this is also a MUST book. Buy it, read it, tell your friends. Lankford deserves the notice. He also has his email address listed on the cover. Write him and share your own road story.

Rating:
Summary: somebody make a movie of this book!
Review: Mike Lankford creates such a vivid picture of life on the road that I actually feel myself being tossed about in the back of that van he writes about. My only confusion: Why haven't we gotten another book from this guy?!

Rating:
Summary: A MUSICIAN'S TRIUMPH--A READER'S DELIGHT
Review: Mike's book is a triumph, a deliciously honest look at life behind the traps. Because he spares himself nothing, Mike puts us smack dab in the middle of the energy and time he spent in garages and on the road. The writing is marvelously alive (some compare it to Kerouac, Exley, Mailer), but there isn't a wasted word here. The cumulative effect is to put in your hands one of those unfortunately rare books that speed you through an experience that's painfully and gorgeously real. You'll never be quite the same after your time spent with Mike Lankford.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: This is a musician's biography that soars above its genre. The writing is so good that truth loses importance. Life meets art. If another book is not forthcoming from Mike Lankford soon, he should be incarcerated for squandering a national treasure.