For more than thirty years; Jerry Garcia was the musical and spiritual center of the Grateful Dead; one of the most popular rock bands of all time. In Dark Star; the first biography of Garcia published after his death; Garcia is remembered by those who knew him best. Together the voices in this oral biography explore his remarkable life: his childhood in San Francisco; the formation of his musical identity; the Deads road to rock stardom; and his final; crushing addiction to heroin. Interviews with Jerrys former wives; lovers; family members; close friends; musical partners; and cultural cohorts create a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a rock-and-roll iconmdash;and at the price of fame.
#451475 in eBooks 2009-03-06 2009-03-06File Name: B009SAV1FG
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Essential Portrait of a Master. Written in CrayolaBy Kathy BarthwayFirst let me get this out of the way: Thats just a small downpayment for all the apostrophes that were left out of the Kindle edition. I will happily place these in their rightful places in this and ANY OTHER E-BOOK for a very modest fee if anyone at would like to employ me. It was clearly scanned and never even proofread; in addition to the complete lack of apostrophes. "garbage" characters in the middle of words abound.But on to the book itself. Martin Gottfried is one of those theatre writers I read as a kid. and back then I devoured his work because its so chock-full of information. It still is chock-full of information. but 30 years later his prose is quite the slog. If you ever wondered about the height. hair color and vocal timbre of every single major AND minor Broadway figure of the mid-20th Century. this book was MADE for you. Gottfried spent many years working for newspapers. and "reportorial" is the most complimentary adjective I can apply to his writing. His clunky style didnt make me stop reading. though. because like everything else he ever wrote. this book is exhaustively researched and reported. Could he have left a whole bunch of it out (like the long. richly detailed anecdotes from his childhood dance partner)? Yup. But luckily its a book and not a dinner conversation. so I skipped over it.Bottom line: If youre interested in Fosse specifically. or even just in 20th Century musicals in general. youll learn a lot from reading this book. Its written about as artfully as a Common Core math book. but its worth the effort.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Fosse Is Essential. and this book is Essential FosseBy Ralph CookOne of at least four major print-works on Bob Fosse. and deeply insightful to theatre and film-making. the others. "Fosse" by Sam Wasson. "Hoofing on Broadway" by Richard Kislan. and The Fosse Style" by Derba McWaters. foreword by Ben Vereen." If youre writing for Musical Theatre this piece is essential. Some subtle prejudices of the author do sneak through. Of course. a complete library of the DVDs of his work are also a necessity. Cheers! This is good reading.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. All His Jazz: The Life and Death of Bob FosseBy Dr. Roy SchreiberAll His Jazz: The Life And Death Of Bob FosseNot many writers can deal with a large volume of detail and still maintain reader interest. Mr. Gottfried can and does. That said. I did note two places where a bit of proofreading would have been useful. The first is relatively minor: the corner of Franklin and Highland is in Hollywood and not West Hollywood. The second was annoying for personal reasons. In the movie. All That Jazz. Frankie Mann played the comic who talks about the stages of dealing with death. not the individual cited in the text. Why is this annoying to me? Frankie Mann (stage name for Frank Schreiber) is my cousin. I lost track of him in the late 1950s and was pleasantly surprised to see him pop up twenty years later in this movie.
