Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream

This is a great book in so many ways, not least of which it makes one wonder just how many other things in the public eye amount to nothing more than public put-ons, skits, and vignettes. You really question just what in hell is really factual and where the delineating line is between truth and the shuck and jive. Dave lays out known facts and, while he doesn't draw conclusions, the facts practically move the reader to a plateau where he or she has to jettison previous feelings for some of these musical acts.What becomes apparent is that a great deal of the cultural and social scene of the sixties may have been much more artificially created and guided than anyone ever suspected. By deductive reasoning you could even say that most of the music groups and singers from California that came to prominence in the sixties could have been true talents; programs linked to the government wouldn't need to be the creators and guiding control for all of them, just enough of them to make waves, influence public and musical thought and opinion, and sway whomever to whatever. You really have to look with fresh askance at acts like the Byrds, the Doors, Frank Zappa, Buffalo Springfield, and even the Grateful Dead and the Merry Pranksters in San Francisco. And even if some of the groups were supremely talented and dedicated, it doesn't mean that some of them might not have been co-opted at some point in their careers. You could possibly even say that about the Beatles, who went from their magnum opus of Revolver and Rubber Soul to the strange introspection, gimmickry, and novelty of the over played and over rated Sgt. Pepper. Some of the British groups didn't even go through a build and consolidate period; just straight to gimmickry and studio wizardry like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Tavistock, anyone?One example in the book is Jim Morrison. The man's entire life seems to have been not much more than an act. He's proclaimed as this larger than life ultimate rebel, while his dad was off the coast of Vietnam commanding the ships that were involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which was almost surely a false flag event to bring hordes of U.S. service men to die fighting for a false cause. No North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the U.S. Navy. More than 50,000 men die after the fall out from the Gulf of Tonkin, and the son says nothing, although he had to know it. The most he can do is look petulant on the Ed Sullivan Show. Growing up, Morrison disappears for long periods. Even in high school in Alexandria, VA he claims that he doesn't see anyone in his family for weeks long stretches, even though he lives in the same house. Where was he? The romantic notion that he went to old blues bars to watch the acts is just pure speculation. He could just as easily have been undergoing some kind of conditioning for some future use by some shadowy part of the government. No music aficionado holds one of their biggest hits, "Light My Fire", with its over amped organ, in very high regard anymore. Jose Feliciano's version is a hundred times better. And then you look at all the pics of Morrison from those days: too many show a person with the lights on and no one home. And the guy gets out of being drafted by saying he's homosexual? Everyone tried that back then. And then look at one of the author's of the book that really made the Morrison legend, Danny Sugerman of No One Here Gets Out Alive. He married Oliver North's secretary Fawn Hall.Dave writes some about the San Francisco scene, also. The fact that the Grateful Dead has the greatest instruments and equipment of the era, paid for by acid king Owsley Stanley, he of the generous free CIA acid to everyone, is more than an eye raiser. In the same way, Kesey and his pranksters are travelling ministers of King Acid, urging, like CIA Leary, all the violent anti-war protesters to just drug themselves into a peaceful tranquility and don't get in the way of the government and military: they have murderous business to take care of.To wrap up, one has to wonder whether or not the sixties were an exploratory observation experiment performed in order to gain brain washing knowledge to enact in even greater and more effective power in the decades to come, namely now.

I discovered this fascinating book in an oddly roundabout way. I became very interested in Cass Elliot (I just love her! She was a great singer, and one of the sweetest people and kind to a fault), read her biography, and started to notice that there were some strange and curious aspects to her early life after high school when she was in NY and Alexandria, Virginia (a place mentioned often in this book). Eventually, I heard that Michael Caine said he was introduced to Charles Manson (!) by Cass at a party in her home - in Laurel Canyon. Cass was famous for her parties and “non-judgmental” atmosphere (which I believe led to her very suspicious early death at 32 in 1974). Cass’s entourage was populated by a few notorious drug dealers and criminals. I branched out and started reading CHAOS by Tom O’Neill (highly recommended), and then this excellent overview of LA’s most interesting (notorious?) neighborhood. By the way, Cass lived on Woodrow Wilson Drive not far from Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski. Cass knew everyone, and everyone knew Cass … I found the section on Cass’s former bandmates, John and Michelle Phillips, to be very curious and eye-opening. In this breezy, relatively short book, the late Mr. McGowen gives us a series of facts about the musicians who curiously migrated, almost simultaneously, to the LA suburb of Laurel Canyon. We meet Frank Zappa, Lizard King Jim Morrison, members of the The Byrds, The Mamas and the Papas, Arthur Lee and Love, Dennis Wilson, David Crosby (approach with great caution), and many others, including famous actors dating back to the silent era. The book ends with a fascinating look at Harry Houdini and serial killer Rodney Alcala (who had strange links to Laurel Canyon celebrities).I won’t spoil the book, but I will give three takeaways:1) The Laurel Canyon death list is staggering! These are not people who die peacefully in their sleep at a nice ripe old age. The murders, suicides, and strange demises of so many young stars (and their family members) are shocking when listed before you. I’m even more curious at how many regular folks wound up meeting a grim demise via Laurel Canyon.2) The family backgrounds of so many of the Canyon celebrities involving the military industrial complex, elite bloodlines, diplomatic corps, and/or the occult, is mind boggling. What are the odds??? These links pop up so often, this gets to be an in-joke in the narrative. Off the top of my head I can list John Phillips, Jim Morrison, David Crosby (careful …), Gram Parsons, Stephen Stills, and Frank Zappa (a very strange man …) as hailing from prominent military families, or families with very elite bloodlines (Crosby and Parsons).3) It’s well known that many of the famous Laurel Canyon musicians could not play or sing well at all. Many of the musicians playing on their famous albums are studio professionals like the famous Wreckin’ Crew. So, why did so many of these young men from elite or military backgrounds, decide to fall into the counterculture, grow their hair, pick up an instrument, and head to LA to wallow in debauchery on a Marquis de Sade size scale? It’s also curious that many of them had an initial batch of classic songs that established their legacy early, and almost none of them ever came close to equaling in quality.The book will often leave you scratching your head, or staring out into space thinking “what the …” Read it and you’ll never listen to many of those 1960’s and 70’s hits with quite the same reverence.

This is a good book which I had wanted to read for some time. It was very interesting and historically correct. I am very pleased with this seller. It arrived promptly.

Must have.

It's all over the place, but quite enlightening. Really enjoyed it!

Visto che mi stai chiedendo in italiano, devo scrivere un recensione per un libro in inglese e non è facile. Diciamo che il libro è stra affascinante. Sapevo già un bel po del informazione, avendo letto articoli sul tema, ma tantissime persone non sanno che il movimento "hippie" sembra di essere una cosa inventato della CIA. Posso dire a persone che non sono familiare con questi fatti - preparati ad avere tuo anima schiacciato completamente. Mi sono cresciuta con questa musica. Chi avrebbe mai pensato che c'era la CIA in dietro? Bellissimo libro, ma preparati!!

There's just too much coincidence written within these pages for the facts to be, well, a coincidence. I'm not a huge fan of conspiracy theories, but there's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear!An interesting read on the fascinating people and the music scene that blossomed out of Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles in the 60's. Anyone who wants to relive the past, loves music history, loves the dark side of L.A and loves a good story will enjy this book. Highly recommended.