Monday, April 03, 2006
Memories of rockstars on location in days of yore:
The Place (A brief History)
"[Laurel Canyon] is unpretentious. You know your neighbors by the names of their dogs."
And now this book by Michael Walker (paragraph via Bob Sarles, but I don't know who to otherwise name in attribution:
'Laurel Canyon's rock 'n' roll legacy'
"Call Hollywood's Laurel Canyon the original rock 'n' roll suburb. From the mid-1960s to the early '80s, a massive influx of British rockers and East Coast bohemians mingled with local druggies and folkies, rockers and hippies in a leafy mountainside enclave just north of the Sunset Strip.
"Author Michael Walker's 'Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood,' (Farrar Straus and Giroux) chronicles the canyon's decadent musical menagerie as it came to be defined by the rock royalty that lived there -- members of the Doors, the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell, among many others.
"There was this tribal life, this incredible hotbed of talent," Walker, a Laurel Canyon dweller, explains. "Two dozen of the baby boom generation's signature artists were neighbors in a place with a history of tolerating unapologetic behavior.
"There was a lot of energy and creativity. A lot of what turned out to be the 20th century's most lasting compositions were recorded in Laurel Canyon."
Well, ok.
But don't overlook smartypants Barney Hoskyn's new book on "Hotel California (Singers Songwriters and Cocaine Cowboys in the LA Canyons 1967-1976)". The rise and fall of the West Coast sound, with a lot of colorful anecdotes. ¶ 4/03/2006 06:57:00 PM
The Place (A brief History)
"[Laurel Canyon] is unpretentious. You know your neighbors by the names of their dogs."
And now this book by Michael Walker (paragraph via Bob Sarles, but I don't know who to otherwise name in attribution:
'Laurel Canyon's rock 'n' roll legacy'
"Call Hollywood's Laurel Canyon the original rock 'n' roll suburb. From the mid-1960s to the early '80s, a massive influx of British rockers and East Coast bohemians mingled with local druggies and folkies, rockers and hippies in a leafy mountainside enclave just north of the Sunset Strip.
"Author Michael Walker's 'Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Legendary Neighborhood,' (Farrar Straus and Giroux) chronicles the canyon's decadent musical menagerie as it came to be defined by the rock royalty that lived there -- members of the Doors, the Byrds, the Mamas & the Papas, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Frank Zappa and Joni Mitchell, among many others.
"There was this tribal life, this incredible hotbed of talent," Walker, a Laurel Canyon dweller, explains. "Two dozen of the baby boom generation's signature artists were neighbors in a place with a history of tolerating unapologetic behavior.
"There was a lot of energy and creativity. A lot of what turned out to be the 20th century's most lasting compositions were recorded in Laurel Canyon."
Well, ok.
But don't overlook smartypants Barney Hoskyn's new book on "Hotel California (Singers Songwriters and Cocaine Cowboys in the LA Canyons 1967-1976)". The rise and fall of the West Coast sound, with a lot of colorful anecdotes. ¶ 4/03/2006 06:57:00 PM
