Somebody to Love? a Rock and Roll Memoir / Abridged

Rating:
Summary: Just a Few Tabs from Finishing School To Altamont
Review: The incomparable Grace Slick lets loose with an in-your-face frank, raunchy, intelligent, extremely funny, and riveting account of life as THE psychedelic rock goddess and queen of the San Francisco hippie movement. Gargantuan doses of sex, drugs, rock, and cop clashes mix well with Slick's wonderful flair for putting the reader right there - front row center...and that's some mighty interesting/intense places to be. Great anecdotes and portraits of Woodstock, Altamont, Abbie Hoffman (and THAT plan to drop Pres. Nixon acid at a White House tea party!!!) Morrison, Hendrix, Janis, The Grateful Dead, and even Jill St. John! In addition to presenting the music and ideals of an era, it's also a fascinating account of a VERY strong woman coming into her own, adapting her priorities, and shifting focus as she ages. Treat yourself to an incredible slice of life!!!

Rating:
Summary: depends
Review: This is a good book if you just want to read about what grace Slick did outside of Airplane and why she decided to do it. It isnt one of those books which documents every single date of release of album and what happened within the record company and how it was marketed in the nation etc.... Those books are good but to me this is a nice change to very complicated books, and although she does write the book in an informal manner, it makes it better as it sort of seems right to talk about stuff away from the band in the tone she uses. this book is mainly sex, drugs, and a bit of rock and roll. Still very funny and good sense of humour though. Just depends what style of book you are after.

Rating:
Summary: Still Don't Know Grace
Review: Upon purchasing this book I was hoping to discover some real insight of the early, San Francisco 60's music scene as observed by an insider. Sure we got to read about Grace's early family life, her penchant for drama and dressing up, college days, many affairs, marriages and relationships. Yet, something was missing....what were her REAL thoughts and emotions as she went through these times? Some things were left unexplained...why so close with the Grateful Dead in the early days @ the Fillmore West and then nada-zip....no more mention of them. What happened to that relationship? Was it because the Airplane/Starship membership sold out to BIG MONEY? Same thing with her personal relationships...no real insight as to what really happened or how she felt. As I read on, I kept hoping for a "real" connection to Grace and perhaps a sharing of her soul & innermost thoughts as she traversed several musical eras. Instead, I was left with the feeling that the book was a "slap-dash" attempt (maybe under a publisher's deadline?) @ trying to tell a monumental story that was reduced to disjointed chapters that were hard to follow. At books end, I still like Grace and find her amusing & candid, but sure would have enjoyed a more intimate tale. The highlight of the book was just a paragraph or 2 devoted to Janis Joplin. That was the closest the book came to what I had hoped for....."Janis felt like an old soul, a wisecracking grandmother whom everybody loved to visit."