Rating: 
Summary: Grateful Dead Penthouse forum
Review: I got to admit it was an entertaining read. However I could not help but thinking that it seemed like I was reading a senior class essay from Parish. I don't know if it was the "secrets to the grave" credo that kept this book from being more interesting than it could have been. however I largely suspect that since most of the bandmembers are still alive I'm sure alot of the more interesting parts were cut out. I never have reviewed any of the books written about the dead,but I just had to write about this one,I have most of them. As for quality I think Skully's book was much better written and Jackson, McNally, Greenfield,Brightman and Troy definitely had the much better written books. If Parish could write another book with more stories about Jerry, which I'm sure he has plenty. I would buy it in a heartbeat.
Rating:
Summary: 30 years and only 250 pages?
Review: I have read every book written on the band and while some of the things in Steves book I had never seen before, and indeed found very insightful, those moments were few and far between. He seemed to take the easy way out by not really letting us in on anything of substance that went on behind the scenes, as if he were afraid to offend those hands that still feed him. You can't blame him for this, but then why go through the excersise at all. Some of his stories were nice, but do we really care how the members of the Hells Angles died over the course of his tenure with the Dead? I'd rather get more details of why Vince never really fit in. Finally, how could he write only 200+ pages on this subject??? I have worked as the Controller for a boring Manhattan publisher for 18 years and could come up with 200 pages of somewhat interesting stories. As the right-hand man to the leader of the most intersting band of this century this book should have no less then 600 pages. With that said, I still recommend the book. Its a nice easy read, and like I said, there are some things in there that I have never heard or read before.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put book down!
Review: I read this book in two settings, I couldn't put it down. I loved the photo on the cover by Annie Liebowitz. I an not a deadhead, but like reading about rock and roll. Boy did Steve Parish have a interesting life. I felt the book was very well written and an easy read you won't want to put it down till the last page.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining Quick Read but a big letdown overall
Review: I think the major problem with this book is that readers will buy the book to learn new insights about Garcia & the Dead. What they will get is few new insights that haven't already been written about but plenty of info on Parish's life as a roadie and his sexcapades. Who really cares about that. We all know that every band and roadie has drank to oblivion, partied harder than most, slept with groupies in multiple combinations. What we want to know is interesting stories about Garcia and the DeAD. While there are some good stories and insights, they are few and far between.I too have read every book about the band and was looking foward to reading this book for months. I read the entire book in 2 days. There was some new insight into what a great guy Weir is. How Weir hated the Hells Angels. How Mickey was the most difficult memeber of the band. There is also some more sad confirmation of what a Heroin addict Garcia was for most of the last 25 years of his life. From Parish's inside position with Garcia and the band there could have been another 300 pages of good stories. Don't blame Parish for how poorly written this book is though, blame his co-author Joe Layden who wrote the Chuck Zito Hells Angels book. Another piece of quickly written but entertaining trash.
Rating: 
Summary: Home Before I Fall Asleep
Review: I waited in anticipation of reading this book. My excitment was barely containable. Like the other reviewer, I've read all the other "Dead Books" and wanted more insight, more about Jerry and the band, especially those final years, from somone who was there. This book was a tremendous letdown. It reads like Parish dictated the book and Joe Layden wrote it down.
Don't bother buying it in hardback, wait until it is in paperback. While waiting, read Rock Scully's book "Living With the Dead" Yes, that's what you want, not Parish's book.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: I've read MacNally's and Scully's books on the Dead as well as Blair Jackson's. This one, in all due respect, is written and told at a high school level. I respect Parish for his part in the Dead family but this has the smell of "my turn" at making good on Jerry. No doubt Parish was instrumental in the Dead family but the level of description and countless pandering to the "good guys" that are the Dead hierarchy is a bit over the top. Perhaps a series of vignettes in a compilation would have been more substantive. Painting his peers (read: the band members, promoters, production staff) as selfless do-gooders is hardly believable. It is nice to read Steve Parish's perspective but perhaps less polical correctness would have made this more enjoyable, as he has good stories to tell.
Rating: 
Summary: A big-hearted book from a big-hearted, classy guy
Review: Steve Parrish has been a justifiaby much-loved member of the Grateful Dead circle for decades, and this is why his book has been so anticipated. More than most, Parrish has earned the right to speak his peace. He's just a real, plain-spoken big-hearted fella - and it's this approach to writing his book (with Joe Layden) - as to why Parrish's book succeeds. Parrish manages to write with honesty but with compassion. For this reason many readers may prefer this simpler work over McNally's and Skully's books. No, Steve Parish does not write with the sophistication and finesse of, say, Blair Jackson (still the best writer on the GD scene), it's the emotional directness that separates this book from many of the rest. True, there are a few minor inaccuracies with times and dates (believe me, you've seen worse). But it's the overall emotional quality of Parrish's stories and insights, for me at least, that I found more compelling than some of the other, more polished works that have come out. And don't let the plain-spoken nature of this book fool you: There are numerous observations, anecdotes and insights (I wish there were more), that only Steve Parrish could deliver (the meeting with Garcia and Sinatra is a riot). So for those of us who loved the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Phil, Bobby and the rest of the crew, and for whom the emotional quality of the band mattered (and matters) more than anything else, Parrish's effort is one of the better ones there at this time. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: One From The Heart
Review: There are loads of books filled with facts about the Grateful Dead, but none of them comes as close to the truth as this one. It takes wisdom to recognize the truth, and courage to tell it. Steve Parish has both. Jerry would have been proud. This one gets it right.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but poorly done effort
Review: This is a book about Steve Parrish, dont be mistaken. Now on the surface that is interesting, but in retrospect after reading the book its not very interesting. I can appreciate him writing a lot about himself and thats not my issue with the book. The things that bother me are as follows: the book is poorly written, it does indeed have some interesting tidbits but for a book from a guy who is purported to be Garcias best friend it offers us little to nothing about Garcia that hasnt be said and said better in other books.
Lets face it, the draw here was to see an insiders view of the Dead and Garcia. Instead its got little brief details here and there and almost nothing new and little of interest to me personally. I had hoped this book would be enlightning about Garcia as an individual since Parish knew him so well, but in the end it glosses over just about everything he tells about Jerry and gives no where near enough detail about a lot of the big issues within the band and Garcia himself.
Rating:
Summary: An ordinary account of an extraordinary time
Review: This is a good book for the serious dead-head. Few others would find it captivating. It's likely that a true dead head would not find it too captivating either. Parish's writing style (and/or that of his co-author) leaves a lot to be appreciated. The content is what redeems the book. It is true that the book is self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing, but hey, Parish has earned the right to tell his own rock and roll tales of abuse and excess. I did gain some insight into just how seriously these guys did party. And how it wasn't all peace and love. In fact, it seems pretty damn sinister at points. This book shattered my childhood illusions at just how groovy everything was back in those days of yore. But the shards of that shattered illusion are impressive none-the-less.
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