Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon |  | Author: Harvey Kubernik
Creators: Scott Calamar, Diltz Henry, Lou Adler, Ray Manzarek
Publisher: Sterling
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  13 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.5
Dimensions (in): 11.9 x 8.8 x 1
ISBN: 1402765894
Dewey Decimal Number: 781.660979494
EAN: 9781402765896
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Product Description
A lavishly illustrated insider's look at 80 years of music and culture in Laurel Canyon.
Laurel Canyon is a zip code with its own play list: to name just a few, Sonny & Cher, The Doors, The Turtles, Canned Heat, Monkees, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Eagles, and Carole King all cultivated their immortal sounds in this L.A.-based musical fraternity.A lavishly illustrated insider’s look at 80 years of music and culture in Laurel Canyon.
Written by a long-time L.A. resident who knows them all, Canyon of Dreams traces the history of the community and its enduring legacy. Taking a deeply personal approach, it uses a multiple-voice narration based on exclusive interviews with the area’s musical elite. Because of their close and long-time connection with Kubernik, some of these stars are speaking openly for the first time.
Eye-opening both visually and informationally, this is a book no music lover can be without!
Interview highlights include:
- For the first time in years, the three surviving Doors talk about performances, recordings, band dynamics, and, of course, Jim Morrison
- Randy Meisner reminisces about the Eagles first gig and the recording of "One of These Nights"
- Graham Nash reflects on life with Joni Mitchell and describes writing "Our House"
- Lou Adler discusses his legendary Sunset Strip venues--the Whisky a Go-Go, Roxy Theater, Rainbow Bar & Grill, and Tapestry--and, with Michele Phillips, reflects on the Monterey Pop Festival.
- Slash, a child of the Canyon, details the formation of Guns N' Roses
- And much, much more!
Look Inside Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
 Sex, Drugs, & Wild Times, Even Before Rock 'n' Roll Got There October 9, 2009
Jym Cherry (Wheaton, IL United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
The Canyon of Dreams, the Magic and Music of Laurel Canyon is an amazing history of Laurel Canyon that sits in the Hollywood Hills right above Sunset Boulevard and since the beginning of Hollywood, starting with The Garden of Allah, a hotel opened by one of the wives of Rudolph Valentino, it quickly garnered a reputation as a place for a hideaway for movie stars, musicians, and artists. Errol Flynn had trysts there, jazz musicians came there to score opium, big band leaders Tommy Dorsey and Kay Kyser had an argument there as to which was the more popular, Dorsey won the argument by producing two naked women (who in the Rock `n' Roll era would be groupies), one of whom had a `T' shaved in her pubic hair and the other a `D'. Proving that sex and drugs and wild times existed before Rock `n' Roll and the farther into the future we go, the easier it is to touch the past.
The book is formatted like a scrapbook full of pictures, quotes, and paraphernalia, such as, matchbook covers of famous night clubs, record jackets, restaurant menu's, one from a Chinese restaurant owned by Benson Fong's father, and another that lists a combination pizza at $[...]! The chapters are easy to read and filled with amazing stories of residents and the adventures, misadventures, artistic pursuits, parties, trysts, or some combination of all of the above. The chapters cover different eras usually from the viewpoint of a Laurel Canyon resident who was present, and are divided into relevant tangents that give you a broader feel for everything that was going on at the time. For instance rock photographer Henry Diltz leads off the chapter that recounts the invasion of the Rock `n' Roll industry. Diltz recounts his own days as folk singer and how his career morphed into that of an iconic rock photographer. His most famous album cover probably being The Doors, Morrison Hotel. The section after Diltz's story tells of Robby Krieger and John Densmore moving into the canyon, followed by Jim Morrison and they recount their stories of the canyon, such as dinners at John Densmore's house, or Robby Krieger hanging out at Frank Zappa's house and Zappa's interest in producing The Doors.
Doug Dragon, (brother of Daryl Dragon of Captain and Tennille fame), tells of their living in the canyon in the 50's. His father was a famous symphony conductor, Carmen Dragon and tells of his father playing at The Hollywood Bowl, and how the house they lived in was later bought by TV star Wally Cox, Peter Tork, Stephen Stills and was later used by the Rolling Stones to rehearse for a tour.
So many famous and infamous people have lived in Laurel Canyon, H.B. Barnum, Harry Houdini, Frank Zappa, Tom Mix, Tex Ritter, Jackie DeShannon, Joni Mitchell, Van Dyke Parks, Robert Heinlein, Tim Buckley, Peter Tork, Mickey Dolenz, Billy James, Paul Rothchild, Dick Bock, Jackson Browne, and so many others I could list names for the entire length of the review and it would be a compelling reason to buy this book!
There are other books about Laurel Canyon and it's residents, but they pale in comparison. This is a handsome coffee table book that you'll love to show people, and I think you'll be surprised by the new stories that are here. You'll meet new people, and read of events that only happen in L.A., there are stories here you haven't read before and you won't forget.
The book itself is gorgeous, the pages are a creamy high quality paper that gives the book a luxurious feel, is probably the closest to vellum you can get. The book is a bargain with the wall to wall anecdotes, all the pictures, this is a book you'll want to read from front to back in one sitting, but I think it's best to enjoy the sections and breath the atmosphere. However you choose to read it, it will be a satisfying experience.
this book tells the truth about Laurel Canyon September 25, 2009
time traveler (Los Angeles, Ca. USA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
I just finished reading this book, enjoying the photos taken by the poly-talented Henry Diltz and appreciated the well written and researched text. Congratulations to Harvey Kubernik, et al, for producing such an authentic book that really captures the true vibe of those years in the canyon. The book really tells it just as it was, and includes many of the important personalities and talents who were omitted from previous Laurel Canyon tomes.Yup.This book even smells good. Many Thanks.
Stories that will fascinate and inform the reader January 16, 2010
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A lavishly illustrated insider's look at 80 years of music and culture in Laurel Canyon (located in Southern California just outside of Los Angeles), the area was home to such music industry icons as Sonny & Cher, The Doors, The Turtles, Canned Heat, Monkees, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Eagles, and Carole King. Covering some 80 years of popular music associated with the composers and performers who resided and worked in Laurel Canyon, "Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon" is the collaborative effort of author Harvey Kubernik, editor Scott Calamar, and photographer Diltz Henry. Profusely illustrated throughout, "Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon" provides a detailed history of this unique musical community. Of special note are the candidly informative interviews conducted with Laurel Canyon musicians. From the story about the Eagles first performance, to Graham Nash's comments on life with Joni Mitchell, to behind-the-scene insights into the formation of Guns N' Roses, "Canyon of Dreams: The Magic and the Music of Laurel Canyon" is a unique and enthusiastically recommended repository of stories that will fascinate and inform the reader, making this an outstanding addition to personal, academic, and community library 20th Century American Music History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.
Young Musicians Are Coming to the Canyon! March 23, 2010
Michael OConnor (Wausau, WI USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
For the better part of the 20th Century, Laurel Canyon existed as a self-contained musical/cultural oasis in the midst of the City of Nights. Musicians, muses, record producers, managers, Hollywood types, authors, intellectuals, wannabes and assorted beautiful people came together in a pastoral setting minutes from Sunset Boulevard. Harvey Kubernik traces the history of Laurel Canyon in this heavily-illustrated 2009 release from Sterling Publishing.
First developed in 1910, Laurel Canyon became a vital corridor linking the San Fernando Valley and West Hollywood. Its natural beauty soon attracted luminaries like Greta Garbo, Clara Bow and Tom Mix, the first of a long line of celebrity residents that initially included Errol Flynn, Mary Astor, Frances Farmer and Leslie Caron. In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, the winding roads, funky houses and sense of community drew an increasingly large contingent of music industry talents like Carmen Dragon, Rick Nelson, Bobby Womack, Lou Adler, Jackie DeShannon, Canned Heat, the Doors, Van Dyke Parks, David Crosby/Graham Nash/Joni Mitchell, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, Brian Wilson, Dusty Springfield, the Byrds, Danny Hutton, Frank Zappa, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot, Jackson Browne, Gram Parsons, Glenn Fry, etc. During the 1960s Laurel Canyon was probably THE center of counterculture life on the West Coast; its peaceful vibe being undermined by the rise of hard drugs during the 1970s. Though a new, harder ethic took over, Laurel Canyon is still viewed as an almost mythic place/experience by former residents.
A life-long resident of Los Angeles, Kubernik does a marvelous job of recapturing the development and growth of Laurel Canyon and its assorted denizens over the decades. CANYON OF DREAMS brims with a gentleness and good will that mirrors the Laurel Canyon spirit. Though the book tracks the destructive influence of drugs, it isn't a warts-and-all, trash talk expose. Rather it explores, explains and celebrates that unique community and the many talented people who resided there at various times.
Music fans will enjoy CANYON OF DREAMS. Kubernik's straightforward yet affectionate prose coupled with the many, rare photographs makes for a fascinating trip through the past. Recommended.
L.A Laurel Canyon And The Truth November 7, 2009
Michael Macdonald
At last the complete and definitive account of L.A muscical geography and its integral components authored by an Los Angeles native who truly knows of what he writes. Harvey Kubernik works with facts and the people who matter which makes 'Canyon Dreams" obliterate any earlier attempts at explaining Los Angeles amd its musical terrain. Supported so powerfully by Henry Diltz's still astounding photography "Canyon Dreams" is the only book you'll ever need for defining of Country Rock, Psychedelia, Garage Rock, R&B and Blues that emerged out of L.A and its immediate environs. Harvey Kubernik does for the L.A of the 60's and 70's as to what Raymond Chandler did for the same locale of the 50's.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
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