Ben Fong-Torres, Grateful Dead Scrapbook (Chronicle Books, 2009)
I chanced upon this specialty book during a recent foray at our local Borders Books and Music store. Although it's already been out a while, I discovered almost no reviews of it when I did a net search after I got home. I figured I'd review it if Chronicle Books sent us a copy. And they did!
Yes, this is very much a specialty book, the kind of thing you would purchase as a gift or display on your coffee table when friends drop by. It's an odd size, roughly 10 inches wide by 10 and 3/4 inches tall and comes packaged in a handsome and sturdy slipcase. The binding is nicely stitched so the book lays flat when it's open. The package includes a 60-minute CD featuring excerpts of interviews with band members dating as early as 1976 and as late as 1987. The color palette on the slipcase and the cover is predominantly royal blue, with red, white and gold highlights.
The entire book runs 64 pages long, with the pages printed on glossy, heavy stock, and many in full color. The overall organization is straight chronological, following the band's history from its inception in the early 1960s, when some of the members were still in high school, to the period immediately following the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 when the surviving members of the band were taking their next tentative steps. Sidebars highlight selected albums from the band's extensive oeuvre.
There is text, as well, quite a lot of it on some of the pages. It's printed in a small serif font that some Boomers might find challenging to read without their bifocals. Ben Fong-Torres, whom I remember as a true stalwart at Rolling Stone during the many years I subscribed, has done a fine job of recounting the various chapters in the life of the band and its influence on American popular music and popular culture. He pulls no punches in describing the band members' peccadilloes, including sexual wanderings and rampant substance abuse.
But this is, afterall, a scrapbook subtitled "the long strange trip in stories, photos, and memorabilia." The idea of a mass-produced scrapbook is itself a bit odd, although this is not the first entry of its kind (see David Kidney's review of the Bruce Springsteen scrapbook). In fact, Chronicle has published other books with similar formats. I've reviewed two for Green Man, Lives of Shadows and Dreaming of East, both by the very talented writer/illustrator Barbara Hodgson.
The format here is that every few pages, the reader encounters something a little different: a fold-out flap with replicas of concert posters printed on both sides, more replicas of concert posters glued at the top so they can be unfolded and admired, an occasional pocket full of reproductions of other artifacts (e.g., band member bios, set lists, back stage passes, bumper stickers, newsletters and press releases). These are fascinating and very well-documented in terms of dates and uses. In fact, I think one of the great strengths of this collection is the careful documentation of materials. About the only criticism I have of these artifacts is that they are all quite small and a consequence lose some of their original visual impact.
I should point out that, while I was never a Deadhead, I grew up with their music (I graduated from high school in 1968), saw them live at least once, played their albums regularly on my radio shows, and have several of them in my home music library (my personal favorite is Blues for Allah).
The day I was writing this review, I happened to visit a close friend who had a copy of it on his coffee table -- imagine that! Although he was still in elementary school when Jerry died, he considers the Dead to be a seminal band. He's a big fan of moe., a band he regards as a direct descendent of the Dead in terms of their music and their general attitude toward the music business and the relationship between the band and the audience. He was only too happy to offer his impressions of the book.
"I really like it," he told me as he lovingly turned the pages. "It's colorful, it's interesting, and it's fun to pick up and read. I guess I knew some of this history before, but this presents it in a way that makes it easy for me to put the pieces together. The photos are great, the posters are awesome, and I love the stuff they put in the little pockets. People my age can use the book to learn about the past. People your age can use it to help them remember how much fun they had at these shows when they were younger."
The official suggested retail price for Grateful Dead Scrapbook is a whopping $40. It's readily available for less than half that price from the usual on-line sources. Unless, of course, you crave a copy of the limited edition version, which includes a DVD, as well. You decide. . . .
