Dennis McNally

Author, Historian and Music Publicist

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    • Jerry on Jerry: The Unpublished Jerry Garcia Interviews
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    • A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
    • Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, The Beat Generation & America
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A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead

A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead

A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful DeadAvailable at Amazon

“Be careful of what you wish for – you might just get it.”   And I did…no regrets.  After wanting to write the history of the Grateful Dead for seven years, I got to hear the words, “Jerry said, ‘Why not us?’” – which is to say, would I like to do a history of the G.D.?  I said I thought I could fit it in.  It turned into a 22 year ride, and of course it entirely changed the course of my life.

I had a ton of material that didn’t really fit into a chronological framework, and I devised what I thought of as a hypothetical (and hyper-real) way to depict a typical year (there was such a thing) in the life of the Dead say between 1980 and 1995.  And in the course of that year I portrayed a “typical” show (I know, I know – no two shows were alike).  So here’s an imaginary – but real for all that – opening of a second set in the Fall…

 

Sample Chapter

39. Interlude: Into the Zone (Second Set Begins)

September, Madison Square Garden

Garcia is back onstage twenty minutes before the end of the break, infected by the sheer nervous energy that is the Grateful Dead at the corner of 7th Avenue and 33rd Street, the innermost circle of performance rock and roll, the Dead’s home away from home even though it is an antipodal mirror for this bunch of San Franciscans. It is a Monday night in late September, and Ram Rod has a TV perched on his road case with… Read More

Jerry Garcia, young, with a goatee

Jerry in 1961 – the dashing young guitar teacher. Courtesy of Brigid Meier

Jerry Garcia

And the years pass…Jerry, benign, in 1993. Posing for Susana – they were old pals. Photo by Susana Millman

Dick Latvala

Dick Latvala in the vault, his true home. Dick introduced me to my future wife, Susana Millman. Not the least of the things I owe him for. Photo by Susana Millman

The GD office staff on the day of shooting the “Hell in a Bucket” video

The GD office staff on the day of shooting the “Hell in a Bucket” video – a video shoot is intrinsically boring (lots of standing around), but it was a fun day. Left to right: Mary Joe Meinolf (who asked about who was going to deal with media and got me my job); Eileen Law, Queen Mother of all Dead Heads and, with Ram Rod, the heart of the G.D.; Sue Stephens, Jerry’s assistant and my mentor; Trixie Garcia, Jerry’s third daughter; Janet Soto-Mayor Knudsen, one of the bookkeeping staff, a great lady; Diane Geoppo, a sweetheart; Frances Shurtliff, wife of crew chief Ram Rod and heart of the GD family; Basia Raizene, another of the number crunchers and a terrific soul; Nancy Mallonee (Chief Financial person and a great boss); Maruska Nelson (tour accountant, wife of David Nelson, and a love); Jon McIntire (band manager – he passed last year); standing behind car – Steve Marcus, head of the ticket office, a true believer. Photo by Susana Millman

columbia

One of the great GD adventures – being smuggled onto a Columbia campus locked down by a strike. Boy, did the strike leaders want that sound system! Photo by Rosie McGee

Garcia gives Mickey’s son Taro a guitar lesson. Photo by Susana Millman

Garcia gives Mickey’s son Taro a guitar lesson. Photo by Susana Millman

Garcia in Central Park, 1968 – sweet early days.

Garcia in Central Park, 1968 – sweet early days. Photo by Rosie McGee

Reviews

New York Times book review of A Long Strange Trip by Dennis McNally: An Insider's History of the Dead, Both Serious and Profane

New York Times book review of A Long Strange Trip by Dennis McNally: An Insider’s History of the Dead, Both Serious and Profane

New York Times logo
BOOKS OF THE TIMES; An Insider’s History of the Dead, Both Serious and Profane

By BEN RATLIFF
Published: September 6, 2002

The first lines of ”A Long Strange Trip” do not bode well. ”Shortly before every Grateful Dead concert, there is a luminous, suspended moment,” Dennis McNally writes. ”Bathed in the subliminal hum of the stage’s electric potential, you smell the ozone of 133,000 burning watts … Read More

alst-review-ent-weekly

Download the original review in Entertainment Weekly (pdf – 778 kB)

 

entertainment weekly BOOK REVIEW

Touch of Great
A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead (2002)

Reviewed by Rob Brunner on Aug 16, 2002

Most people who love good music hate the Grateful Dead. They’re wrong, of course, but it isn’t hard to see their point. A flawed band even at its best, the Dead was capable of maddening laziness and ineptitude. Then there were the hardcore fans, a certain highly visible segment of… Read More

Do Not Speak Ill of the Dead, New York Times Sunday Review of A Long Strange Trip, by Dennis McNally, 8/25/02

New York Times Sunday Review: download the original (pdf, 400k)

McNally, Dennis - Long Strange Trip - Publishers Weekly - 07.22.02

Publishers Weekly: Download the original review (pdf, 421k )

McNally, Dennis - Long Strange Trip - Relix 08-2002

Relix review: download the original (pdf, 424k)

McNally, Dennis - Long Strange Trip - Rolling Stone Review 09/19/2

McNally, Dennis – Long Strange Trip – Rolling Stone Review 09/19/2, download original (pdf, 260k)

McNally, Dennis - Long Strange Trip - Variety 08-05-02

McNally, Dennis – Long Strange Trip – Variety 08-05-02: download original (pdf 334k)

Buy it at Amazon: paperback, e-book, hardcover

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