Home Before Daylight: My Life on the Road with the "Grateful Dead"

The roadie's view. Rolls along at a pace that suggests what the day to day and longer term life of a crewman and sidekick to a great band and musician (Parish worked with Garcia's solo projects as well).The paragraphs on Nitrous had me in stitches!!!!!

Good biography, although not a favourite of mine. As both a huge Dead and JGB fan, I was looking forward to reading some tour stories and, while some of it is indeed touched upon, there are parts where I found my interest waning. I get that a music book cannot go without discussing drugs, but at one point about 2 or more pages were dedicated to talking about nitrous oxide! There were other parts of the book where my mind wandered. I will say how the part of the book documenting Steve's personal tragedy was harrowing and shocking. It was very, very sad. There was another part however, which documents all the people Steve knew who died. It made for depressing reading, I must admit. Luckily, the road stories/band stories were littered throughout, and stopped me from giving up on this book, (slightly OTT there, as I never stop a book - I'll persevere until the end). I feel Steve's stories are better suited to documentaries, as opposed to a whole book.

This book is a very good read for all fans of the Grateful Dead and rock music in general. I learned a lot about all the personalities, and not just the band members. As far as I can tell, this is a very open and honest book, which describes the highs and lows of working and living with the Grateful Dead. And Robert Hunter's poem at Jerry's funeral was brilliant.

Could have got a LOT juicier with gossp, and happily spebt very little time going over his own childhood, getting quickly to his duties as roadie for The Grateful Dead and other SF bands.It doesn't end with 1995, happily, and continues to the aftermath , as far as it went at time of writing.An enjoyable read after Long Strange Trip, Searching For The Sound and Living With The Dead.

This book shows the murky side of a band I love. I love the music but seeing the dark underbelly shows that no band can keep away from excess.

Very sad book - nearly half of it detailing, yet again, the long, sad decline of Jerry. Loads of sex and drugs but very little indeed about music. If it keeps people off heroin then it's no bad thing, but a very depressing read. Compare with McNally's tomb, which has some interesting insights into the relationship of the band with the road crew. Frankly, I for one am tired of reading about Jerry and heroin; I would much rather read about the music (as much as that is possible).

I'd recommend this to anyone, Deadhead or not. Delightful. Insightful. Intimate.

My puppy shredded the book within 4 hours of delivery. I read maybe 30 pages. Seemed good. Dog loved it. WOOF.

Perfect for some behind the scenes light reading on the Dead.

I found this book to be a deep, insightful look into the world of rock and roll from a very different and very personal perspective. This is not, nor does it purport to be another "Grateful Dead history".Steve was uniquely situated to both participate in and observe the Grateful Dead as a band and as an institution. His perspective allows us to catch glimpses of the real action behind the scene that was often the basis for the magic (or sometimes lack of it)in the on-stage performances.Of far greater impact to me, however, was Steve's willingness to share his personal travails, passions, successes and failures over the past 30 years. He reveals one very involved, very sensitive and very insightful man's interaction with the power and impact of rock and roll on people in and around the scene, both the famous and sometimes the infamous. In telling his own story, Steve often challenges conventional and traditional assumptions about who are really "good guys" and who are "bad".He shows us the humanity that drove the unfortunately unrealistic desire of Jerry and others to make it only "all about the music". Through his unparallelled access Steve is able to the efforts of those in and around the Band to enjoy normal lives and meaningful interpersonal relationships while fending off, or all too often sucumbing to the dangers of hard drugs, greed and the many other down-sides of "fame" in 20th Century America.He accomplishes all of this with humility and well-placed humor. I have read many rock and roll biographies of both individuals and bands, and I strongly recommend Steve's book as offfering a truly "one of a kind" perspective.

To say that Steve Parrish is a little rough around the edges would be a gross understatement, although he is one of the more widely know non-musical member of the Dead. However, the book strays from the thesis in my opinion to focus on more of Steve's excesses on the road. I know I was going to hear war stories from the crew on the road but thought there would be more insight into the working of the band getting them across the country and the relationships with the band members and maybe some extra insight the books about the band members did not get into. What I found was an entertaining book no doubt, but only interesting in the fact that Parrish tried to fit every instance of his own drug rages and sex romps. That definitely has its place but it veered off the intended line into how proud he is of all of it. He tries to play it off as just the facts but he revels in the fact that he did all of this. I was expecting a little more as most of the other books about the band I have read, which is everyone that comes along, those books seem to gloss over some of the excesses and get the real insight into the band. Would have liked a little more insight into the working of what he did but his stories of destroying Cat houses in Europe or having multiple partners at once while at the same time his kid was being born. You know real stuff that makes you want to like the guy. But whatever if was a fun read but moved Parrish about 5 rungs lower on the ladder of respect for me.