About book Dark Star: An Oral Biography Of Jerry Garcia (1996)
I quite enjoyed the hundreds of personal comments and accounts of the Great Jerry Garcia: "The Emperor," as Yen-wei Choong called him. More importantly, I appreciated the brutal honesty of those who knew him so well. Unfortunately, so many of those close to him were left out (or opted out) in a very painfully obvious way. The members of that little band called the Grateful Dead were almost entirely absent. I think they might have had a word or two with that Garcia guy. Billy and Mickey are still alive and could have participated if they felt this project worthy. Phil Lesh already wrote a pretty extensive book himself, so I'm sure that is what excused him from the process. Bob Weir? To be honest, I couldn't care less what his excuse is. He wrote the foreward? Well ... it WAS a sorry excuse. Secondly, Steve Parish was given a lot of tongue-in-cheek and flat out blatant grief from Jerry's friends and family. Seen as an over-protector and/or a well-intentioned enabler. He does not seem to answer back, but I also imagine he was pleading Phil Lesh's excuse. Parish wrote a book as well, so that may have been his defense. Finally, the Yoko Ono of the Grateful Dead world: Deborah Koons. She is not necessarily mentioned much in this book, but there have been enough external accounts by those who have felt absolutely no love for Jerry's last legal wife, I find it hard to believe this is the best we have got. It seems almost none of Jerry's loved ones trusted her. And I guess Deborah did not trust a book like Greenfield's, where those who thought ill of her could proudly display their distaste for everyone to see. Her defense is absent ... although I have a feeling that the fans (myself included) don't really wanna hear it anyhow. We have generally all reached a verdict without her testimony. I could not put the book down, and it certainly gave me a more intricate picture of this incredible man. However, stars were lost for key figures not having weighed in when they, more often than not, had a closer look than so many others. So Many Roads ...
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Inspired by a recent trip to San Francisco where we stayed several days in a cozy apartment just blocks from 710 Ashbury, it seemed only necessary to read once again about one of my favorite musicians of all time. Although there were key voices missing from this oral biography that could have helped paint a fuller picture, Dark Star is a great reminder of the light that this American icon brought - and continues to bring through his music - to so many lives. Not all of it is pretty, but he had an undeniable gift. Hard to imagine how difficult it must have been conducting these interviews just three months after Jerry's death. I know I'll always remember the exact moment when I heard that he died. And no matter how many years go by, his music will always cut right to the heart.
—Stacie
I devoured this book. I wouldn't classify myself as a dead head, but a dead fan. I have been a fan of music from this time and the "scene" associated with it. This book was written in a weird fashion is the only reason I gave it 4 and not 5 stars. Its written in oral form of interviews from several people in chronological order of his life. I got used to it, but didn't particularly love it. I loved reading about the early drug use of psychedelics and the things that were gong on during that time. It was sad to read about the evolutionary track of Jerry's drug use that ended up in heroin and ultimately taking his life. I loved the book and love Jerry more for reading it, even though he was a shitty husband and father.....
—Kyle Ballard
