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Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story

Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 6:16 am
by veiko
I thought some people here would find this entertaining - book about Brian Jonestown Massacre http://jawbonepress.com/keep-music-evil/

Re: Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story

Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2019 3:35 pm
by spacemanrich
Thanks for the recommendation Veiko. I was able to find this through my local library. Finished reading it.

Know the scene. Know the major players. All very reminiscient (spelling?) as I lived in San Francisco in the heady days before ' high tech ' ruined the city ( in more than one way ). I was able to witness both BJM and the Dandy's when they were constantly touring the Best Coast (West) all the way up from Seattle down to San Diego. Seen them numerous times at Bottom of the Hill ( a venue so small that one can spit across the room ), yes it was that small.

Excerpt: Two decades later, when journalist, author, and Elephant Stone Records founder Ben Vendetta compared Anton's earliest work with the BJM to Spiritualized, Anton responded, ' I've got video tapes of me playing that style of music in 1981, before there was even Spacemen 3. I'm into one-note minimalism with continuous drone notes going through. That's the criteria in my composition. All of my songs have a continuous note, whether it's cranked in the mix or totally buried. '

The above statement was made earlier on in the book (page 18), rather bold ( if I might add ).

I don't think I will buy this book but certainly a good read.

KEEP MUSIC EVIL

" I once read about the evils of drinking, so I gave up reading " - Henry Youngman

Re: Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:22 pm
by sunray
Received this as a Christmas present (along with Mark Lanegan's autobiography). It's ok, worth a read but i do have some quibbles.

It could've used some extra proof-checking as there are a number of typos. I also think an index/glossary of who's who would have been beneficial, given the amount of characters involved it was easy to lose track of who they were or what their role was. Finally, a discography at the end would have been nice.
Still, like i said, it's worth a read and it got me listening to them again.

Re: Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story

Posted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 3:55 pm
by Aquarian-Time
Yeah I agree, way too many incidental people introduced, was really hard to keep track, well i couldn't really. His writing isn't too sharp, but it was a perfectly enjoyable read, seemed to skim over the 98 onwards quite quickly though, spent a long time in the formative years

Re: Keep Music Evil: The Brian Jonestown Massacre Story

Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2023 7:54 pm
by sunray
Joel has a book coming out, 'In The Jingle Jangle Jungle': https://store.whiterabbitbooks.co.uk/pr ... eq=uniform

Could be good, but i'll wait for the paperback.