Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon
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Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream Paperback – April 30, 2014
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"David McGowan is among the smartest and funniest researcher/writers in our intrepid Alternative Media." -- Revolutionary
About the Author
David McGowan was born and raised in Torrance, California, just twenty miles south of Laurel Canyon. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in psychology and has, since 1990, run a small business in the greater Los Angeles area. Currently single, he is the proud father of three daughters. He is also a lifelong music fan who still frequently keeps his radio tuned to classic rock stations. McGowan's previous books include Programmed to Kill: The Politics of Serial Murder, and Understanding the F-Word: American Fascism and the Politics of Illusion. Still at home in LA, he can be reached at davemcgowan@roadrunner.com
More About the Author
David McGowan was born and raised in Torrance, California, just twenty miles south of Laurel Canyon. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in psychology and has, since 1990, run a small business in the greater Los Angeles area. Currently single, he is the proud father of three daughters. He is also a lifelong music fan who still frequently keeps his radio tuned to classic rock stations. McGowan's books include Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream, Programmed to Kill: The Politics of Serial Murder, and Understanding the F-Word: American Fascism and the Politics of Illusion. Still at home in LA, he can be reached at davemcgowan@roadrunner.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 53 people found the following review helpful
By
damian
on May 10, 2014
Format: Paperback
2 Comments
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Digging into the paradox that is popular culture, the construction of reality and the marketing of dreams - this is the fertile compost heap of Dave McGowan. The inversion of idealism and the necromancy of normality. Tough stuff. Are you prepared to question your assumptions, to swallow the bitter pill?
I paid particular attention in Dave's online chronicles ( back when I first came across the Laurel Canyon story on his site) to the song by The Eagles - Hotel California which he mentions. The 'you can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave' matter of fact Faustian allegory within the lyrics. This is the 'deal with the devil' that Dave clarifies with his pugnacious research and humour. The very nature of the American entertainment empire. Under it's facade - is blood and poison and death.
Nothing new for many of you - but the autopsy of the putrid pizza aftermath is entertainingly reconstituted in Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon. It maps the contours not merely of the historical discrepancies of a part of Los Angeles known to all Hollywood insiders but busts open the farce that is 'alternative cultural history'. Anyone who values inside stories of the eponymous 60's & 70's will garner much truth from Dave's book. It is an essential lesson in questioning the paradigms of today by looking at the reality behind the mythologies of the past. All the more poignant because so many people put the 'characters' of that time on a pedestal. It is great read for those of us who need to be reminded of the constructed nature of idols. Be they musicians or actors & actresses. In this contemporary gilded haze, Dave's book brings an important element of sobriety to the inflated significance of these icons and exposes the 'bad jelly' greasing the worlds of fame. Namely, the covert operations to control the psychological belief systems of society. An important work, read it.
I paid particular attention in Dave's online chronicles ( back when I first came across the Laurel Canyon story on his site) to the song by The Eagles - Hotel California which he mentions. The 'you can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave' matter of fact Faustian allegory within the lyrics. This is the 'deal with the devil' that Dave clarifies with his pugnacious research and humour. The very nature of the American entertainment empire. Under it's facade - is blood and poison and death.
Nothing new for many of you - but the autopsy of the putrid pizza aftermath is entertainingly reconstituted in Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon. It maps the contours not merely of the historical discrepancies of a part of Los Angeles known to all Hollywood insiders but busts open the farce that is 'alternative cultural history'. Anyone who values inside stories of the eponymous 60's & 70's will garner much truth from Dave's book. It is an essential lesson in questioning the paradigms of today by looking at the reality behind the mythologies of the past. All the more poignant because so many people put the 'characters' of that time on a pedestal. It is great read for those of us who need to be reminded of the constructed nature of idols. Be they musicians or actors & actresses. In this contemporary gilded haze, Dave's book brings an important element of sobriety to the inflated significance of these icons and exposes the 'bad jelly' greasing the worlds of fame. Namely, the covert operations to control the psychological belief systems of society. An important work, read it.
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful
By
C. Singleton
on May 8, 2014
Format: Kindle Edition
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Dave McGowan is a writer whose credibility is stamped on every page. I have all of Dave's previous books, too. In them, as in this one, he returns as if from some archeological dig of the USA's collective history with the damnedest stories and characters. This time he has outdone even his own "Programmed to Kill" which also serves as this book's perfect companion as the material is related. So if you haven't yet read PtK, there is no better time than now.
Everyone knows about the Manson murders and the Family. We have all heard about how they had some connection to one or another of the Beach Boys. And while most people would stop there with a, "Hm. What a weird coincidence," Dave says, "Hold on just a sec." Then he shows you more. And that example is not even a good one. Dave will give you many better and far more obscure ones, and then explore their implications.
This book takes us back to the 60's (although we visit other periods as well), time of the Doors and The Byrds, the Beatles and Frank Zappa. The era of Fonda and Brando, Hopper and Dean. Also the Vietnam War (or was it police action?) and the CIA's most infamous abuses. Instead of just parroting the same old anecdotes, Dave traces the relationships between the Rock and Roll scene (especially that which started in Laurel Canyon), Hollywood's movie makers, and the intelligence community. And believe me, there are far too many of these connections to just dismiss them. He also explores the family trees of many of the 60s' biggest rock stars and actors and exposes a very interesting detail they all share. Along the way he notes and ties in death after strange death left in the wake of this scene as well as one coincidence after another.Read more ›
Everyone knows about the Manson murders and the Family. We have all heard about how they had some connection to one or another of the Beach Boys. And while most people would stop there with a, "Hm. What a weird coincidence," Dave says, "Hold on just a sec." Then he shows you more. And that example is not even a good one. Dave will give you many better and far more obscure ones, and then explore their implications.
This book takes us back to the 60's (although we visit other periods as well), time of the Doors and The Byrds, the Beatles and Frank Zappa. The era of Fonda and Brando, Hopper and Dean. Also the Vietnam War (or was it police action?) and the CIA's most infamous abuses. Instead of just parroting the same old anecdotes, Dave traces the relationships between the Rock and Roll scene (especially that which started in Laurel Canyon), Hollywood's movie makers, and the intelligence community. And believe me, there are far too many of these connections to just dismiss them. He also explores the family trees of many of the 60s' biggest rock stars and actors and exposes a very interesting detail they all share. Along the way he notes and ties in death after strange death left in the wake of this scene as well as one coincidence after another.Read more ›
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40 of 45 people found the following review helpful
By
Killascript
on May 8, 2014
Format: Paperback
1 Comment
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As can be gleaned from the opening of the book, what started as a set of website posts/articles, over a period of over 5 years, has caught fire and become "Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon", which begs the question, "Did the hippie, sex, drugs and rock and roll, free love, whatever the hell you want to call it scene" rise up organically as an affront to the status quo... or did the US intelligence machinery implant this phenomenon into Southern California (spreading up to SF thereafter) so to distract any anti-war/anti-government fervor and turn it into a mess so it could never get the traction it needed to make any difference....
Well that is a loose question of what the book proposes... but also, what the hell was going on there?
First off, almost every "musician" and band member has family ties to US intelligence or the military, there was a secret military installation/movie studio where all sorts of covert who knows what was going on there (moon landing anyone, my words, not the author's) and then there is the, you know, fact that everyone seems to be coming up dead... ties to Charles Manson, ties to drug trafficking...
Too much "coincidence" to fend off... it'd be easier to run through a swarm of zombies than not read this book and understand that with everyone who had connections to this scene coming up dead in straight up murder or mysterious circumstances and they all have connections the CIA or some other top level intelligence group, you have to wonder...Read more ›
Well that is a loose question of what the book proposes... but also, what the hell was going on there?
First off, almost every "musician" and band member has family ties to US intelligence or the military, there was a secret military installation/movie studio where all sorts of covert who knows what was going on there (moon landing anyone, my words, not the author's) and then there is the, you know, fact that everyone seems to be coming up dead... ties to Charles Manson, ties to drug trafficking...
Too much "coincidence" to fend off... it'd be easier to run through a swarm of zombies than not read this book and understand that with everyone who had connections to this scene coming up dead in straight up murder or mysterious circumstances and they all have connections the CIA or some other top level intelligence group, you have to wonder...Read more ›
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