Loren, Richard

High Notes: A Rock Memoir

Damariscotta, ME: East Pond Publishing, 2014. First Trade Softcover Edition. Softcover. “This witty, generous, intimate, and touching memoir of a rock life is a must-read for all fans of the Grateful Dead, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and, yes, Liberace. It’s also an inspiring tale of personal transformation. Richard Loren’s book is a trip worth taking!” (Charles Lindholm, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Boston University). As the above-quoted blurb (one of many, I should add) relays, the story of Richard Loren is just one of those Forrest-Gumpian, “Magic-of-the-Sixties” type lives. You know, the kind of story where somebody who seems like they were “just along for the ride” ends up—typically by some force of enthusiasm for the music of the era—at all the right places in all the right times, rubbing shoulders with history for a bright-burning moment before fading back into obscurity? This is one such book—and like most of them, they don’t disappoint. Biographers can learn so much from the kind of behind-the-scenes reportage figures like Richard Loren have to share—there are a million ways in which a small (or seemingly insignificant) anecdote can shape our entire understanding of an artist or a movement. This book is chock-full of such anecdotes, and all its readers will have their understanding of the era sharpened because of it. Foreword by Folk-&-Bluegrass legend, David Grisman—best known for his work with the Grateful Dead. You know those beautiful mandolin parts on “Ripple” of “American Beauty” — yeah, that’s David Grisman we have to thank for the transcendent tremolo-picking measures in the chorus! Grisman’s presence, surely enriches the bona-fides of Loren’s value-adding memoir. First Trade Softcover Edition, although not explicated as such on copyright page; presumed first printing, with no reference to subsequent printings thereon. In very fine condition with only minute shelf-wear, light bumping, rubbing to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; moderate, since-flattened bump-crease at/to top right-hand corner of front cover; else pristine. Very Fine. [Item #5352]

Price: $15.00