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

Big Steve was there and he tells a good story, a must read for any dead head

Fun read. Parish stays focused on his perspective as a roadie and how that was an integral part of Garcia work as musician. But enough on the music and the Dead and anecdotes on personalities that appear truthful from Parish perspective. He writes with clarity and authority and accuracy and confidence so reader knows this is his perspective. This is very well done. There are more than enough of the drugs largesse of everyone including Parish and similarly he details his compulsion and sex addiction so the reader is both entertained and gets a whiff of the emotional psychological cost he felt he paid. He absolves himself of spending decades with a deteriorating addict Garcia and laments he could not do more. A lot more because he loved him so much. However the social dysfunction a performing unit endures suffers celebrates and grows to live in becomes a normal that does not allow for and absolves members of any kind of straight conversation. It could not take place because everyone cannot point a finger when they are all guilty. Or so the dynamic plays in the minds of the group. This is fascinating. And sad. As a deadhead since 1977 I have a deep affection for the band and Garcia in particular. He was a brilliant musician mind human being and I never tire of his art or ideas.

Parish was a long and loyal servant to the Dead. He was never going to write a lurid, tell-all type of book (nor a definitive history). Nevertheless, there is no shortage of sex, drugs and near-death experiences here. It's an exhilarating ride at times. One should know going in that this story is as much about the author's life as it is about the Dead. But it works because a) his own life story is pretty wild and compelling (and tragic) on its own, and b) his entire adult life was spent with the Dead on their journey, so the subtitle ("My Life on the Road With The Dead") is very much what you get. Yes, you also get some insight into the enigma that was Jerry Garcia but not a ton; Parish seemed to be as close to Jerry as anyone (they went to Hawaii and learned to scuba dive together, for example) but, in the later years, we learn that nobody was really that close to Jerry because of the natural distance created by his drug addiction. The one disappointment is the almost complete lack of gear chat. As Garcia’s personal roadie and guitar tech, one might have expected a little more insight into Jerry's rig and choice of guitars over the years. But that info is all available elsewhere in considerable detail, I guess.One final caveat: If you only want to read one book about the Dead, this is probably not the one to get. On the other hand, if you're a serious Deadhead and/or have read 1-2 other Dead books, then this is a really enjoyable (and relatively-fast) companion read that will color in parts left by other books. Indeed, while I was initially frustrated with the author's focus on himself (come on, man, tell me about the Dead!), I quickly became engrossed in his tale and learned more about the true Grateful Dead lifestyle than any other books have been able to tell--even those written by band members.

Very interesting insights not history and relationships of Grateful Dead. Gives a good account of life within the Grateful Dead band and family:

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.

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

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.

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

Steve was probably closer to Jerry than anybody. It was good to hear his honest and humble account. Maybe a little more about his womanizing then I cared to read about but it was his reality.