Living the Blues: Canned Heat's Story of Music, Drugs, Death, Sex and Survival

By Fito de la Parra

Book Overview

This is the true story of the Canned Heat Band's psychedelic hippie days as lived by Adolfo "Fito" De La Parra, a man who never forgot how to boogie and still escaped with his life! This is his story,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0967644909
• ISBN13: 9780967644905
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Canned Heat Music
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

the saga of a deranged band

Being a serious blues player and fan I've never been partial to Canned Heat's music though I'm pretty familiar with it. I did buy the LP Hooker and Heat, which I like. Alan Wilson was a fine harp player for sure and John Lee Hooker was in good form. I'm not going to run out to buy any Canned Heat CDs now, but after having read this book I'm sorry that I never heard Canned Heat live. I once read a comment about Son House to the effect that he doesn't play the blues, he IS the blues. Canned Heat, more than any act in history, based on Fito's account, lived the blues. These poor devils went through a seemingly never ending litany of tragedy, death, injustice and suffering in their incredibly long existence (which continues to this day) and yet they survived. That, after all, is what the blues is all about. Surviving tragedy with strength, humor, love, and often drugs and/or alcohol IS the blues. Few blues performers (and no bands) have paid the dues that Canned Heat has paid. This makes Canned Heat pretty special in my opinion. Fito's account of the band's journey through the ups and downs of life and show biz is heartfelt, wise, funny and very well written. The book is the best rock biography I've read in a long time, maybe ever. I found myself really caring about the members of the band including the many who only briefly joined and left. The accounts of self-destructive core members Bob Hite, Alan Wilson and Henry Vestine are tragic and inspiring at the same time. Fito doesn't pull any punches when discussing any aspect of the band, it's members or the many managers, wives, girlfriends, bar owners and fans that the band came in contact with. He's a wise soul who understands human nature very well and it comes out in every page of this informative and entertaining book.

Genuinely Fascinating Account of the Band with Blues `n Rock's Highest Mortality Rate

This privately published account of blues-boogie band Canned Heat is the best book in its genre. It's sure a lot better written than I thought it would be. Living the Blues really captures the essence of what it must have been like to be in a top-touring act back in that era. I caught the band back in its Woodstock heyday and, luckily, in some its more recent versions. All of the original front-men: singer Bob "The Bear" Hite, lead guitarist Henry "Sunflower" Vestine and slide guitarist Al "Blind Owl" Wilson have long ago gone for their dirt naps. So have Vestine's replacement Hollywood Fats and talented keyboardist Ronnie Barron. In the book, Canned Heat seems to kill `em as fast as they join up. Living the Blues has lots of great stories and characters. Like the time the obese singer Hite let loose a fart so incredibly foul during a contract negotiation that the record execs dropped the band from its label on the spot. And how Vestine, who spent most his adult life dedicated to playing music originated and written by black people, evolved into a heroin addled white supremacist. Somehow the book's author and the band's original bass player Larry Taylor manage to periodically put together functioning line-ups of itinerant bluesmen and take their show on the road. Sometimes these versions of Canned Heat are even better than the original. (Listen to the CD "Reheated", a really terrific blues album.) Living the Blues is a true story of musician survivorship....aside from all those dead guys.

Deliciously Sleazy

This is a no-holes-barred account of the very wild lifestyle of our nation's premiere boogie band. Notice I didn't say "lavish" lifestyle. The story of Canned Heat is anything but lavish! This is a down and dirty story. For all their fame, Canned Heat never did have a whole lot of money- hence touring in busses rather than planes. And what money they did have was spent on drugs and women. They partied till they dropped, leaving two lead vocalist in their wake. The sex with groupies is described in lurid detail, but nothing was written to titillate. It's right there, in your face, and it all rings true- but it sounds more empty than exciting. Maybe that's how Fito got by with writing a book describing every wretched excess in exacting detail with nary an apology in sight. He doesn't try to excuse his or his band members behavior. He doesn't have to. Seeing once vibrant men destroyed at the end of their careers, or dead, is warning enough. Fito is a gifted writer. He paints such a vivid picture of what is like to be a member of the group in it's glory days that not only can you get a picture of what is going on, you can actually smell it. One band member was sitting off stage when his teeth became to arbitrarily fall out of his mouth, one by one. I guess that's what years of hard drug use and neglect will get you. He goes on to play on stage in a chair- too stoned to stand. He dies shortly thereafter. The lead singer, the voice you hear on "On The Road Again" and "Goin' Up The Country" was described as being such a stoner, and having such terrible hygiene, that he was the only person alive that could be the lead voice on a number one record and still not be able to get a woman! This same singer opted to sleep outside in the grass by himself rather than join the rest of the band in their Hotel accomadations. What a great book. The band soldiered on with no original members left except for Fito, the author, who came aboard with their second album. Not an original member, but he did play on the hits. His story is the bands story. One of lost potential. and of wasted talent. They burned themselves out way too fast, barely existing today. But it sounds like they had a ball doing it. This book has such a "60's" feel to it. But Fito made the wise choice of not looking back on the bands heyday with rose colored glasses. This is a "warts and all" story with the emphasis on the warts. Also interesting is that the story doesn't end. Fito is still touring and recording with the what seems to be the 750th version of Canned Heat. He laments that the band isn't considered to be vital anymore. (He quotes some magazines, including "Rolling Stone" as saying the band disbanded in the 70's.) Most would agree that the Fito-led Canned Heat hasn't mattered for years. My own feeling is that the band died with Bob Hite, but Fito has conviction in his arguments that the band is still viable. Even though I recommend this book, I must warn you that you will fe

IF YOU DON'T BUY THIS BOOK....

All I have to say is that if you don't own this book by now, then you should rush out to the nearest store and buy the newest Creed, Sublime, or some other "Alternative" cd, and worse yet, be forced to listen to it!! I want to say that I finally have defined what they mean by "alternative": an alternative to music! And don't ever talk about "understanding Rock n Roll, Blues and Boogie" again, because Canned Heat WROTE THE BOOK ON THE HARDSHIPS AND HEARTACHES OF BEING ON THE ROAD. This book proves that there could NEVER be another Woodstock after the legendary 1969 gathering, and there WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER BAND LIKE CANNED HEAT. Fito and the Heat are still entertaining audiences with their quality brand of Boogie and Blues. BUY EVERYTHING THEY HAVE EVER RELEASED AND EVERYTHING THEY WILL RELEASE IN THE FUTURE. The Boogie House Tapes...IS ALSO AN ESSENTIAL PURCHASE. DON'T FORGET TO BOOGIE!

An honest view behind the curtains of the music biz

"Living The Blues" straight became my No.1 music biography - and, believe me, I've read many of those. A definate MUST BUY for anyone who wants to get to know the truth about life on the road and the merciless music business. This book offers a deep view into the hearts & souls of the musicians as well as an authentic and honest report of a band which survived the psychedelic 60's, the rocking 70's, the waved 80's and the over-technological 90's - well prepared to take the Boogie into the new century. The true story is told in an entertaining manner including a lot of macabre humour (probably that's what one needs at most to be able to still carry on after being on the road more than 35 years). Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll at it's best. Lots of trouble and tragic, lots of crazyness and fun. A deep insight into the legendary band who is responsible for the Woodstock hymn "Going Up The Country". --- They are still on the road, hot like usual: CANNED HEAT! --- "Once you got the Boogie you will never lose it." How true. Thank you, Fito. Hopefully your book inspires other musicians to share their lifes and experiences with the "ordinary world"! ---