[.ca] Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons Revised ... (ISBN 0312194641)

good info of minor star:
Biography of minor rock star Gram Parsons who influences many more past his death than while he was living The book does include alot of information and is not exactly focused he led an interesting life and his circumstances such as his "trust fund" being around the Stones and Emmylou Harris are interesting

ahem, there are no facts:
this is not so much a review as a query/commentary on Michele Parker's review: morphine is a analgesic or pain killer, and i dont think it can have any theraputic or curative effect on heart trouble; in fact morohine (all opiates) suppress normal respiratory function, causing asthma and other ailments. however i am not very worldly, and it may be the case that a person, specifically a celebrity could be prescribed morphine for a eczema. anyways, the book is informative and interesting. buy it and then buy some other stuff, then destroy it and buy it again.

Lived fast, died young, left some great music:
While there's a lot of his music that I've enjoyed, I've always been a little wary of the cult-of-personality that's surrounded Gram Parsons and his music. Ben Fong-Torres' biography about Parsons only reinforces this wariness; he had talent, sure, but he was also a grandmaster at screwing up the good things in his life. He had an enormous ego and an appetite for chemical recreation that seems upon reading to have been limitless. Who knows what could've happened if he'd partied a little less and moved music to the forefront of his life a little more? Fong-Torres may hold Parsons in high regard, but this doesn't prevent him from showing his subject's less admirable sides. It also doesn't prevent him from showing that when Parsons really worked at it, what resulted was some of the best music that still resonates today. "Brass Buttons," "She" and the song that gives the title for this biography are today considered to be country ballad standards of the first stripe by many, and they deserve that honor. And if he wasn't necessarily the "father" of "country rock," Parsons certainly was one of the first to show that country with a rock attitude made for some great music. All you have to do is listen to his posthumous "Grievious Angel" collection for proof of that. Fong-Torres spends less time on Parson's music than on his personal travails, but that's probably because the latter managed to undermine the former more often than not. That said, HICKORY WIND effectively displays the life of a guy who could've been a contender and, as it is, remains a lasting presence in the world of music.

Great subject matter, unfocused writing:
Gram was a fascinating character, but this book didn't really hook me the way the music does, and that's a let down. While not worthless, the writing seems extremely well researched but carelessly assembled, almost as if it were a string of magazine articles. Facts are introduced and re-introduced in an inelegant fashion, the author descends to first person unnecessarily, and jarringly illogical metaphors are stretched to the breaking point. Even more disappointing, the well collected facts and perspectives surrounding Gram's death are hard to follow and make drawing conclusions an academic exercise. Gram Parsons was a singer of rare quality and luminosity. It's a shame that such a well-researched book turns out to be so devoid of luster.

Ahem, Not all the Facts:
This book is a good introduction to the music of Gram Parsons, but not his life, however. While Fong Torres has gathered an impressive number of facts, these facts are also found elsewhere in the literature since the late 1960s. Anybody who has read Rolling Stone or any other magazine/book about music since the 60s has undoubtedly read all of these "facts." But several things stood out in my mind as being purely sensationalistic, i.e the "fight" with Clarence White--it never happened. Clarence and Gram were true friends and when Clarence had to call Gram down (nothing more than "You need to cut that out, man") for being rambunctious, that was all he had to do; Gram cooled it. Also, with all of the information out there, I cannot for the likes of me understand why the author neglected to mention that Gram had a bad heart; that being the reason he didn't go to Vietnam and also, why he was prescribed morphine. And though his lifestyle surely contributed to his early demise, it was his heart that was the true culprit. This book, more often times than not, seems only to sensationalize and dramatize the life and death of Gram Parsons. I think all due respect should be given to Gram and not needless hype.