Michael Murphy's Blog, page 11

Goodbye Emily now available for Kindle, Android, Ipad

For those with a Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire or an Ipad, Goodbye Emily is now available. If you were at Woodstock, or wish you had been, you can download Goodbye Emily now and enjoy the roadtrip back in time.

And for those with Android devices, you can also order Goodbye Emily on Google Play. For those with Ipads, it’s available through ibooks.

Here’s what others are saying about Goodbye Emily:

Author Alisha Paige:

“…a road trip full of adventure, love, laughter, fun, superstar appearances and heart-felt healing.”

Rock and Roll historian, Barry Drake:

“Despite all the well deserved hoopla about the musicians at Woodstock, the real stars of the festival were the kids in the audience. This is the story of three of them as they confront their hopes, fears, successes and failures while trying to reconcile their romantic past with their present reality.  Against all odds, the characters succeed and Michael Murphy does too, as he lovingly captures the spirit of our generation on it’s bumpy journey through middle age.”

Actor Francis Dumaurier:   Do yourself a favor” get your own copy NOW and enjoy the wonderful and “long strange trip it’s been.”

Country Joe McDonald: “Michael I just finished reading your novel and found it a fantastic read and wonderful story! It would make a terrific movie. Thanks for letting me see it. cheers, Joe.”

Wavy Gravy: “What we have in mind is a sweet look back at the good old days. We must have been in heaven, man.”

Midwest Book Review: The memories of Woodstock live on with many people in the modern day. “Goodbye Emily” is an intriguing novel following a professor as he copes with the loss of his life’s love who he met at Woodstock.  “Goodbye Emily” is a fine and much recommended addition to any literary fiction collection.

The trade paperback version of Goodbye Emily will be available in January, but can be preordered now.

 

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Goodbye Emily now available on Kindle

For those with a Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire or an Ipad, Goodbye Emily is now available. If you were at Woodstock, or wish you had been, you can download Goodbye Emily now and enjoy the roadtrip back in time.

Here’s what others are saying about Goodbye Emily:

Rock and Roll historian, Barry Drake:

“Despite all the well deserved hoopla about the musicians at Woodstock, the real stars of the festival were the kids in the audience. This is the story of three of them as they confront their hopes, fears, successes and failures while trying to reconcile their romantic past with their present reality.  Against all odds, the characters succeed and Michael Murphy does too, as he lovingly captures the spirit of our generation on it’s bumpy journey through middle age.”

Actor Francis Dumaurier:   Do yourself a favor” get your own copy NOW and enjoy the wonderful and “long strange trip it’s been.”

Country Joe McDonald: “Michael I just finished reading your novel and found it a fantastic read and wonderful story! It would make a terrific movie. Thanks for letting me see it. cheers, Joe.”

Wavy Gravy: “What we have in mind is a sweet look back at the good old days. We must have been in heaven, man.”

Midwest Book Review: The memories of Woodstock live on with many people in the modern day. “Goodbye Emily” is an intriguing novel following a professor as he copes with the loss of his life’s love who he met at Woodstock.  “Goodbye Emily” is a fine and much recommended addition to any literary fiction collection.

The trade paperback version of Goodbye Emily will be available in January, but can be preordered now.

 

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Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane

Grace Slick (yes, that’s her real name) and Jefferson Airplane were scheduled to be day 2 headliners at Woodstock. However, early on the morning of Day 3, they finally took the stage. Grace introduced the group by saying, “Alright friends, you have seen the heavy groups, now you will see morning maniac music. Believe me, yeah. It’s a new dawn.”

Born Grace Barnett Wing in 1939, Grace married Gerald Slick and they formed a rock band they called The Great Society.

Two years before Woodstock

In 1966 she joined Jefferson Airplane bringing with her two of the group’s big hits that they performed at Woodstock, “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love,” written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick.

Pioneers of San Francisco’s psychedelic rock, the group made the cover of Life Magazine in 1968. Numerous famous acts of the time became opening acts for Jefferson Airplane, including Grateful Dead, Santana, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence  Clearwater Revival, The Who and Janis Joplin who became good friends with Grace.

Many suggest the group was at its peak at Woodstock. Their songs certainly bring back memories for Woodstock Nation.

Grace Slick and the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Don’t expect a reunion involving Grace Slick. She said two years ago no one wanted to see 71-year-old rock singers. Instead she developed another artistic passion involving art and painting. Some of her most successful pieces include Woodstock images.

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Goodbye Emily ebook

Confirmed this week that next month Goodbye Emily will be available on Kindle, Nook, Google Book, iBook and other digital providers. It will be available in print in January. Here’s a brief summary:

Two years after the death of his wife Emily from cancer, a college professor faces his own life-threatening illness, broken heart syndrome. Adding to his grief, a bean counting administrator has kicked him into early retirement, his daughter is considering a dream job halfway across the county, and his only friend is a pot smoking Vietnam vet stuck in the sixties.

With one last chance to grab life by the balls, the professor plans a roadtrip to scatter his wife Emily’s ashes where they met at Woodstock. To recreate the original trip they’ll need the third tripper from back in the day, now in a nursing home with early stage Alzheimer’s. When the home refuses to allow their friend to come along, the professor and the vet bust him out, attracting the attention of the cops and the media, fascinating the public.

The roadtrip turns into a flight from “the man” and not even the professor’s defense attorney daughter can help. In a psychedelic van, the trio dodges cops in two states and a politically opportunistic worm of a prosecutor. Against all odds, they close in on their destination. Waiting are thousands of supporters and enough cops to break the professor’s heart for good.

Country Joe McDonald read it and said, “Michael I just finished reading your novel and found it a fantastic read and wonderful story! It would make a terrific movie. Thanks for letting me see it. cheers, Joe.”

Wavy Gravy said this: “What we have in mind is a sweet look back at the good old days. We must have been in heaven, man.”

You can read what others have said including the latest book reviews on the website.

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Crosby, Stills, Nash…and Young

“Suite Judy Blue Eyes” written by Stephen Stills about girlfriend, Judy Collins, “Marrakesh Express,” “Our House,” “Teach Your Children,” to name just a few of this mega group’s early hits.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young first came together at a party when Graham Nash spontaneously joined a David Crosby and Stephen Stills jam. The instant three-part harmonies went on to become a distinctive and aspect of their music that endures today.  Nash left the British pop group The Hollies, Crosby left The Byrds, and Stills, Buffalo Springfield to form what Time Magazine called rock’s first supergroup.

Crosby, Stills and Nash

Crosby and Nash blended their distinctive harmonies with Stills’s instrumental skills. They strengthened the group’s musical sound by recruiting Neil Young who joined the group in time to play Woodstock, but he preferred not to be credited or shown on film.

The quartet’s first album, laced with anti-war sentiment was Déjà Vu.

CSN&Y are known as much for their activism and anti-war efforts as much as their music. Who can forget 1971′s Ohio about the Kent State shooting, written and composed by Neil Young, “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming…”

They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Fortunately for us, the group continues to tour from time to time, sometimes with Neil Young, sometimes just the original three.

My favorite CSN&Y song is Woodstock, written by sixties folk singer Joni Mitchell (who was not at Woodstock). What’s yours?

 

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Goodbye Emily

If there are Woodstock performances you’d like to see that I’ve not yet featured, drop me a comment to this blog.

My return to Woodstock novel, Goodbye Emily, will be released by Koehler Books in January.  If you know someone who was at Woodstock or wished they had been, Emily can be preordered now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell Books, Books a Million or independent bookstores by clicking on the appropriate link in the Purchase Goodbye Emily tab on this blog, or going to my website.

Read what others are saying on my Goodbye Emily website.

 

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Sly and the Family Stone at Woodsock

Not all stories end with happy endings.

In February of 1968, Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music” became a groundbreaking hit. They followed that up with the single “Everyday People,” a protest of prejudices of all kinds. The song became the band’s first number-one hit and ensured them a place at Woodstock where in the early morning of day two they gave what many feel was one of the great performances of the festival.

Sly Stone was born Sylvester Stewart on March 15, 1944, a member of a deeply religious middle-class household from Dallas, Texas.  By 1964, Stewart became Sly Stone, and worked as a disc jockey for San Francisco R&B radio station KSOL and as a music producer for Autumn records.

In 1966 Sly formed Sly and the Stoners. In 1967 brothers Sly and singer/guitarist, Freddie Stone, combined their bands to become Sly and the Family Stone, unique at the time due to their racial and gender diversity. The group released its first Album in 1967. The album’s critical success was not matched by sales. Then came 1968, a string of hits and the huge success and acclaim at Woodstock.

Unfortunately the group began to splinter. They finally broke up in 1975, due to professional differences and like many groups of the era, drug use. Today Sly continues financial and personal struggles.

But like so many other groups, their music lives on. The group recorded five top ten hits. Their four ground-breaking albums greatly influenced the sound of American pop, soul, R&B, funk and hip hop. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

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Midwest Book Review of Goodbye Emily

A review of my return to Woodstock novel, Goodbye Emily,by Midwest Book Review:

The memories of Woodstock live on with many people in the modern day. “Goodbye Emily” is an intriguing novel following a professor as he copes with the loss of his life’s love who he met at Woodstock. With age catching up with him and with others he still knows from the day, they seek one last trip to remember themselves and their lives into the twilight. “Goodbye Emily” is a fine and much recommended addition to any literary fiction collection.

Midwest Book Review

It’s been an honor to hear what Country Joe McDonald, Wavy Gravy, Francis Dumaurier and Barry Drake have said about my return to Woodstock novel, Goodbye Emily. You can read their comments on the tabs above.

I wanted to share the latest review of the novel.  You can read what others say on the Goodbye Emily Reviews on the tab above, or check out the Goodbye Emily website.

Michael Murphy

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Creedence Clearwater Revival

Today’s trivia questions are who was Credence Nuball and what did he have to do with Woodstock? How did Creedence Clearwater Revival get its name? How many number one hits did the group have? Read on for the answers.

During the early night hours on day two of Woodstock, CCR took the stage before a sleepy Woodstock crowd who had just finished mellowing out to an arduously long performance by the Grateful Dead.  Because of their exploding success in 1969, Credence Clearwater Revival was one of Woodstock headliners, but many people today don’t even realize they performed at all. Lead singer John Fogerty didn’t feel the performance was up to par and refused to have it included in the 1970 documentary Woodstock  or its original soundtrack.  Many rock historians disagree and four songs from their performance were included in the 1994 commemorative box set.

In high school in 1959, John Fogerty and Doug Clifford discovered a mutual love of the blues, R&B and rock and roll. Not satisfied with the sound, they invited Doug’s friend Stu Cook to join. Later, John’s older brother Tom, a vocalist convinced the group to let him join.

The group changed their name to Creedence Clearwater Revival, taking three elements from, first, Tom Fogerty’s friend Credence Nuball (they added an e to imply a creed of sorts); second, “clear water” from a TV commercial for Olympia beer and finally “revival”, which spoke to the four members’ renewed commitment to their band.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, was progressive and anchored to historic rock roots at the same time. An unapologetic throwback to the golden era of rock and roll, they broke ranks with their peers on the progressive, psychedelic San Francisco scene. Their approach was basic and uncompromising, holding true to the band members’ working-class origins.

The group exploded in popularity in 1969 with three albums.  Their debut, Creedence Clearwater Revival peaked at #52. Bayou Country peaked at #7, largely on the strength of the monster hit single, “Proud Mary.” That tune topped out at #2 on the charts, beginning of a long history of songs by the band that go shut out of the top spot on the chart. The third LP of the year, Green River released in August, also hit #7, the song “Bad Moon Rising” peaking at #2.

In 1969 and 1970, the group was the most popular rock and roll band in America. In spite of seven top ten hits, they never had a number one song.

After ten years of struggle, and two years of astonishing success, dissension spread throughout the band. In 1970 Tom left the group and CCR called it quits in 1972. They were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

John Fogerty was not speaking with his brother when Tom Fogerty died in 1990. Now, after years of bad blood with his old bandmates, Fogerty, who continues to tour, has softened his position on the possibility of  a Creedence Clearwater Revival reunion saying he no longer feels an intense bitterness toward bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford. Although Cook and Clifford have been less receptive to a reunion, fans like me who frequently refers to CCR’s Woodstock performance in Goodbye Emily, can only hope.

John Fogerty

 

 

 

 

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Rock historian Barry Drake reviews Goodbye Emily

Rock and Roll historian, Barry Drake has often been called a walking encyclopedia of Rock and Roll.  As a performer and songwriter, he’s played alongside Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix, Emmylou Harris, Loudon Wainwright III, Richie Havens and James Taylor in the clubs of New York’s Greenwich Village. Here’s his review of my upcoming novel, Goodbye Emily.

“Despite all the well deserved hoopla about the musicians at Woodstock, the real stars of the festival were the kids in the audience. This is the story of three of them as they confront their hopes, fears, successes and failures while trying to reconcile their romantic past with their present reality.  Against all odds, the characters succeed and Michael Murphy does too, as he lovingly captures the spirit of our generation on it’s bumpy journey through middle age.”  Barry Drake – Singer / Songwriter / Rock & Roll Historian

 

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