The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon [Paperback]

John Joseph (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2007

In his new autobiography, NYHC legend John Bloodclot Joseph recounts his hard times and spiritual redemption. A traumatic childhood in foster homes was just the beginning of John's evolution. Before fronting one of the most important bands in the underground punk scene, the Cro-Mags, John faced homelessness, addiction, betrayal and insanity. Still, even his success couldn't save him from a relapse that set him back to square one - rock bottom. The book is a raw and unapologetic autobiography about his life. Consider yourself warned.

Editorial Reviews

Review

John Joseph's reality is the stuff that Hollywood lives for. But after the cameras are gone and the soundtrack goes platinum, there stands a man who's character is far taller and more Technicolor than any trifling Tinseltown tale. After reading The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, one understands the multiple harsh environments that created some of the most hardcore music ever. It's Mr. Joseph's sensitivity and his magnificent ability to make light of the heavy, however, that helps us to understand how complicated we all must be to survive the storms. Still, word to the wise: don't tread on he! --Sacha Jenkins - Vibe Magazine, July 2007

This book kicked my ass. I have known Bloodclot (aka John Joseph) for many years. We know each other from around the NYC hardcore/punk scene. He was always cool with me but until I read this book, his autobiography, I had no idea about his background, about how he grew up. As I read the first few chapters, tears welled up in my eyes. A lot of people talk about coming from the streets, when Bloodclot says it, sh*t is real. I have tremendous respect for John, all that he's endured, and who he's become, and I would recommend this book to anyone in a heartbeat. So if you want to remember what New York City was like in the 70's and 80's, if you are interested in selling fake acid at Madison Square Garden, or dressing up like Santa Claus in a wheelchair to hustle money for the Hari Krishnas, or for that matter, if you are just interested in some of the best of the 8 billion stories that New York City has to offer, put a read on this. --Adam Yauch (MCA) - Beastie Boys, May 2007

We should start with the time John 'Bloodclot' Joseph dressed up as a retarded, wheelchair-bound Santa Claus and scammed horrified Staten Island shopping-mall patrons on behalf of the Hare Krishnas. In his memoir, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, Joseph claims to have made $3,000 in just one week this way, mortified mothers flinging $10 bills at him if he'd just go away, while distraught, teary-eyed children demanded to know what was wrong with Santa. Lots of things were wrong with Santa. This colossal, at least mildly appalling act of deception (Joseph is not disabled physically or mentally, and Evolution makes clear that, at least onstage with his beloved New York hardcore band, the Cro-Mags, he was thoroughly intolerant of jolliness) is probably not the moral low point of his life. His riveting autobiography is a profoundly seedy affair: boyhood abuse while in foster care, a drug- and violence-addled adolescence on the streets of apocalyptic '70s New York, 15 years or so AWOL from the Navy, myriad Hare Krishna related improprieties, a brief but vivid stint fronting quite possibly the most physically terrifying band in New York City history, and, just for the hell of it, on page 377, crack addiction. Joseph has survived all this, and is understandably proud. Regarding the retarded-Santa ploy, he is understandably regretful, but not for the reasons you'd expect... Read more at villagevoice.com, search 'bloodclot'. --Rob Harvilla - Village Voice, April 2008

John Joseph's reality is the stuff that Hollywood lives for. But after the cameras are gone and the soundtrack goes platinum, there stands a man who's character is far taller and more Technicolor than any trifling Tinseltown tale. After reading The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, one understands the multiple harsh environments that created some of the most hardcore music ever. It's Mr. Joseph's sensitivity and his magnificent ability to make light of the heavy, however, that helps us to understand how complicated we all must be to survive the storms. Still, word to the wise: don't tread on he! --Sacha Jenkins - Vibe Magazine, July 2007

We should start with the time John 'Bloodclot' Joseph dressed up as a retarded, wheelchair-bound Santa Claus and scammed horrified Staten Island shopping-mall patrons on behalf of the Hare Krishnas. In his memoir, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon, Joseph claims to have made $3,000 in just one week this way, mortified mothers flinging $10 bills at him if he'd just go away, while distraught, teary-eyed children demanded to know what was wrong with Santa. Lots of things were wrong with Santa. This colossal, at least mildly appalling act of deception (Joseph is not disabled physically or mentally, and Evolution makes clear that, at least onstage with his beloved New York hardcore band, the Cro-Mags, he was thoroughly intolerant of jolliness) is probably not the moral low point of his life. His riveting autobiography is a profoundly seedy affair: boyhood abuse while in foster care, a drug- and violence-addled adolescence on the streets of apocalyptic '70s New York, 15 years or so AWOL from the Navy, myriad Hare Krishna related improprieties, a brief but vivid stint fronting quite possibly the most physically terrifying band in New York City history, and, just for the hell of it, on page 377, crack addiction. Joseph has survived all this, and is understandably proud. Regarding the retarded-Santa ploy, he is understandably regretful, but not for the reasons you'd expect... Read more at villagevoice.com, search 'bloodclot'. --Rob Harvilla - Village Voice, April 2008

Product Details

• Paperback: 428 pages
• Publisher: PUNKHOuse; 1st edition (December 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0980065704
• ISBN-13: 978-0980065701
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #329,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Crazy, at times definitely disturbing Ride, February 24, 2009

By 

Mountainman72 (California) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon (Paperback)

Being a long time Cro-Mags Fan and lucky enough to see them in the old days I had to read this book!
John Joseph's life took me on a crazy emotional ride! At first I felt horrible for him for all the terror he went through as a abandoned child living in foster homes with his brothers. People like the Valentis should be locked up for life, for the crimes they commited.
After that part of his life and when he is getting into his teens, I started feeling horrible for everybody else who had to deal with John, because as a result of his troubled childhood, he became a pest for anyone who had to deal with him and he constantly blows all chances that were given to him. Instead violence, drugs and scamming people became his way of life. Or better his way of survival in the hellish place New York must have been in the 70's and early 80's. You get a pretty good picture of the place. But actually living through all these crazy things, surpasses my worst nightmare.

Amazon is right letting us know that this book is unapologetic and raw and that we should consider ourselves warned. Johns writing style is straight out and full of slang and the fact that he almost never makes a statement that certain things were just a step too far is disturbing to me too, as another reviewer mentioned. Where he (other reviewer) takes the example of John and his brother, scamming their Indian landlord out of months worth of rent, there are plenty more earlier in the book. There is the story where he watches one of his lowlife hangouts smashes a broken bottle through this girls face without any reaction from him.
On another occasion he knock's out his younger brother to get in his mothers house. Frank their younger brother was trying to live with their mom at the time and had strict instructions to not let John and his older brother into the house, because they knew how out of control they were, but they tricked him to open the door anyway. By telling him that they had to use the toilet and this: "Frank we love you, we would never do anything to get you in trouble. We promise.", after Frank opens the door John knocks him out and they eat and steal everything in sight. As a result Frank is sent to another Foster home. At the end of this story he writes "which made E (his older brother) and me laugh"). That's it, without any comment he just moves on to the next story. Now of course you have to see, they were homeless, dirty, hungry, angry teenagers who felt all the terror and abuse they endured in their life, was their moms fault for giving them away. But I couldn't help but think, come on man, it's your brother!
Now this book is full of gnarly, gnarly stories, but a few stood out to me as especially cold hearted. And throughout the whole book you get the feeling that he is very proud of his fighting and scamming skills. I can understand that he is proud to have survived all those years living on the streets, but as you get older, shouldn't you realize that a lot of the stuff was very stupid, not cool or very wrong. Almost nothing of such realization in this book. He does throw in positive comments how thing could be made better for the unfortunate.
He ripped off so many people in his life, that it almost came as a surprise to me that on the other hand he complains quite a bit about the fact that he never received a single penny for all he did with the Cro-Mags and got completely ripped off by their manager and later even by his own bandmates. I do feel bad for him, but talk about karma.

Most of the book has a high tempo and is an exciting read, I only got bored after pages of pages of describing all the scamming techniques during his time as krsna devotee. It just became too repetitive. I agree with most other reviewers that the Cro-Mags part of the book is not even the most interesting in the whole book, but in my opinion the Cro-Mags part of the book is also way too short. After all it's the reason why he became a person of interest around the world. I would have liked more. I understand that he didn't want to fuel the whole ridicoulous beef between his old bandmates, but more insight in the band and the New York Hardcore scene in those days would have been great.

But don't get me wrong, I do think it is amazing that John Joseph overcame all these hardships and drug addictions, reveals his life in this book and finds closure with his mom and other issues and that he became such a positive member of society and does so many good things these days and still kicks ass with his Cro-Mags Jam at his age.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, April 11, 2008

By 

Mark Rinker (Lehigh Valley, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon (Paperback)

I picked up this book because I've been a Cro-Mags fan for a while and always found them somewhat fascinating, the exteremely influential New York hardcore band associated just as much with violence and agression as with Hare Krishna philosophies. Admittedly, when I got the book and saw how big it was, I found myself a little intimidated; John Joseph could definitely sing and write lyrics, but I had no idea if he could write an interesting four-hundred-plus page book.

What I found was that John could definitely write, and pretty damn well. The book starts out with a fast pace, which continues straight through to the end, and really just gets better and better as the story unravels. John writes about his childhood, homeless living on the streets, his time in the Navy, time with the Hare Krishnas, and naturally, the Cro-Mags. I would agree with the review above that the Cro-Mags section of the story isn't even the most interesting of the many stories in this book.

Between anecdotes, John talks about his spirituality and beliefs regarding religion, the after-life, and life philosophies. These sections blend very easily with the episodic moments in the book and with the longer stories. His outlook and message are very positive, and I would recommend this book to just about anybody, not just hardcore or Cro-Mags fans.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing read, June 27, 2008

By 

S. Rogers "shadowmoon5" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon (Paperback)

I just finished this up today and was wiped out. I approached this as a " interesting read " being a Cro-Mags fan and also a Vaisnava. What I walked away with was so much more, This book is raw and rough to read at times. It is an inspiring look at an amazing soul and I am thankful it was written.