Customer Reviews

Life in Double Time: Confessions of an American Drummer

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lankford's memoir is the best book ever written about life on the road as a musician. Not the glamorous life of the superstars, but the daily grind of living out of a van and dodging beer cans in a redneck honky-tonk. His story begins like all musicians' stories begin: practice practice practice in somebody's garage and then high school band contests, all in preparation for the big time with groupies and stardom. But Lankford takes us on the road traveled by most musicians: long drives, cold nights, minimum wage pay. His description of the time he spent as the white drummer in a black trio is rendered in prose that is both meta-physically insightful and descriptively physical. Lankford's journey is laced with violence and drugs and sex, but his language is brilliantly funny as well as graphically disturbing. If you know any kid who is beating on a drum or strumming a guitar, this is a MUST gift book. For anybody interested in the real life of a musician, this is also a MUST book. Buy it, read it, tell your friends. Lankford deserves the notice. He also has his email address listed on the cover. Write him and share your own road story.

Finally a book comes along that tells the REAL story of how 99% of the musicians in this world live! Oh joy! This is not another dribbling ode to the "genius" of some stupid adolecent drunk who got famous too fast and couldn't understand that what he was "creating" was making him rich because it was simply a marketable product. How refreshing not to read yet AGAIN about how the "purity" of the music is tainted because someone was (gasp!) making money at it. And, Mr. Lankford, you spared us from the cliche of cliches: "O.k. kid, even though it's NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE, we're gonna let you try it YOUR way. We'll probably all get fired for this, but go for it kid..." Thank you Mr. Lankford for helping the rest of the world see through all the romantic [junk] of the entertainment business and show them for what it is...a business. Those of us who work in the music industry appllaud you for enlightening readers that his is our JOB. We could be pumping gas or working at burger king, but we'd rather do this. And yes, we (gasp!) make money doing it.

Trying to get a drummer to open up is always difficult, if not impossible. This is a "behind the beat" story about a regular guy who whacks on skins. If you are a musician or If you have ever had a dream about being one, this book will help you appreciate your life as an accountant or police officer - it will also make you wish that you could go on the road with a band. Just once. Read it and chuckle through.

I almost never read a book twice, but I went back to this one and enjoyed it so much that I'm hanging onto it and I'll read it again. I'm not a drummer but I'm a musician and this book is one of the best about being on the road. Great fun.

My son, a sixteen-year-old drummer, was assigned a book report based on a biography. He has never been a big fan of reading and the thought of having to plow through a dry, boring biography was almost overwhelming to him, so he sought my help to find something interesting. I suggested we look for a biography of a musician, since that's his passion, and with any luck maybe we'd find a drummer. Early on in our search Amazon served up this book and we immediately ordered it.

I think this is probably the first book that he actually read from cover to cover. It is very well-written, and hilarious to boot. The author perfectly captures the angst of the early teen musician. My son related to the early portion of the book on so many levels. I only recently wrestled it away from my son and am thoroughly enjoying the book myself.

Kudos to the author for helping my son to actually enjoy an English assignment! I hope he has more books about life as a musician or any other topic he wishes to write about. He truly has a gift.

along with bob dylan's "chronicles volume one," this is one of the two best music books i have ever read. mr lankford writes about his experiences on the road as a white drummer in an otherwise black blues band with great skill and wonderful narrative sense. this is a completely enjoyable book that i would recommend you best read soon.

I can only echo the sentiments of other reviewers when I beg Mike Lankford to write some more.

Even if you have no interest in the subject matter, Lankford's fluid style will thrill you to the end. We start with his love affair with rock music & drumming, the numerous bands he was in as a youth and conclude with a series of anecdotes regarding his time in a small touring every-band with a couple of ageing yet highly-talented black guys who needed a drummer. Brilliant!

Mike Lankford creates such a vivid picture of life on the road that I actually feel myself being tossed about in the back of that van he writes about. My only confusion: Why haven't we gotten another book from this guy?!

Mike's book is a triumph, a deliciously honest look at life behind the traps. Because he spares himself nothing, Mike puts us smack dab in the middle of the energy and time he spent in garages and on the road. The writing is marvelously alive (some compare it to Kerouac, Exley, Mailer), but there isn't a wasted word here. The cumulative effect is to put in your hands one of those unfortunately rare books that speed you through an experience that's painfully and gorgeously real. You'll never be quite the same after your time spent with Mike Lankford.

I've loaned this book to several of my fellow musicians (most of whom have seen a little time on the road) and most of them have since bought copies for themselves. I've also recommended the book to my son, who has visions of a life in a rock band (and whom I feel hypocritical in trying to dissuade since it was my young adult dream, too). Mike's book speaks directly and honestly about the life of the journeyman musician and the danger and boredom that it entails. But at the same time, he conveys the wonder of a young teenager discovering the magic of the music. This book makes great reading for those who've been there and for those who could have been contenders.