Customer Reviews

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

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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 feel like taking a shower after reading it. It's a raw, dirty and sweaty account of Canned Heat's history- and Fito isn't shy about showing himself or the band in a less than flattering light- but's is also entertaining as hell- and very informative.

It answers some questions, such as how does the ownership of a band name fall into it's drummers possession. How ethical is it to tour under that name with two sound-alike lead vocalists because the original two lead vocalists are dead?

What a great book. Fantastic job, Fito. You sure know how to tell a story!

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.

A comprehensive review of the life and times of Canned Heat. Adolfo de la Parra, its longterm drummer, notes that the band never broke-up - it just stopped to rest every now and then. Two core founding members died from substance abuse (Henry Vestine and Bob Hite) and one from, ultimately, a broken heart (Alan Wilson).

Fito recounts their bad business decisions, substance abuse and just bad luck. Still, with all of the personnel changes it survives. Fito is a Mexico City university graduate - and as such was an unusual choice for a bandmate. Ironic that he is the one constant link - the other founder, bassist Larry Taylor (who Fito says is the best blues bassist) has been in and out of the lineup numerous times.

If you have kept up with the band - if you want to remember their heyday in the late 60's to early 70's - or are just intrigued, pick up a copy. It'll be a good decision.

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!

"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"! ---

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.

In one of the later chapters of this book, the author, Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra, Canned Heat's drummer, survivor and faithful torch carrier quotes biker magazine Easyriders, who writes: "If the music industry ever decides to award a Grammy for guts, heart, pride, and sheer determination, that award should go to Canned Heat hands down." After reading this book, one can take this quote one step further and apply it to Fito himself, who, after establishing himself as a minor superstar in his native Mexico, made his way across the border to eventually land the gig with country-blues rock champions Canned Heat in late '67, seeing them through their glory days, sharing bills with bands who went on to achieve mythical status like The Doors and partaking in era-defining cultural events like Woodstock, while also living through the deaths of the band's two founding members - Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson and Bob "The Bear" Hite - along with other key members like guitarist Henry "Sunflower" Vestine - as well as run-ins with the law, recurring financial troubles, mismanagement, failed marriages, innumerable personnel changes, and a mercurial musical climate that often found their hard-nosed, in-your-face, take no prisoners blues-styled boogie rock out of step with the times.

Like many rock and roll reads, the road traveled by Fito and his compatriots is seldom smooth, and can often be downright soul-destroying. This isn't to say they didn't have a lot of fun along the way, as Fito relates, often in lurid detail, many scenes of demolition and debauchery one would expect from a band of Canned Heat's time and ilk. Suffice it to say, they partook in all the excesses characteristic of rock and roll hedonism, and then some, sometimes to hilarious, but often to tragic, consequences.

But through it all, Fito, who often himself indulged in the band's Saturnalian shenanigans, always seemed blessed (or cursed?) with the ability to know when enough was enough and when it got in the way of the quality of the music, which was, and always will be, the most important thing. To this day, he remains steadfast in his devotion to bringing the boogie to the masses as a blues warrior and (reluctant) leader of the band with whom he "was born to play with," which, given what the guy has had to, and continues to, endure, seems, frankly, almost miraculous. Fito's love of his band, their music, and what they have meant to so many over the course of the roller coaster ride that has been their career resonates throughout the pages of this book. It is his sheer force of will and resolve to keep on boogieing despite all the obstacles thrown in his/their way that makes his story - the story of Canned Heat - essentially a triumph of the human spirit over adversity, and why its title couldn't be more apt.

This book is a faithful account of Canned Heat, as told by their drummer of 40 plus years, Fito de la Parra. From the early 1960's in the middle of Mexico playing R & B, to Los Angeles, and being recruited into Canned Heat in late 1967.
Tales of The Owl (Alan Wilson), The Bear (Bob Hite), The Mole (Larry Taylor), and The Sunflower (Henry Vestine).

That is a gritty tale of drugs, sex and Rock 'N' Roll, that isn't all pretty. The tragic deaths of Alan, Bob and Henry are here, and nothing is whitewashed or toned-down. Bikers, drug-dealers, cops & robbers and some outright crazy musicans are the stars of this story. From Woodstock to a the biker bars of the Austrailan outback, this is the world as seen from the inside of a rock band that mostly stays outside of all rules, and pays for it all tenfold.

This is one of the best rock books that I have come across in ages. This honest account of what really went down in the history of Canned Heat. This book tells quite a story. I really enjoyed this great read.
Four and half stars!

I usually don't like biographies too much, but with Fito De La Para, it's different! It's about one third biography, and two thirds the saga of Canned Heat and it's members, and their ill fates. It tells about the life and death of Alan Willson, one THE greatest harmonica players of his time, and fleshes him out in a way that just listening to the old albums can't do. The same thing happens with "the Bear," Bob Hite, and Harvey Mandel, and each of the later members that replace them. Many, Many great pictures! It's drugs and chicks and death, just like the title says, but Fito retains hope throughout, and is a bouyant narator who takes you on his personal ride from illegal alien to superstar to heir to the "World's Premeir Boogie Band!" I read it all, then handed it off to my Dad, with my brother waiting in the wings to grab it next! Get it while you can!

I know that Fito didn't join the band until they were already established, but that doesn't excuse the complete and total lack of biographical information on the band's founders, Hite and Wilson. Aside from an anecdote about Woodstock that begins the book, we don't actually meet the members of Canned Heat until page 65, when they are already well on their way to success. By page 90, they are already making "$20,000 a night" and headlining festivals. Not exactly a rags-to-riches story, then. The book goes into great detail about Fito's life in bands in Mexico (zzzz) and the shenanigans of latter day Canned Heat members (who cares about Jim Thornbury? How about Rick Kellogg? Anybody?), but lacks any insight into the formation of the world's greatest white boogie band. For instance, Bear had a legendary record collection - how did he come upon it? What were his favorite pieces? How did Al and Bear get along and what was their relationship like pre-success? What jazz and blues artists did they initially bond over? How did Blind Owl learn to play guitar? How did the band meet John Fahey and what inspired the legendary trip to go drag Skip James back from obscurity? These questions are not addressed. Instead, we get sordid tales of groupies and drugs, which won't shock anyone who's ever read a single rock biography ever. Fito will occasionally permit some background information on the crucial members of the band - for instance, we learn that Bob was from Boulder, which Fito offhandedly reveals during one of TWO anecdotes about breaking down a door - but not enough to sate the hardcore fan interested in hearing about the band's humble beginnings.

In addition to these problems, the book could have used a proof reader and an editor. Even the typeset is screwy, with rapidly changing fonts and large spaces between words. This wouldn't be a big deal if the book wasn't also guilty of a myriad of other crimes against grammar and good taste: misspelling "avant garde," identifying Albert Collins as "legendary black blues guitarist Albert Collins," (presumably so as not to be confused with legendary WHITE blues guitarist Albert Collins?), briefly introducing Phil Hartman as a guy whose "wife blew him away," mean, catty dismissals of the Incredible String Band (who play "Renaissance or Medieval music") and Ravi Shankar (who is to be ridiculed for drinking tea "or whatever it is that sitar players drink"), and referring to Sunnyland Slim as "Sunny Land Slim." This is just the first 100 pages.

Fito seems to recall specific acid-spiked and stoned conversations from the 60s with alarming clarity. He somehow remembers, despite a decades-long drug haze, things that were said verbatim by people who've been dead for over forty years. I'm not sure he's the most reliable narrator at this point. A better writer might have just summarized these conversations instead of attempting to quote the dead.

Elsewhere, tales of boorish biker idiots abound, women are almost exclusively treated like objects and / or lamentable impediments to the boys' need to boogie, and most of the heroes of the story die a third of the way into the book.

I'm planning on picking up Rebecca Davis Winters' Blind Owl Blues, which at least promises to be a biography on one of the greatest white bluesman America has ever known, rather than this tabloid style hatchet job by Fito the opportunist (see also the corpse-ravaging "Boogie House Tapes" CDs).

If you want to know about Fito's first orgy, how many drugs Bob Hite took on any given night, how Al Wilson was a 'depressed nerd' (this comes up a lot), why Bogota, Columbia is home to the 'best cocaine in the world,' how generally awesome motorcycles are, or how the band got involved in an actual drug heist, then by all means, add to cart (or buy Hammer Of The Gods or Rock Scully's Living With The Dead, both of which recount this sort of Dionysian rockstar madness far more eloquently and outrageously). If you are interested in the music of Canned Heat or a student and appreciator of post-war blues music, look elsewhere.