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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sympathy for the Devil?, October 14, 1999
By A Customer
Having lived in California during the decade of the sixties I recall that the Haight Ashbury scene turned very vicious around 1969. Where people would share their homes, beds, food, wine (and dope if you were so inclined) freely in '67 and '68; by '69 a real evil, rip off, vicious, criminal type element drove people away from that scene, or into isolated seclusion, in droves. It culminated graphically in the Rolling Stones concert at Altamont in 1969. The street thieves, cults, criminals basically took over as if the flower people were lambs for the slaughter. This book, while often having a "nailing jelly to a wall" feeling, puts the whole change into perspective with the elements of Manson, the entertainment industry, mafia, cults, devil worshippers, pedophiles and upper class perverts as a driving force. The author mentions the London scene, Marianne Faithful, Kenneth Anger and the Stones in passing. For many years I've wondered about the reports that Brian Jones had been intentionally drowned in his pool by a rough element in July of 1969. (The kind of rough element the author cites as surrounding Mama Cass.) Marianne Faithful attempted suicide soon after Brian's death. Anita, (Brian's lover and later Keith's wife) was involved with the occult and some years later a teenage lover killed himself in her bed. Many music celebrities were into the occult (from Satanic to S&M to Nazi symbols and themes) from the late 60's through the 70's. It reminded me that Brian Jones was invited to the Monterey festival in '67 by John Phillips and may have known or met many of the same people in California and London that were into the occult fringe the author describes. It also occurred to me that the perfect theme song for this book and the scenes it describes is "Sympathy for the Devil" written by the Rolling Stones in 1968 (".... Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste....") In addition to all of the intermeshed tentacles of this Godless underground of killers and perverts, it is really scary that the author's words and photos reminds us that Berkowitz and alot of the other criminals involved looked like regular people, had 9 to 5 day jobs as trades people, doctors, lawyers, policemen, etc. I guess you never know who is sitting next to you on the subway or who is knocking at your door. If Maury Terry writes another one, I'll buy it. I hope he puts an index on the next one.
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