Straight Whisky (Hardcover)

by Erik Quisling (Author) "Memory, which is almost always based on personal interpretation as much as objective fact, tends to blur a bit when you're dealing with four decades..." (more)
Key Phrases: Sunset Strip, Los Angeles, Mario Maglieri (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
With varying degrees of success, Quisling and Williams reconstruct 40 years of hip-shaking, headbanging, altered consciousness and groupie-love at Sunset Strip nightclubs Whisky A Go-Go and its sister establishments the Roxy Theatre and the Rainbow Bar and Grill, in an attempt to bring to life the L.A. music scene since 1964. Focusing on 16 random events meant to emblemize the Whiskey ambiance and demonstrate its cultural impact, the authors chronicle the club from its early Tinsletown days to the Black Flag riots during the punk movement to a more current era of "unknown die-hard Sunset Strip devotees." The list of acts that have graced the stage of Whisky is a veritable who's who of rock, and while the authors do well to avoid a simple listing of these acts, the stories they focus on aren't always compelling. Tales of Jim Morrison passed out back stage or Roger Daltrey's sexual exploits fail to bring the Whisky to life. Quisling and Williams also choose an awkward, unintegrated format for the book, with the first part of each chapter (by Williams) a vivid, occasionally overwritten anecdote (does he really know what Robert Plant thought as he felt up two sisters under a table?), followed by a separate cultural and historical outline of the era (by Quisling). Williams recounts the time Charles Manson dropped by the Whisky just days before the mass killings at Benedict Canyon, harassed a waitress and was thrown out by the owner, Mario Maglieri. It's a compelling story, but following it with a separate, brief history of Helter Skelter, the authors clumsily connect the Whisky to the world outside the club doors. Central to rock 'n' roll history, the Whisky was a place of raw, untethered emotion, debauchery and mayhem. Quisling and Williams are certainly passionate about their subject, and their energy goes a long way toward making the book readable, but they don't fully capture its heart and soul. As Henry Rollins claims in his surprisingly bland foreword, the Whisky "is worth some real documentation." Unfortunately, this isn't quite it.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
A fascinating account of events ... A must-read for anyone interested in music history. -- Music Connection Magazine, September 1, 2003

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 427 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books (July 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566251974
• ISBN-13: 978-1566251976
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #386,758 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally... A Rock Book With Balls!, August 29, 2003

By A Customer

I read this book cover-to-cover in just a few days, and there isn't a dull page in it. Whether you're a serious rock and roll historian or just love hearing the kind of insane tales they tell on VH-1's "Behind the Music,"(except totally uncensored here) then this book is for you.

"Straight Whisky" goes inside the most legendary rock clubs on L.A.'s Sunset Strip: the Whisky, the Roxy and the Rainbow. It's packed with juicy stories, and the authors aren't afraid to treat the subject matter with as much creative energy as the musicians they are writing about. I guess some critics have had a problem with this inventive approach, but I thought it made the book that much cooler. I mean, this isn't a doctoral dissertation on world hunger--it's a book about rock stars getting loaded, getting laid, and making history.

The stories are just amazing: Jim Morrison pulling a date-rape move on Janis Joplin and getting a bottle broken over his head in return. . . Roger Daltrey enjoying a backstage mini-orgy with the Plastercasters. . . Led Zeppelin absolutely ripping it up in Rainbow Bar and Grill. . . David Bowie getting brutally assaulted by an obsessed fan who happened to be a black belt. . . the Germs causing a riot at the Whisky and setting the stage on fire. . . One wild story after another, told in an intense narrative style. Plus there's a great amount of interesting information about the clubs and how they affected the history of rock and roll in America.

Overall, a great read, highly entertaining and informative. With 32 pages of killer photos, almost none of which I've seen before, "Straight Whisky" totally delivers the goods. Read it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining and informative., September 8, 2003

By	Ned Rifkin (Philadelphia, PA Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

I found this book to be a great read. It's got lots of wild stories about some of my favorite rock stars, and a ton of interesting historical facts. I went to the Whisky one time and always wanted to know what kind of crazy things happened there over the years. This book answered all my questions in a very readable, entertaining style. If you enjoy reading about sex, drugs and rock and roll, this book is absolutely for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Straight Fantasy, December 4, 2005

By	L. Alper (Englewood CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having hung out on the Sunset Strip in the late 70's/early 80's, I was REALLY excited about this book. The moment I got my hands on it I flipped thru the photos and saw...

7 pages of historical posters for great Whisky shows such as the Doors, Hendrix, Led Zep, etc. Except these posters didn't exist prior to 1999 when they were created for this book. You have to read the teeny-tiny print on the bottom to realise this. That's the first example of "Straight Whisky"'s lack of veracity.

More examples abound. On page 54 is recreated a conversation between the Doors & Whisky manager Mario Maglieri where Mario says "John Lennon's sitting down there with a .... tampon on his head". Except this incident actually occured in 1974 at the TROUBADOUR so not only could Mario have not said this, he certainly didn't say it to the Doors (Jim Morrison was already dead in 74).

Later,(pg 58) in the authors bio of Mario Maglieri, they state that he was born in 1924 & at the age of 16 drove bootleg beer for Al Capone. Simple math skills show that Mario would have been 16 in 1940. Simple Google skills show that Al Capone was a retired man in 1940, that beer was no longer bootlegged, and that wherever this bit of folklore came from, someone should have fact-checked it before it was published.

Errors & absence of fact checking abound on almost every page of this book, which makes it hard to believe anything within it's pages. While Straight Whisky may be an entertaining read for those who weren't there during the glory years of the Sunset Strip, the reader should be warned this book is a work of fantasy & not non-fiction.