Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon Audiobook By David McGowan cover art

Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon

Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream

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Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon

By: David McGowan
Narrated by: Bill Fike
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About this listen

The very strange but nevertheless true story of the dark underbelly of a 1960s hippie utopia. Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and early 1970s was a magical place where a dizzying array of musical artists congregated to create much of the music that provided the soundtrack to those turbulent times.

Members of bands like the Byrds, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, the Monkees, the Beach Boys, the Turtles, the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Steppenwolf, CSN, Three Dog Night, and Love, along with such singer/songwriters as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, James Taylor, and Carole King, lived together and jammed together in the bucolic community nestled in the Hollywood Hills.

But there was a dark side to that scene as well. Many didn't make it out alive, and many of those deaths remain shrouded in mystery to this day. Far more integrated into the scene than most would like to admit was a guy by the name of Charles Manson, along with his murderous entourage. Also floating about the periphery were various political operatives, up-and-coming politicians, and intelligence personnel - the same sort of people who gave birth to many of the rock stars populating the canyon. And all the canyon's colorful characters - rock stars, hippies, murderers, and politicos - happily coexisted alongside a covert military installation.

©2014 Headpress (P)2017 Headpress
Americas Anthropology Murder Music State & Local True Crime United States

What listeners say about Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon

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Truth is stranger than fiction

forget what you know about the 1960s hippie counterculture and 1960s Rock and pop music. this book will completely demolish and unravel everything that you know about the formation subjects. don't read this buck and don't listen to this audiobook unless you are prepared to want to know the truth because It'll make you rethink everything

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great

good book .. lots of great information .. do recommend to all ages of readers

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Narrator is Perfect but Book Seems scattered

An Interesting listen I suppose. but the book, overall seems scattered and lacks focus. alot could be left out and the book could be condensed for certain. on one hand there are many interesting things how much of it is factually true ..I'm not sure.
Worth a listen but the author gives more names than anyone would want to remember and goes into details that seem frivolous at best.
p.s. the narrator is perfect for this book.

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Great presentation of a fascinating book!

I first read this incredibly well researched and thought provoking book when it was a series of web postings on the late author’s website and have given printed off copies to so many friends over the years. It’s so good to see that it’s finally a published book and the outstanding Audible production will make it accessible to an even larger audience.

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Very interesting!

Who says that there wasn't virtual reality way back in the sixties don't be sure?

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Great story

Choppy, had to rewind to follow often. Really informative, intense, dark, worth every word

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Coincidence?...

I don't believe in coincidences, especially this many! Great info! So glad to receive confirmation of what we suspected all along...

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If you enjoy rock ‘n’ roll, and you enjoy conspiracy theory, check this book out.

I love the story and plan to listen to it again, and probably again. However, I would recommend to anyone listening to it to take it with a grain of salt. Just have fun with the book, and don’t take it too serious.

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Fantastic tales from a critical era in our culture

I thought the author did a very in-depth and amazing job of pulling up these stories and circumstances that show a very telling side of our rock and folk heroes of the 60s and 70s and how like most other things are all tied back into central intelligence to manipulate and guide our society And the desired direction of the set establishment. These were your heroes for a reason because they were propped up and properly dressed to help guide your surmounted feelings of revolution and change and turn them into profit while simultaneously pushing you in the complete other direction. Noted to say that a lot of our musical idols and heroes turns out we’re pretty fucked up people doing quite awful things and frankly, whoever is still alive should be held accountable great work to the author! A true hero.

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What a blast!!!

Would you listen to Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon again? Why?

This is a spooky and dark (though down right fun) collection of unexplained murders, strange coincidence, and bizarre facts. Though the writer suggests that there might be a more nefarious network of conspiracy theories that exist beneath the surface, he does not waste time proposing theories that can't be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. That said, he is not subtle when it comes to pointing out their possible existence. The writer has a Jim Marrs ("Alien Agenda," "Crossfire," "Our Occulted History," and "Population Control") appreciation for a good story, even if that story might be slightly more urban myth than actual fact, though, in due respect to the writer, he does point those differences out.

What other book might you compare Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon to and why?

I have not read or listened to the book (which can also be found on Audible) myself yet, but the writer spends a lot of time quoting from "Hotel California" by Barney Hoyskns. This book reportedly covers the same territory, and is on my list to be listened to soon. I suspect that Hoyskns book might be taking a more balanced approach to the subject at hand.

Which scene was your favorite?

There are so many that I can't decide upon a particular favorite. I guess what I kind of like the most about this book is how the music scene in Los Angeles (and specifically Laurel Canyon) sort of suspiciously and mysteriously developed overnight, and how basically untalented a majority of these legends were to begin with. Most also came from military related backgrounds and were given credit for launching a major counterculture movement that many of them had no real sense of or involvement with. For most of them, they were just party hungry and sex fueled young men, who got themselves mixed up with some pretty nasty sociopaths and psychopaths (Charles Manson and company).

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I absolutely had difficulty stopping this audible presentation, that is because it is too much fun under the darkened California sun. For someone who spent thirty three years in Los Angeles and much of that time in the entertainment business itself, this book is sweet revenge on those who want to believe that social movements in this country come from the people themselves and not the power brokers of the manipulating status quo.

Any additional comments?

This book leaves me wanting more. The "City of Angels" has always had an extremely dark shadow about it, which Mike Davis covered in "City of Quartz," Kenneth Anger in "Hollywood Babylon," and William J. Mann in "Tinseltown." Though rolling around in the dark is fun at times, make sure one takes a break in the sunlight too.

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21 people found this helpful