I have it and I love it! It's fanmade but it's got a lot of older articles, interviews, pictures, etc. It's a big book, I haven't even finished mine yet.
There were no lessons or workshops, not for Lindy Hop or other dances like that. Have you read Frankie Manning's Autobiography? It goes through how he learned to dance.
That is absolutely going to happen. The depth and nuance on this show. Soon, it’ll be listed here for great minds to ponder:
https://www.amazon.com/Popular-Culture-and-Philosophy-125-book-series/dp/B0897GS1YK
For anyone wanting to dive deeper into the mind of Kurt and hear/see some really cool stuff check out this book, it’s a compilation of his journal entries, scribbles and doodles & very early versions of some songs photocopied into a book! Already read it all, very very cool stuff. Journals https://www.amazon.com/dp/157322359X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_DP5MZWM02BVT87N1V45S
McNally's for sure. I recommend it to everyone. It's the definitive history of the band. The amazon doc was based on it, and left a lot out.
Don’t get caught up in this period that period. Just listen to the music play. If you want to know about the band. Read this. A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead
If you are a newbie and a fan of stuff, there's a series called "Pop Culture and Philosophy" that starts with some pretty famous properties and discusses some ideas related to those.
Charlie Louvin's Satan Is Real is the best Bluegrass book I've read. (Okay, they might be country/fringe country, but it's a great read.) I'd highly recommend it to anyone into the classic country/bluegrass world.
There are a lot of places to find Kurt's handwriting. His journals were put out in book form and there's even a font of his handwriting
I may have misinterpreted your intention, but not your words. However, in the interest of being kind, here are probably the best books written about the early history of the band. If your uncle isn't mentioned in these, he won't be mentioned anywhere.
Pigpen had a longtime girlfriend named "Vee". No idea if she's alive or not, but it may be worth further exploration.
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Strange-Trip-History-Grateful/dp/0767911865
https://www.amazon.com/Living-Dead-Twenty-Garcia-Grateful/dp/0815411634
I'm transcribing the handwritten letters/journal entries, so people can have an easy-to-read text version of Kurt's writing. If you want the full experience, I would recommend buying the book as it's got some of Kurt's artwork and comics, and much of the journal pages are best appreciated in the original handwritten format so you can get a sense of his thought process through what he puts in margins, what he crosses out/re-orders, etc. There's some pretty neat stuff in there, like cover art and T-shirt designs, Kurt's hand-drawn designs for the JagStang, and lots of fun little doodles in the margins. The Journals aren't for everyone, but I personally enjoy the book very much, and find that a good 90% of the material isn't too personal to not be comfortable reading.
But that's just my review, others on the sub have lots of differing opinions on the book. There's been some good discussion in the past.
I read Five Against One recently. Offers some pretty good perspective.
I found this one interesting: Escaping the Delta
The author peels away the layers of myth surrounding Robert Johnson. His take is that the blues were one genre in a mix of many, all influencing each other. He also takes issue with the concept of Robert Johnson being the father of all blues that followed him.
His suicide wasn't 100% about the world he'd created. It was part of it, but the part that wasn't able to cope with it was his crazy side. I'm not talking a little crazy, I mean he was professionally diagnosed as a kid with ADHD and bipolar disorder as an adult, which explains the long bouts of depression and delusions about the world. Throw in the hard drug use and you have a cocktail for suicide.
If you're interested about his phyche, check out his personal diaries/notebooks. Of course, you'll need to have some knowledge of his life growing up to get context (for example, his mom and dad got divorced, his dad remarried and had more kids whilst his mom dated an abusive guy), but most of it is quite comprehensible.
If you haven't read this book maybe you would like it. I'll send you (or somewhere's address you can PM me that isn't yours, like a library or something) a copy if you want.
That's gross, and not true. The actual best book title ever is A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
At 22, Dave eggers lost his mother, and began raising his 8 year old brother on his own. He wrote a book about his experience dealing with his loss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: a true story Your post reminded me of it in many ways, including your reactions as you've described them. There is nothing Oprah about this book. Maybe it will help you work through things. Or maybe you should avoid it at all costs. I don't know.