Moon Book

[JayWBux@aol.com]

According to a calendar I saw in Rolling Stone, Tony Fletcher's book "Moon --
The Life and Death of a Rock Legend" is supposed to be released in the US on
Jan 5th. The book itself shows a publish date of February 1999. However, a
friend of mine in the media who gets a lot of books from authors looking for
publicity got the book some weeks ago and decided I was the perfect person to
read it for him. I think it was originally published in the UK as "Dear Boy:
the Life of Keith Moon."

I don't know if anyone has reviewed the book on this list before. If so, I
haven't seen it. The book is 580 pages long, so there is a lot of detail. You
will learn about Moon the man and not just Moon the Loon. The author's says
his purpose was to present a bio of Moon and not a history of the Who, so
details about the group itself, and the other members of the group, in the
periods of extended inactivity (71-78) are sparse. On the other hand, there
are incredible details about the early days when Moon's life and the life of
the band were the same. In addition, there are a lot of cameo appearances by
others in the rock world. I'll leave it to some of you more schooled in the
history to confirm his accuracy, although it seems to be fairly well
researched.

Two vignettes to share. First, for a time, Moon was part owner of a hotel and
pub in the Cotswolds. Entwistle came to stay with his two deer hounds. Moon,
the landlord, who had been thrown out of hotels around the world for trashing
rooms and causing other mayhem, came up to JAE's room and complained bitterly
that the dogs' barking was annoying the other guests!

Second, Larry Hagman (yes, the JR guy) took Moon to get admitted for rehab.
They asked him to describe his drinking to see if he qualified. He said he got
up at 6 am and had a bottle of Dom Perigon and half a bottle of brandy with
breakfast, took a couple of downers and then it was 10 am and time to go back
to bed until 5 or 6 pm. Then, get up, have a couple of black beauties, some
brandy, a little champagne and go out on the town. Have dinner, then more
brandy and champagne. Then go to bed about 3 or 4, wake up at 6 and start
again. The doctor decided Moon qualified for rehab. I wonder how he lived as
long as he did at that pace.

Enjoy. If you cannot find the book, it is published in the US by Avon Books in
New York City. The publisher has a web page at www.spikebooks.com.