Almost Famous: Journey to the Summer of Love

Alan Lee Brackett was born and raised in Southern California and experienced all it had to offer; the beautiful weather, the beaches, the mountains, the girls. But most of all, there were the world of entertainment opportunities available to a young talented musician and songwriter. From the age of eight, performing on stage and singing on the radio, through the school years in Santa Barbara where he was first chair drummer in the band and orchestra, he also honed his skills singing doo-wop style originals with The Enchantments and others, along with heading an instrumental dance-band, making arrangements and playing piano. Fresh out of high school, he toured the entire Country with a major Hootenanny Show in the Hillside Singers folk group, playing major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Denver's Red Rock Amphitheater, Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (5 times), always getting encores and either closing the first half of the show or ending it. This success was put on hold while three of the groups members, including Alan, fulfilled their duty with the Marine Corps. When they got out and back to work, folk music had run its course and the Beatles, Stones and the English Rock Invasion had happened. So Alan became a founding member of The Ashes, the rock group that became the Peanut Butter Conspiracy and within three months landed a major recording contract with Columbia Records. Then it was back to touring the United States once again to promote the 4 albums they recorded between the end of 1966 and 1968. These tours included all the main venues of the day - The Fillmore and the Avalon in San Francisco, the Kaleidoscope and the Whiskey in Los Angeles, and all of the other popular venues on the East Coast, Canada, and major cities across the Country. Most of these were with the "West Coast Package", which included other groups such as the Jefferson Airplane, the Doors, and Janis Joplin. While on this journey there were many outstanding experiences with other rock legends of the time - Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Frank Zappa, to name a few. To have lived through and become ALMOST FAMOUS and to be able to remember so much of what happened on his JOURNEY TO THE SUMMER OF LOVE, makes this a great read for anyone interested in what it was like growing up in sunny Southern California in the post-war '50's and 60's and having such a variety of experiences along the way that begged to be told.