The Tombstone
Touristbegan
as a project Scott Stanton thought would take
six months to complete. Instead, locating the
graves and researching the careers of over 500
members of the "Dead Musicians Club"
took him more than ten years. He traveled all
over North America, the Caribbean, and Europe.
The result is a something far greater than a directory
of grave markers. The Tombstone Tourist
is one of those rare and wonderful works that
succeeds both as an accurate guidebook and a truly
great read.
Even if you aren't a big music
fan, and even if you never really cared where
Patsy Cline, Sonny Bono, or Liberace were laid
to their final rests, this book has the power
to captivate. If you do care about 20th century
musicians, your library won't be complete without
The Tombstone Tourist, and you should never
take another road trip without a copy on your
dashboard.
Tombstone Tourist
author Scott Stanton at the Mississippi
grave of blues artist Charley Patton
One of the most appealing qualities
of Stanton's work is that he steers clear of judging
the artists he profiles. He covers the life and
death of Roy Rogers and Aaliyah with the same
depth and respect he gives Louis Armstrong, Jimi
Hendrix, and Tammy Wynette. From Roy Acuff to
Frank Zappa, they're all here, along with fascinating
details you won't find anywhere else.
Another remarkable thing about
this book is that, despite its gloomy title,
The Tombstone Tourist is more about life
than death. During the time he was researching
the book, the author faced his own brush with
mortality and went through heart transplant surgery.
An excerpt from his introduction is the perfect
illustration of why his book is worth reading
cover to cover:
"...What
have I learned from all this? I've learned that
Louis Prima (not David Lee Roth) is just a gigolo,
that Michael Jackson stole all of Jackie Wilson's
moves, that Willie Dixon wrote pretty much the
first two Led Zeppelin albums, that Mama Cass
Elliott's cause of death was not sandwich-related
(and that she hated being called "Mama"),
that there is no conspiracy covering up the
deaths of Jim Morrison, Johnny Ace, or Kurt
Cobain (regardless of how many Internet sites
claim the contrary), that when Diana Ross dies
she'll be lucky if someone other than the funeral
home representative shows up at her funeral,
that the drummer from Toto did not die from
spraying his fruit trees, that alcohol, cocaine,
or heroin never did anyone any good, that death
was a good career move for Elvis, and after
walking in well over two thousand cemeteries
past row after row of the dearly departed, life
is too short to do something you don't want
to do."
Life is too short to
miss reading great books, and this is one of them.
