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press release from 360 Productions:

11/5/99

MICKEY HART PRESENTS HIS NEW BOOK

SPIRIT INTO SOUND: THE MAGIC OF MUSIC

embarks on a November book signing tour.

(San Francisco, CA)-Percussionist, author, student, teacher, social activist and the pulse behind the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, along with co-author and Professor of Ethnomusicology Fredric Lieberman, presents an original collection of quotes and commentary on the transformative power of music entitled Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music. Through world travels, close relationships with music icons and extensive research into the music archives at the Library of Congress, Hart has collected excerpts from individuals as diverse as Plato, Iggy Pop, Henry David Thoreau, John Lennon, Loretta Lynn, Timothy Leary, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Duke Ellington for his third book. In November, Hart will set out on a signing tour to promote the book's national release.

Spirit into Sound is inspired by Hart's historical trip as the drummer of one of rock's most loved bands, The Grateful Dead, and his leadership of the Grammy Award-winning percussion ensemble Planet Drum. As he traveled the world while researching his previous books Drumming at the Edge of Magic and Planet Drum, Hart began covering studio walls with scrawled phrases and powerful insights about music which took shape as a glowing anaconda that had coiled itself along the walls. Hart's new book shares these musical gems that he unearthed from his travels, gems the anaconda has been protecting all these years. The quote sheet offers a taste of what readers will find in Spirit into Sound.

Hart comments, "This book is not a museum of old ideas, but rather a living interactive guide to the future. With this book we wanted to share the knowledge we have discovered in our ongoing research project in search of the Grail- the explanation for the connection between music and trance."

A continual student and connoisseur of rhythm, Mickey Hart has been an apprentice of music since birth. Throughout his 30 years with the Grateful Dead, Mickey produced and recorded with some of the greatest percussionists from around the world including his partners in Planet Drum, which won the first ever World Music Grammy award in 1991. In addition to creating scores and soundtracks to countless movies, Hart co-composed a major drum production for the Opening Ceremony of the Centennial Olympic Games in 1996. Hart also has two other books to his credit, Drumming at the Edge of Magic and Planet Drum.

Recently, Hart took his lifelong passion for music to a political platform when he was appointed to the Board of Trustees for the Library of Congress American Folklife Center where he heads a subcommittee to preserve and digitize the sound archives. Fredric Lieberman is a Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He also co-authored Drumming at the Edge of Magic and Planet Drum.

Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music is published by Grateful Dead Books and is distributed by Publishers Group West. Additional information on Mickey Hart and Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music can be found at www.mhart.com or email us at sis@nbn.com

Quotes from Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music

The superior man tries to promote music as a means to the perfection of human culture. When such music prevails, and people's minds are led towards the right ideals and aspirations, we may see the appearance of a great nation.-Confucius

I'm not very good technically, but I can make it fuckin' howl and move.-John Lennon

If the king loves music, there is little wrong in the land.-Mencius

It took me twenty years of study and practice to work up to what I wanted to play in this performance. How can she expect to listen five minutes and understand it?-Miles Davis (When a lady in the audience complained that she didn't understand what Miles Davis was playing.)

I read a story about some old opera singer once, and when a guy asked her to marry him, she took him backstage after she had sung a real triumph, with all the people calling for her, and asked, "Do you think you could give me that?" That story hit me right, man. I know no guy who ever made me feel as good as an audience.-Janis Joplin

I am not handsome, but when women hear me play, they come crawling to my feet.-Niccolo¢ Paganini

I'd like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I've gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.-Ray Charles

Without music, life would be a mistake... I would only believe in a God who knew how to dance.-Friedrich Nietzsche

Don't think that sticking your boobs out and trying to look fuckable will help. Remember you're in a rock-n-roll band. It's not "fuck me," it's "fuck you!"-Chrissie Hynde (advice to female rockers)

The rest of the band will follow me down any dark alley. Sometimes there's a light at the end of the alley, and sometimes there's a black hole. The point is, you don't get an adventure in music unless you're willing to take chances.-Jerry Garcia

The man who disparages music as a luxury and nonessential is doing the nation an injury. Music now, more than ever before, is a national need.-President Woodrow Wilson

My stuff is definitely up for discussion. When you're listening to an Ice-T album you're listening to me in the middle of the park yelling out my attitudes, my ideas. You can agree or disagree. But you should never think everything I'm thinking 'cause then only one of us is thinking.-Ice-T

Music training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the secret places of the soul.-Plato

One good thing about music, when it hits, you feel no pain.-Bob Marley

Book Tour Dates

November5,
Tattered Cover, Main store
2955 E. 1st Ave.
Denver, CO 80206
7:30 PM

November 6,
Borders
2817 North Clark St.
Lincoln Park, IL 60657
7:00 PM

November 7,
Tower store #813.
1209 E. Golf Rd.
Schaumburg, IL. 60173.
3:00 PM

November 8,
Borders
612 E. Liberty
Ann Arbor, MI 48014
7:30 PM

November 9
Seminar Center
Community Church of New York
40 East 35th St. (Park & Madison)
Register at 212-655-0077
6:30-8:30

November 10,
Barnes & Noble/Harvard Coop
1400 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
12:00 - 2:00PM

November10,
TOWER #172.
360 Newbury St.,
Boston, MA 02115.
6:00 PM

November 11,
Borders
1260 Old Country Rd.
Westbury, Long Island, NY 11590
7:30 PM

November 12,
Barnes & Noble (Chelsea)
675 6th Ave.
NY, NY 10010
7:30-8:30 PM

November 14,
Body and Soul Conference
Hyatt Regency San Francisco
1333 Bayshore Highway
Burlingame, CA
2:00-4:00pm
Register at 877-944-3003

November15,
Virgin Megastore
2 Stockton St.
SF, CA 94108
6:00 p.m.

November 17,
Barnes & Noble (Westwood)
10850 West Pico Blvd
W. Los Angeles, CA 90064
7:30-8:30 PM

November18,
Booksoup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
8:00 PM

November 19,
Booksmith
Park Branch Library
1833 Page St.
San Francisco, CA
7:00-9:00PM

November 20,
Powell's Books
1005 West Burnside St
Portland, OR 97209
7:30 - 9:00

November 30,
Copperfield's
2324 Montgomery Drive
Santa Rosa, Ca 95404
7:OO PM

December 1,
Learning Annex, San Francisco
Location to come
6:30-9:00

December 3,
Tower Watt Ave.
2538 Watt Ave.
Sacramento, CA 95821
6:00PM

January18,
Bookshop Santa Cruz
1520 Pacific Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
7:30 PM

 

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