Night people : a Memoir of Love and Music in the 60s with Stark Naked and the Car Thieves

AMAZON RANKING: 4.7 Stars out of 5. 76% 5-star ranking.

In NIGHT PEOPLE, LARRY J. DUNLAP DELIVERS A FAST-MOVING, ROMANCE-FILLED MEMOIR of a young singer and his friends search for success in the 1960s music business of California and Las Vegas - for readers who liked memoirs from Carly Simon, Keith Richards, Patti Smith, Tommy James, Eric Clapton, and "The Wrecking Crew," you'll love Night People.

In 1965, when Larry's scattered-to-the-winds, Midwest rock and roll vocal group is improbably reunited in distant San Francisco, they barely survive their clumsy transformation into a nightclub rock and roll nightclub band. As their fortunes change, Larry and his band are plunged headfirst into an adventure that lures them into mob-run nightclubs, Las Vegas showrooms and backrooms, famous Hollywood night spots and recording studios, celebrity managers, and passionate romance--and the sacrifices it demands. It's the West Coast in the mid-Sixties: a historic era of tectonic cultural, political, musical, and sexual upheaval--and the draft.But in the tumultuous nights the band inhabits, where things and people are too easily found and lost, everything Larry thought he knew about life, love, and himself is being challenged.

[Excerpt #1 from Chapter 43: THE SUNSET LA BREA TRAVELODGE]

     We took our pizza and soft drinks up to Mulholland Drive on the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, where a carpet of lights spread out over Hollywood and off to the ocean to the southwest. The muted rumble of the great engine driving this mammoth city, unnoticeable down below, reached us up here. By the time we’d parked, it was eight o’clock and we should have been on stage at Gazzarri’s with our band brothers. We hadn’t even warned them, but then we hadn’t known we’d crack.
    We shared pizza out of the box and drank our Cokes, watching the night deepen and the cloud cover roll in until the lights below were more like a blanket of stars fallen to earth. It was quiet, and I felt drained and empty. I pulled out a couple of tightly rolled joints, thanks again to Trish’s generosity, and handed one to Dave. 
    We smoked until I’d distanced myself enough to try and sort out what was bugging me. I sighed. “What are we doing, man?”
    “I’m eating pizza.”
    I tried to make sense of my confusion. I began talking in a stream of consciousness, not knowing what would come out. 
    “I feel like we’re doing something wrong, but I don’t know what. I feel like it should be obvious to me, but I still don’t know what it is. It’s like, well you know, the place behind your eyes, in back of you, the place you never see because whenever you turn your head, it’s always behind you. Well, I think it’s like that. I mean whatever’s wrong is right here with us, but I can’t see it, even when I turn to look for it. Figuratively speaking, of course.”
    “Uh-huh.” Dave opened the pizza box and tilted out another pepperoni and sausage slice.

[Excerpt #2 from Chapter 57: THE COLONIAL HOUSE DEBACLE]

 “I want so bad to tell you something but I’m so afraid you’ll be angry or disappointed, even though there isn’t any reason to be. I can’t stand the idea of you being mad with me.” She is so cute, I thought, but I could tell she was serious. I smiled. I had to admit to being glad she cared about what I thought.

“Kathy, I don’t own you. I’m not going to be disappointed no matter what you tell me.” 

She got off the bed and turned partly away from me, smoothing out her dress. 

“I had to go out to meet a man tonight.” She glanced over at me and my open mouth.”I know him, and it wasn’t to have sex or anything. Nothing like that. But he does give me money.” I closed my open mouth and tried to give her a brave smile.

“Now stop it, Larry. You said you wouldn’t be disappointed. I can tell you’re not going to be angry, but you are also not allowed to look like a kicked dog. I would’ve much rather been here with you, but I’d given my word. Plus he gave me a thousand dollars.” This time, I was unable to get my mouth closed. 

“Not to get sidetracked. And, believe me, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I can’t help but be curious. Why did the man give you all that money?”

She went to her purse and fanned out a bunch of one-hundred-dollar bills. 

“He gives it to me for going out to dinner with him and his friends. He’s an Arabian prince, and his religion doesn’t let him have sex with infidels. That being me. Usually it’s just dinner, but tonight he and his friends decided to go see Shecky Green at the Riv, and he wanted me to go. I could have come back here to you after dinner, I guess, but gee, I mean,a thousand dollars.”

“Right, right.” An Arabian prince. “Well, I’m glad you’re an infidel. I’ve been considering infidelity myself. Just been waiting for the right opportunity.”

 “I didn’t used to be an infidel, but there are these pills that can help.” She nodded cheerfully. We were back on more comfortable ground.

“But you’re not a hooker though, right? Because technically, if you don’t have sex with people for money, I don’t think that’s a hooker. You’re being sort of, I don’t know what exactly? Maybe an escort?”

She thought about it. “Well, maybe,” she said as a small frown line appeared just above and between her eyes. “But I think escorts tend to have sex for money, too, only I don’t think you have to unless you’re okay with it.” 

She sat on the side of the bed. “It could be that’s what I am, an escort, I’m not sure. I came to Las Vegas looking for something and I haven’t figured out what. I kinda sorta fell into this, and though I don’t know where you apply for this exact position of dinner partner at a thousand bucks a night, if this keeps up, I’m likely to stick with it.” 

PRAISE FOR NIGHT PEOPLE

“Dunlap’s sense of transcendence is similar to the sensation Keith Richards describes in his memoir, ‘Life: ‘ …you leave the planet for a while…’ Reliving his rock and roll years in his wonderful memoir, Larry Dunlap, must have left the planet for a while, too.” I loved it and highly recommend it.       — Kiana Davenport, The Spy Lover, Shark Dialogues

“Whether or not you remember the swift intoxicating music of that era or the seismic shift of mores that burst from the free-love movement, [Night People] captures the beat of that misty time when the country suffered “a growing thirst for individual freedom, a desire to escape from an ever-darkening shadow of war, and a national hangover following the public murder of a young and popular president.”      — C.D. Quyn, Steph Rodriguez, Manhattan Book Review

“Larry J. Dunlap’s memoir, NIGHT PEOPLE, is a frank, funny, frenzied chronicle of the 60’s music scene.”   –– Susan Shapiro, New York Times bestselling author, Lighting Up, Only as Good as Your Word and Five Men Who Broke My Heart.

“Dunlap relates much of the story through conversations, and his California journey features a number of memorable characters. [Night People] … is an enjoyable hangout book, a chance to spend time with witty characters at that point in their lives when success feels so close, but the path to get there isn’t quite clear.”       —  Jeff Fleischer, Foreword Reviews Magazine, Fall Issue 2015, Memoir ForeSight section

“… Larry J. Dunlap faithfully, endearingly, recreates his rock-and-roll years [in Night People]. He does it in a soaring, roaring prose, reminiscent of Patti Smith’s National Book Award-winning memoir, ‘Just Kids.’ ”    — P.J. Colando, Stashes, Hashes and Bashes

“… a well-written memoir that deftly captures a sense of the 1960s and what it meant to be an aspiring musician during a time of seismic cultural change.”         —  D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Manhattan Book Review

"Dunlap's sense of transcendence is similar to the sensation Keith Richards describes in his memoir, 'Life: ' ...you leave the planet for a while...' Reliving his rock and roll years in his wonderful memoir, NIGHT PEOPLE,' Larry Dunlap, must have left the planet for a while, too." I loved it, and highly recommend it. -- Kiana Davenport, The Spy Lover, Shark Dialogues

"Whether or not you remember the swift intoxicating music of that era or the seismic shift of mores that burst from the free-love movement, [NIGHT PEOPLE] captures the beat of that misty time when the country suffered "a growing thirst for individual freedom, a desire to escape from an ever-darkening shadow of war, and a national hangover following the public murder of a young and popular president." -- C.D. Quyn, Steph Rodriguez, Manhattan Book Review

"Larry Dunlap lived it. His memoir 'NIGHT PEOPLE' is a frank, funny, frenzied chronicle of the 60's West Coast music scene." -- Susan Shapiro, New York Times bestselling memoirist, FIVE MEN WHO BROKE MY HEART, GOOD AS YOUR WORD, OVEREXPOSED

WHAT READERS SAY

One of the best biographies written by a musician!

A Riveting, Mythic, Rock and Roll Memoir

Wonderful! Excellent Read!

Thoroughly Entertaining.

A Great Read

A Window Into a Fascinating Era

Rock and Roll, baby!

A Must Read

A Great Read About An Exciting Life

Music Has Found Me Again

SO Worth Reading!

My Life Seemed Extremely Boring After Finishing "Night People"

Lessons of Life, Love, and Sex in the 60s

Genuine, Exciting, Graphic and Memorable - life in the 60's

Fantastic Coming of Age Memoir!

Compelling

Great Look At An Era