Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart Of The Hippie Dream

Laurel Canyon in the 1960s andearly 1970s was a magical place where a dizzying array of musical artistscongregated to create much of the music that provided the soundtrack to thoseturbulent times. Members of bands like the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, theMonkees, the Beach Boys, the Mamas and the Papas, the Turtles, the Eagles, theFlying Burrito Brothers, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Steppenwolf,Captain Beefheart, CSN, Three Dog Night, Alice Cooper, the Doors, and Love withArthur Lee, along with such singer/songwriters as Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins,James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Judi Sill and David Blue, livedtogether and jammed together in the bucolic community nestled in the HollywoodHills. But there was a dark side to that scene as well. Many didn't make it out alive, and many of those deathsremain shrouded in mystery to this day. Far more integrated into the scene thanmost would care to admit was a guy by the name of Charles Manson, along withhis murderous entourage. Also floating about the periphery were variouspolitical operatives, up-and-coming politicians, and intelligence personnel -the same sort of people who just happened to give birth to many of the rockstars populating the canyon. And all of the canyon's colorful characters - rockstars, hippies, murderers, and politicos - happily coexisted alongside a covertmilitary installation. Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon is the very strange, butnevertheless true story of the dark underbelly of a hippie utopia. Read more