Title: Caravan of Pain: The True Story of the Tattoo the Earth Tour
Author: Scott Alderman
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Heavy Metal Music, Music History
Book Blurb:
Brace yourself for a roller coaster thrill ride as you join the Tattoo the Earth 2000 summer tour of America, the most insane tour ever inflicted on a continent. Featuring twenty of metal’s biggest bands, including Metallica, Slipknot, and Slayer, plus Filip Leu, Sean Vasquez, and the world’s best tattoo artists, these renegade outsiders pissed off all the wrong music business heavyweights but left delirious inked fans in their wake. Caravan of Pain is a rip-roaring music business underdog tale: compelling, hysterical, and cautionary. Its unique peek inside the world of music festivals, metal, and tattooing gives the reader a front row seat to a watershed time in our culture at the turn of the millennium. Told with candor and humor by the tour’s creator, Scott Alderman, and illustrated with memorabilia and never-before-seen photos, Caravan of Pain is a story of inspiration, persistence, and the dark side of following a dream.
My Review:
Everyone worth their salt has lived a life in their past. Probably very few can truly admit to living the life as Scott did. Not unlike the first bio he wrote, this story also provides the sense that surviving this life was a miracle.
Here, the reader is taken on the journey of the creation of a one-time metal festival called Tattoo The Earth. If anyone has a romantic idea of what it's like to set up a music festival, then read this book. Many have watched the Woodstock film and probably thought. hey, I could do that. This tale of debauchery and degradation and suffering sets the record straight.
From the incredible difficulty of turning an idea into something to the difficulty of dealing with issues...what a story. One can't help but think this festival idea was about twenty years too early. If someone tried to do this again, it would soar. It's fascinating to see how difficult it was to just get a tattoo in most states in 1999.
This is a look behind the curtain at the insanity of trying to put on a music festival. Worth a read just for the reader to be wowed by how much the author puts up with to successfully fail. Recommended to people who attended a music festival. Recommended to fans of the business of music. Recommended to fans of biographies. This is another chapter of a life lived hard. That the author is happy and balanced today is a tribute to the spirit of man.
My Rating: 5 stars
Buy it Now:
Author Biography:
In 2020, Scott Alderman published his first book, a memoir titled Get Off. Scott was born in New York City, and has a BA in literature and writing from Columbia University. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife and kid.
Social Media Links:
Website http://www.scottalderman.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/spalderman
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spalderman/
Reviewed by: Mr. N