Everything Is Combustible : Television, CBGB's and Five Decades of Rock and Roll: The Memoirs of an Alechemical Guitarist

Legendary Rock and Roll guitarist. Founding member of Television. Masterful storyteller. Written in Lloyd's inimitable, frequently humorous style, Everything is Combustible chronicles, through vignettes, Lloyd's colorful early life, starting in Pittsburgh and soon moving to New York City, and then details his teenage travels and encounters with music legends including Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Keith Moon. Lloyd recounts the founding of Television, the band's rise alongside other bands and personalities in the 1970’s New York Music scene, and the legend-making of the unparalleled music venue CBGB. As the rock ‘n’ roll tales unfold, he accompanies them with insights into his approach to music and the electric guitar. Lloyd’s mid-career vignettes detail his solo years, including the backstory of critically praised records such as Alchemy and Field of Fire, his drug addiction and recovery, his 90s-era work, and touring adventures with artists such as Matthew Sweet, John Doe, and Robert Quine. Throughout the book is an undercurrent—Lloyd’s continually evolving spiritual-philosophical approach to life, emerging from the conscious digestion of the highs and the lows—both ends of the same stick. In Everything is Combustible, Richard Lloyd relates his life, both inner and outer, in the narrative style, digging beneath the events and revealing their meanings. Everything is Combustible is a must-have for any fan of Television and the heyday of the New York rock music scene. It fills a void in the written record as the first complete account of the band, including the making of their records and touring, from a founding member of the band. Considered a foundational band of alternative rock, Television’s debut record, Marquee Moon, is widely viewed by critics and musicians as one of the greatest albums ever recorded. As one half of Television’s unique guitar sound, and a legendary solo artist in his own right, Richard Lloyd’s music has influenced a range of bands and artists from U2, Johnny Marr and Joy Division to R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Wilco and John Frusciante. Contents Foreword Waiting for the Rollercoaster Hello Pittsburgh Something of My Birth First Birthday Party Richard Discovers Electricity and Other Experiments “What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?” Cough Syrup, Death, Hypnosis and an Early Psychedelic Experience Turning Upside Down Inside and the Power of Silence Catholic School, God and the Devil The Intoxicated Cartoon Junior High Heroin and Big Angel/Big Devil Teenage Activity The Whole World Is Sex Valence The Hypnosis and Slang Study Groups Samantha Raising the Ritalin Roof Psychiatry Is Nuts Richard Meets Velvert and Wakes Up Jimi The Guitar Lesson without a Guitar and Black Roman Orgy Buddy’s Got a Gun Hash Magic and Zeppelin Tales Woodstock Adventures at the Fillmore East Montclair and the Reefer Gun True Wish Boston and John Lee Hooker California Keith Moon and the Sartorial Splendor Richard Cromelin’s House Lotus to New Orleans and New York Moving In with Terry Ork Summer of the Superglued Dishes The Wailers and the Art of Walking Out Reno Sweeney’s: Part One Reno Sweeney’s: Part Two Television Rehearsing Hilly on a Stepladder Tom in the Middle and Island Records Hell’s Syringes Management, Flash Forward to Meltdown and Television’s First Single The Laws and CBGB’s Hello Cleveland, This Is Not Earth Music Richard Visits the National Council on Alcoholism Judy Growing Up Sire and Elektra Anita and Keith Recording Marquee Moon Peter Gabriel and the West Coast Visits with Velvert The Ice Kings of Rock Television Takes Europe New York, What a Place Girls and Other Girls Recording Adventure Television Dissolve The Hats, Atlanta and the B-52s Dr. Steve and Various Overdoses Alchemy and the Downward Spiral Endocarditis and Bob Marley Field of Fire: Part One Field of Fire: Part Two Matthew and the Little Kernels The Coke Cat John Doe and SXSW Television Reunite The Awakening of Kundalini Leaving Television Suffering Outtakes Meeting Mr. Gurdjieff The Depth of Wish Poems Discography I was born at 8:15 PM, October 25, 1951, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.