Dinky Dawson, Life On The Road

Once you get past the informal style of Dinky's anecdotes, and the dense detail of his recalcitrant ramblings, you will find a wealth of technical information tracing the evolution of concert sound systems developed while he was in the employ of great bands like Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, The Byrds and even the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Dinky would claim that this is why the MO sounded so good in the Between Nothingness and Eternity concerts thanks to the innovative mastery of one of the greatest and most respected sound engineers in the business.

Dinky must have kept an amazing diary of everyday events and every gig to be able to recall each setup in so much detail [e.g., which microphones Cobham used in 1972!], and sometimes complete setlists, and all that through the evident druggy haze. Because of this volume of material, the delivery can be list-like in places. The main stories are spellbinding though - most of the ones from the 60s and 70s seem to be about electric (LSD-spiked) drinks. On one such occasion, a roomful of music bigwigs got completely tripped out at a conference in Hawaii. Does this single-handedly account for the sad state of the music industry today?

Other tales have Dinky's path crossed by about every A-list celebrity at the time; Brando collecting his holiday stash from the same doctor, harmonising with Sly Stallone and Doris Day, Morrison sharing a flight to his Miami court appearance, and coming uncomfortably close to the Manson massacre.

He was apparently also pivotal in the course of music history ...

How much you want to accept as gospel truth is up to you. Regardless, here is an amazing history of the music industry, the development of some great bands, and one man's contribution to their music.