If you think that being a rock 'n roll star is glamorous and lucrative, think again. It's hard work with long hours and no paid holidays or vacations, according to Canadian rock legend Greg Godovitz. Bargain-basement accommodations on the way up leave much to be desired. And if you want to know where your money goes, you'd better have solid financial management or a clean, sober mind, both of which were lacking in Godovitz's rise to fame. But he doesn't regret any of it and provides all the gritty details in his stunning autobiography, Travels with My Amp. So, buckle up your seatbelt and get ready for an action-packed, cocaine soaked, music loving ride in the Goddomobile. No, wait. On second thought, unfasten your belt -- Godovitz would hate you to be restrained.
Travels with My Amp starts with Greg's teenage love for music that will last a lifetime. He comes of age during the British Invasion and quickly loses interest in school. By the time he's 15, he's playing in a band called Fludd with his best buddy, Brian Pilling, and Brian's older brother Ed. In 1975 Greg becomes dissatisfied and leaves Fludd to form Goddo, a rock trio consisting of Greg on bass and vocals, Gino Scarpelli (born in Italy and former Brutus lead guitarist), and Marty Morin on drums (later replaced by Doug Inglis from Ottawa, previously with Powerhouse). In 1976 the band produces an earsplitting, party animal sound that appeals to anyone who likes Rush or Journey. Hard to believe that one of Godovitz's primary influences was the Beatles, because many of Goddo's songs are hard rock, except for the beautiful ballad "Chantal;" we can more easily see the profound influence of Hendrix on Scarpelli.
These "pretty bad boys" as they deemed themselves, tour Canada and eventually the U.S., beginning with high school auditoriums and university pubs, and graduating to crowds of 50,000 people when they open for Aerosmith at the CNE Stadium. In his glitz and glam, and pink velvet suits, Godovitz is driven by a passion for music, entertaining and clothes; he has a maniacal energy, and is as masterful a performer as he is a writer and storyteller. We cheer when he meets his childhood idol Paul McCartney and cry when he loses his best friend Brian to leukemia. We cringe during high-speed car chases, and lament during his drunken stupors when Greg breaks beer bottles over people's heads, dives headfirst into hotel pools fully clothed, and slices his wrist open to demonstrate to a waitress how rare he wants his steak. But before we conclude that he's hopelessly obnoxious, he beats us to the punch by saying there were times he was an asshole.
These boys rarely lack female company and the feminists among us may find the steady parade of groupies, not to mention a flagrant sexual double standard, disconcerting. But, that's the way it was. Despite the endless sex, there's not one mention of the words condom or paternity test in TWMA -- those were the days!
There are ethical and philosophical issues involved in writing an autobiography. How much of your life story belongs to you, since it will necessarily divulge information about other people that they may want to keep private? Godovitz is brutally candid and consequently, not always kind. He spares no one including himself, but this is precisely what makes him so endearing. We feel that we truly know Greg because we've traveled with him from his first apartment, which lacked running water and electricity, to the Sistine Chapel and Egyptian pyramids.
Goddo broke up in 1983, largely due to living in cramped quarters, personality differences, and the constant pressure of working six nights a week for money they rarely saw, or blew on limousines, hotels and drugs. But they reunited in 1989 and recently celebrated their 35th anniversary, although they’re all involved in other projects: Inglis with "The Dylan Tree;" and Scarpelli, returning to his Italian roots by working closely with his son Gene and family members in the rock band "Scarpelli," as well as doing classical and folk music. Greg is producing artists, freelancing on guitar and bass, and collaborating with Paul Dean of Loverboy.
Travels with My Amp is a must read, for the rock history alone-- Greg met everyone from Angela Bowie to Brian Jones, to the main players in the Yorkville music scene -- and the wonderful journey from boyhood to fatherhood. It's fast-paced, well-written and razor-sharp funny. Unlike Eric Clapton, Godovitz is not particularly pensive or remorseful nor is he modest like Keith Richards. Clapton wrote his autobiography to make sense of his life whereas Godovitz wrote to record it; the mere fact this king of excess is alive to share his fascinating and often hilarious tales is nothing short of a miracle.
Sigrid Macdonald is a copy editor, a book coach, a book reviewer, and a freelance writer. Originally from New Jersey, Macdonald currently resides in Nepean, Ontario. She’s written three full-length books including Getting Hip, D'Amour Road and Be Your Own Editor. Her articles have appeared in Canada's largest newspaper, The Globe and Mail; The Women's Freedom Network Newsletter in Washington, D.C.; the American magazine Justice Denied; and the Toastmaster, a publication of Toastmasters International which is read in 80 countries.
Sigrid edits fiction, non-fiction, short stories, websites and biographies, and helps people who feel stuck with their writing. She believes that a muse is someone who isn’t afraid to make mistakes because more is learned from failure than success.
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