A woman who was everywhere and knew everyone, from 1968, when she hung around Apple Records till a job materialized, forward. Good detail on life as a tour manager, etc. (Eric Clapton comes off particularly badly, reminding me of Valerie Bertinelli's recent comment, "Once a dick, always a dick.") ( )

O'Dell's memoir is only notable as an insider's view of famous rockers, details that have become widely known in the intervening decades. Her own life story, even with the prize job. is unremarkable. Unlike Cider with Roadies by Stuart Maconie that I finished a few days ago, there was no spark in O'Dell's writing, just a comparatively dull account after the initial joy of getting a job with Apple Records, a job that only came about after a lot of hanging around, hoping, and running errands. Hats off to her success when most teens would have given anything for the opportunity, although later drug abuse blurred the euphoria. ( )

Actually this book was better than I expected.... (have I been saying this a bit lately).

I had no idea who Chris O'Dell was or that she was more than a groupie, but the title of the book intrigued me, so I pulled it from the shelf.

It turns out Chris O'Dell was in the right place at the right time..... A friend of hers invited her out one night to meet Derek Taylor who worked with the Beatles at Apple. Derek invited Chris to go back to London to Apple and once there she volunteered at Apple until she was offered a job.

She worked w/ Neil Aspinall, Peter Asher, George & Patti Harrison, Eric Clapton and many other well placed recording industry people. She was once the short-term girlfriend of Leon Russel....

Some of her stories are pathetic, how drugs & alcohol made some of the musicians just freaking nuts, how the addictions almost destroyed her.....

Not too much name dropping going on (which I was worried there would be), just the relationships she had with these people.

I have to hand it to her, she stuck to it and made a pretty good life for herself. ( )

Chris O'Dell wrote a mostly entertaining memoir about her life working with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and many other rock performers. She started as an office worker/errand girl at Apple Records working for the Beatles, which evolved into a personal assistant for various performers and eventually tour manager for major rock tours. Chris comes across as likable, enthusiastic, free-spirited but hard working in her younger days. Eventually, she becomes an alcoholic and drug addict and dabbles in affairs with married men but continues to do her job well. She has many gossipy anecdotes about the well-known people she was involved with. She finally settles down after having a child and leaves the rock world behind. ( )

A fun insiders look at the 70s rock scene. Her take on the Beatles is particularly interesting, since she worked for them and knew them for quite a period of time, but does not appear to have an axe to grind with any of them. I think the best part of the book is how normal the author seems - it's difficult to relate to the glamourous Patti Boyd or super fabulous Bianca Jagger, but easy to see a piece of yourself in Chris O'Dell. ( )