IN BOOK 2 OF THINGS WE LOST IN THE NIGHT:
IT’S SPRING IN HONOLULU as the band opens at an off-the-beaten-path, beach-front nightclub, playing to packed audiences of locals and American warriors during the most violent months of the Vietnam War. Larry meets someone here who changes his life forever. Back on the Mainland, Larry tries to leave his romantic island fantasy behind and searches for redemption as the band returns to its Indiana roots. Though the record everyone had expected to become a national hit fails in the wake of a national tragedy, the band’s popularity and success continues to grow on the West Coast.
“… [Larry J.] Dunlap is such a beautiful writer. I found myself lost in the book, as if I was watching a really good movie. Bravo!”
— J.L. Clayton, SegnaLibro.co.uk
THE FLAMINGO HOTEL OFFERS a long-term engagement in Las Vegas in the Sky Room, a dance/showroom designed for them. Larry, now happily married with a new child on the way, and with more follow-up recording sessions ahead, can hardly believe his good fortunes. But when their next records fail and the band grows restless playing in one place, Larry attempts to spark the band’s creativity to write their own songs. A sudden crisis in his personal life arises when his wife and son are missing. His life and sanity are at risk as he tries to save his band and young family.
“And this why we read, to connect with someone who manages to find words for our crazy wordless lonely journey. Enchanted goes there...and I believe you’ll find yourself along the way.”
—Reader Review
READ THIS UNFORGETTABLE BOOK about the adventures of Larry and his bandmates in Stark Naked and the Car Thieves during the tectonic cultural, political, musical and sexual upheavals of the chaotic 1960s. Experience with them the tumultuous nights they inhabit where too many people and things are too easily found and lost.
“You want to know if I’m okay?” I asked in the voice of a condemned criminal. “Why don’t I just tell you! Every time I think about you, which mostly all of the time, my heart wants to stop. Sometimes, I can’t catch a full breath, I feel like I’m smothering. My brain thinks its on fire, screaming at me to get up and run—somewhere, anywhere. My body doesn’t work right. My muscles don’t work together moving my bones around, I walk in fits and starts like a puppet with cut strings”
5.0 out of 5 stars ENCHANTED, AND WHEN THE SPELL BREAKS...
This book and this series is for anyone who’s made a terrible mistake regarding people they love. It’s also a book for someone who’s been crushed beyond endurance by one they trusted, and how they go on. Larry Dunlap takes us on many journeys and does so with an intent to do justice to the trust we’ve put in him for the ride. The jockeying and insecurities and squabbles of the band, the vast distance from performing to recording and the players and influences in the process, Las Vegas during Elvis and Streisand’s time, native Hawaiian home life, love-making that makes you feel a nun by comparison—read Enchanted for all of this.
But the raw humanity of Larry knocked flat by loss and regret, and the f*ed-up place life becomes when he can’t even recognize himself—THIS is the beauty and the backbone of this book. And this why we read, to connect with someone who manages to find words for our crazy wordless lonely journey. Enchanted goes there...and I believe you’ll find yourself along the way.
-Amazon Reader Review March 13, 2019
FIVE STARS! Enchanted: Things We Lost in the Night (A Memoir of Love and Music in the 60s with Stark Naked and the Car Thieves) is the second book in a breathtaking memoir by Larry Dunlap, a veritable tour de force for readers who enjoy real-life adventures and what the life of a band feels like. Larry takes readers on a ride with the band as they continue to rise in popularity, exploring intense moments of performance, relationships, and disappointments. [In Hawaii,] Larry will face a life-threatening experience against the backdrop of the Vietnam War; and [Larry's return with his band to]... his hometown... is not what he expected.
The story is written in an engrossing, first-person narrative voice and the author captures very interesting dialogues and memorable moments in prose that is excellent, pulling readers into his worldview and compelling them to experience the hype surrounding a working band. [When they star in a major Las Vegas hotel,] we encounter legendary musicians like Elvis Presley, but what caught my attention most was the author's romantic journey... and the surprising thrills of an endearing romance. It is filled with historical references and places readers would like to be.
Enchanted: Things We Lost in the Night is exciting, a narrative that holds a lot of surprises for readers who love exploring nightlife. From the writing to the panache of the narrative, from the interesting characters to the exciting romance, Larry Dunlap scores wonderful points in a work that both informs and inspires readers.
—Divine Zape for Reader’s Favorite
Enchanted, Book 2 of Larry J. Dunlap's romantic memoir series Things We Lost in the Night, follows the first book, Night People, in documenting his band's continuing climb toward national recording success on the West Coast in the 1960s. To get a sense of the flavor of the story, think Kerouac's On the Road, then add the best elements of rock star memoirs to the mix. The final three years of Dunlap's band's successes and disappointments are charted with an attention to detail that gives you the feeling "you are there." Woven into the band's journey is Dunlap's personal love story beginning with an intense romantic encounter in Hawaii through marriage and fatherhood to the drama of the final chapters.
As their popularity grows, the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas builds a venue designed for them, the Sky Room, where international stars and celebrities turn up nightly. ("We'd begun leaning into 'Five O'clock World,' as the set opener, when Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, and Big Jim Sullivan arrived trailing followers like a mass of droning bees swarming their queen. The maître ds efficiently interceded and escorted them to a cordoned-off table about halfway back near ringside. Las Vegas royalty had deigned to visit the Sky Room.")
Readers anticipating a story of hobnobbing with musical celebrities should understand that Dunlap's personal life is as much in the spotlight, here, as his professional evolution. As he faces the challenges involved in balancing both parts of his life during the band's meteoric rise, readers receive solid insights into the costs and impact of fame and aspiration. They will appreciate the blended focus on public and private life which crafts a music memory more multifaceted than most.
Dunlap juggles family demands with career choices that range from personality clashes to the challenge of crafting an original sound in a sea of competing music groups. Musicians will well recognize many of the obstacles to success that face this group, as well as the author's determination to pursue new creative paths to take more control over their national recording goals. As the danger of losing his family looms, and the band threatens to implode, the author relates a trail of growth experiences, revelations, personal insights, and souvenirs of his life in a memoir that is especially recommended reading for anyone who wants a true-life story of a musician's growth both on stage and off.
--D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
