Tavis Smiley interview with Gregg Allman to air Wednesday, May 23 on PBS

Wednesday, May 23, Tavis Smiley's interview with Gregg Allman, discussing his memoir 'My Cross to Bear', will air on PBS.  Check your local PBS station for times.

Gregg Allman on Conan, Tuesday, May 15

Gregory is scheduled to be on Conan, Tuesday, May 15. According to Conan's website: "Musical legend, Gregg Allman, talks about his incredible, crazy life in My Cross to Bear. Any book that talks about close friendships with Jimmy Carter AND Cher is A-OK in our eyes."

A-OK? Yes he is!

Gregg Allman "These Days"

Almost 6 years ago, I created a video for Gregg Allman's birthday. Since it was created, there have been over 150,000 views. I had a great time making this video, as it was out of love for Gregory. I am very proud of this video.

'My Cross to Bear' tour doing well

Early reports suggest that Gregg Allman's tour for his memoir, 'My Cross to Bear', is doing well with long lines and books selling out.

On May 8, 2012, at the Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, GA, Jerry Burns captured these images of Gregory.

It's love for Gregg Allman

It's love once again for Gregg Allman. In a recent interview, he describes his new love as "a regular person" and "she is just an angel."

The two have only known each other a few months, but Gregory said, "She's just taken my heart, and I gladly give it to her." He did not want to give a name but added, "I can just tell you this: I am totally in love, and I don’t mind telling you."

Congratulations, Gregory! Wishing you and your new love all the best.

You can read more about Gregg Allman and his past loves in his memoir, 'My Cross to Bear'.

"A Brother's Tale" by James Hale

A Brother's Tale
James Hale

I met Gregg Allman in 1978 on a steamy day in Macon, Georgia, at an event that he mentions briefly in his new autobiography, My Cross To Bear. The day marked the first time The Allman Brothers Band had played together since its acrimonious breakup two years earlier (all the surviving original members had played together with guitarist Dickey Betts' band
a week earlier in New York City's Central Park).

I had been a fan of the band since I heard their debut album in 1970, so I knew their story well. But, by the time I encountered him that summer, Allman had become a cipher—unsmiling, and hidden behind opaque shades and a curtain of long blond hair. He mumbled something I didn't catch when we were introduced, then turned his silence back on the people he had been standing with.

He'd been pilloried and ridiculed in the nascent People magazine during his marriage to Cher, and even made fun of in the comic strip Doonesbury. Since the death of his brother Duane in 1971, he'd become better known for his drug and alcohol abuse than his music, but even before his brother died Gregg had been so withdrawn and single-minded about what he did onstage that he seemed like some sort of savant. In interviews, he came off as cagey and a bit naive. Surely, there was more to him than that, but by the late '70s it was an open question.

I greeted the news that he was publishing a set of memoirs with interest... and trepidation. Even if you allowed that his memory might not be clouded by his years of substance abuse—and Keith Richards' autobiography proved that anything is possible—there was the fear that the book might either be bitter retribution for the years when he was the early butt of the celebrity media or a shallow remembrance of the band's triumphs.

What a joy it is, then, to read—or, in my case, listen to—a beautifully told, insightful and uplifting story of a man's life. For one thing, he is as funny as hell. Even the story of finding one of his wives having sex with an acquaintance is told with wry humour. As it turns out, his apparent
caginess is actually shyness, and what passes for naivety is really the sign of a sensitive soul who refuses to dwell on negative feelings about six ex-wives or people, like former manager Phil Walden, who did him wrong. While he writes compellingly about the bond between the original members of the ABB, he's brutally honest about how those bonds have been stressed over the past four decades, and isn't one to peddle trite phrases about brotherhood. Gregg Allman has always been about music first and foremost, and when people don't act in the best interest of making music, he says so. If he was exhibiting reticence at the time I met him it was because he still wasn't sure if the others in the band were willing to recommit without reservation to finding the magic they'd once had onstage, and set aside the trappings of rock stardom that had derailed them in 1976, at the height of their fame.

In that regard, he reflects a statement his brother once made: "This ain't no fashion show. In this band, you better come to play.

"Duane's sentiment was borne from hard years on the road, when the teenaged Allmans struggled to create their own music, and then to get a chance to perform it. In the mid-'60s, the star-making machinery of the Hollywood pop music scene had almost waylaid both their musical careers and their sibling friendship, and Gregg shows his early strength when he sacrifices his own ambitions, returning to Los Angeles as a solo artist in 1968 so Duane could remain in his beloved South. Duane's side of the story has only been told second hand, but apparently he reacted with anger, thinking his brother was selling out.

The relationship of the two—born little more than a year apart—was complex; Duane was a reckless, charismatic leader, who always knew just how to push his little brother's buttons. But Duane was also a brilliant, driven musician—a distinctive virtuoso at the age of 22—who had a clear vision for what it took to create an exciting hybrid of rock, blues and improvised music. He drove everyone around him mercilessly, and most of all Gregg.

He drives him still, haunting Gregg with the memory of their last conversation on the morning of October 29, 1971, when a cocaine deal led Gregg into a lie. That afternoon, Duane was pinned beneath his Harley Davidson on a Macon street. He died of massive internal injuries. Gregg writes: "The last thing I ever said to my brother was a fucking lie, man.... I have thought about
that every single day of my life since then. I told him that lie, and he told me that he was sorry and that he loved me. I was so dumbfounded, I couldn't say nothing back to him."

In that moment, and numerous others in My Cross To Bear, your heart breaks for this man, and you clearly see the kind of weight that he has carried, dragging him often into chemical means of escape. This is a fearless, unself-pitying picture of a man.

It's a story you have to live through a lot to tell, but that alone won't give you the tools to tell it. To do that you need to be able to reach the part of yourself where it's a relief to share something like you've been hurt so bad that you feel like you've been tied to a whipping post.

James Hale is an award-winning music journalist who writes for DownBeat and has made presentations about jazz at music festivals and conferences in North America and Europe. He is a co-author of the Billboard Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues.

Two phone interviews with Gregg Allman & Complete Book Tour and Concert Schedule

Gregg has been given the all clear to continue his book tour and summer concert dates! According to Mr. Allman, as of yesterday, he is out of the hospital after having a stent put in a blocked artery. He says he feels "better than ever." And for all of us fans, this is more than welcome news!!

Phone interview with Dennis Miller 5/2/12

Interrobang phone interview 5/2/12

"Just where can I see Gregg?" you may be asking. Fear not! Here is a complete list of book tour and concert dates!

BOOK TOUR:

Tuesday, May 08, 2012 12:30 PM BARNES & NOBLE/Buckhead 2900 Peachtree
Road NE Atlanta, GA 30305

Tuesday, May 08, 2012 07:00 PM EAGLE EYE BOOKSHOP 2076 N Decatur Rd Decatur,
GA 30033

Thursday, May 10, 2012 06:30 PM BMI & PARNASSIS BOOKS PRESENTS BMI Office
Bldg Lobby 6 Music Circle N Nashville, TN 37203

Saturday, May 12, 2012 12:00 PM COSTCO 2746 N Clybourn Avenue Chicago, IL
60614

Saturday, May 12, 2012 06:00 PM BUDDY GUY'S LEGENDS 700 S Wabash Chicago, IL
60605

Tuesday, May 15, 2012 08:00 PM LIVE TALKS LA/Aero Theatre 1328 Montana Avenue
@ 14th St Santa Monica, CA

Thursday, May 17, 2012 04:00 PM BOOK SOUP 8818 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA
90069

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 12:00 PM BARNES & NOBLE/Union Square 33 E 17 ST
New York, NY 10017

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 07:00 PM BOOKENDS 211 E. Ridgewood AVE Ridgewood, NJ
07450

Thursday, May 24, 2012 07:00 PM APPLE/E-book presentation w/Alan Light 1981
Broadway Bet 67 & 68 New York, NY

Thursday, May 31, 2012 06:00 PM BOOKS-A-MILLION 1910 Wells Road Orange Park,
FL

Saturday, June 02, 2012 12:00 PM SAM'S CLUB 15 Mill Creek Circle Pooler, GA
31322

Sunday, June 03, 2012 06:00 PM THE BIG HOUSE 2321 Vineville Avenue Macon, GA
31204

DATES WITH THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND:

07/21/12 Thornville, OH All Good Music Festival BUY TIX HERE!

07/22/12 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center *with Santana* BUY TIX HERE!

07/24/12 Wantagh, New York Nikon at Jones Beach Theater *with Santana* BUY TIX HERE!

07/25/12 Holmdel, New Jersey PNC Bank Arts Center *with Santana* BUY TIX HERE!

07/27/12 Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Performing Arts Center *with Santana* BUY TIX HERE!

07/28/12 Hartford, Connecticut Comcast Theatre *with Santana* BUY TIX HERE!

07/30/12 Columbia, Maryland Merriweather Post Pavilion *with Santana* BUY TIX HERE!

08/1/12 Atlanta, Georgia Chastain Park Amphitheatre *with moe.* On sale date coming soon...

08/3/12 Charlotte, North Carolina Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre *with Lynyrd Skynyrd* BUY TIX HERE!

08/4/12 Raleigh, North Carolina Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek *with Lynyrd Skynyrd* BUY TIX HERE!

08/7/12 Boston, Massachusetts Bank of America Pavilion *an evening with* BUY TIX HERE!

08/8/12 Boston, Massachusetts Bank of America Pavilion *an evening with* BUY TIX HERE!

08/10/12 Scranton, Pennsylvania Montage Mountain PEACH FESTIVAL BUY TIX HERE!

08/11/12 Scranton, Pennsylvania Montage Mountain PEACH FESTIVAL BUY TIX HERE!

DATES WITH GREGG ALLMAN & FRIENDS:

05/19/12 Dana Point, California Doheny Blues Festival BUY TIX HERE!



Please stay tuned for updates!

Photos from Gregg Allman's memoir 'My Cross to Bear'

USA Today published a review and exclusive photos from Gregory's autobiography 'My Cross to Bear'.

USA Today