Black Dogs

Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock’s Greatest Robbery is a short novel that can only be described as an attempt at Gonzo literature. Gonzo Literature, a genre created for and by Hunter S. Thompson to describe his style, merely means when fiction and nonfiction cross paths. In this particular novel, the author, Jason Buhrmester, does exactly that. He takes the infamous robbery of Led Zeppelin in 1973 and recreates what might have happened, creating a book that is vivid, ingenious, captivating and impossible to put down.

Having no more facts than what the public knows, Buhrmester imagines a crazy and almost believable solve to the greatest mystery and robbery in classic rock’s history.

Here are the facts of the event; in July of 1973 Led Zeppelin played three sold out shows in Madison Square Garden in the heart of New York City. Before the final performance, over $200,000 of the band’s money was stolen from a safety deposit box at the Drake Hotel, where the band was staying. The money has never been recovered, no one has even been caught, and the hotel ended up having to pay the band in full. Those are the only facts in the book; Buhrmester imagines the rest.

The story follows 19 year old Patrick Sullivan who has managed to botch every robbery job he has attempted. After his last job went horribly wrong, he left Baltimore eager for a fresh start in New York, and left his best friend Alex, sitting in jail for his crime. But when Patrick sees a briefcase of money backstage at the Led Zeppelin concert, he gets a crazy idea but realizes he is going to need his crew back for just one more job; the greatest robbery in rock history.

He returns to his hometown to rope his crew into the job. His crew is a bunch of misfits, including Alex, who is still slightly bitter from the last job, Frenchy, a music loving nobody, and Keith, who specializes in theft of car radios. The way Buhrmester describes these friends, they could be anyone’s friends. They have traits that are relatable to recognizable to just about everyone. This makes the audience want to see these crazy misfits succeed at something for once.

While Patrick rounds up his crew, every location he visits, the record store, the pawn shop etc are all very vividly described. Through Buhrmester’s descriptions, the audience is able to get a genuine feel for the dingy locations and the times. It is because of Buhrmester’s attention to detail that sometimes you forget this is all made up. It becomes so believable; you almost want this to be the real story.

But before the gang can put the petal to the metal and get their insane scheme going, they run into a biker gang made up of Christian Bikers, The Holy Ghosts, after trying to steal a Les Paul guitar from their pawnshop. After this ordeal, the gang gets wrapped up in trying to execute their plan stumbling across great characters such as Boggie, a front man from a band called The New York Giants. Because the end of the story is true, and the money is missing after all, we know the story is just going to get more interesting from this point on.

Black Dogs is truly brain candy for rock n roll fans. From the many song and band references, to the infamous robbery, this novel will surely fix any craving for a crazy, unbelievable, rock n roll good time. The characters and descriptiveness really show just how much thought the author put in to it. He basically took the idea that this event happened, now who and how in the world was it done? By a group of pot smoking, beer drinking, good time loving, group of friends who were never able to pull off anything before. That’s who.