Rock and Roll Will Never Die

Rockin' Through Troubled Waters was just released by Don Jung.

The author just so happens to be "The CPA to the Advertising Stars." (at least in Los Angeles)

I'm not sure Don ever called himself that, but those of us who couldn't tell the difference between an earned tax credit and a long term depreciating asset, sure do.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when -- about 15 years ago -- the man who worked his accounting magic for industry luminaries agreed to help me find every legitimate deductible expense sanctioned by the IRS.

"You work out of your home, so any supplies you buy for your office are fair game. Did you buy pencils for example? If you're gonna have pencils, you're gonna need a pencil box, someplace to keep those pencils, right? And pencils don't sharpen themselves, do they?" 

The man is an income-deducting genius.

Well, you can also imagine my hesitation, when not long ago, Don asked me for some advice. He had written a book. It was memoir about his life as a young man and his dealings with many of the bands that have come to define rock and roll, including: the Doors, the Eagles, Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Jimi Hendrix. And because I had published three books, he wanted me to read his manuscript and offer any advice.

Oh great, I thought, people are just dying to hear how you got a $138 tax refund for Jim Morrison's leather pants in 1967.

Naturally, I agreed.

And naturally, I was off base.

Way off base, like Bill Barr on the Mueller Report off base.

You see, in his youth, before he was seduced by the titillating allure of capital expenditures and the moleskin covered books of the tax code, Don worked as lighting and sound technician. And found himself at all the fabled venues of Sunset Blvd.

In other words, Don was there.

In the green rooms, on the stages, at the forefront of a revolution that still ripples through our pop culture. As if that weren't enough, it was the 1960's and 1970's, man. War, assassinations, sex, drugs and of course, rock and roll.

There are pictures. There are anecdotes. And there are priceless peeks behind the curtain that will change the way you look at rock's greatest legends.

Whatever expectations I had before opening the book were shattered by the time I turned the last page. It's an easy, fascinating and personal read that manages to hurl the reader back in time and offers a front row seat to a show that will live on in the memory for a long, long time.

Through it all I learned an important lesson:

Never judge a book by its author.