Last One To Die by Michael Essington

Another review, this time of a book written by one of those friends I've never actually met. Being that he's a buddy, my view point is already biased in his favor because it's a pretty damn good book. Mike is the one who finally got me to read Bukowski, and you can see Mr. Bukowski in Mike's writing style. The best way for me to describe it, is it's like have a beer (a fine wide cup of coffee for me now these days) and swapping stories about the past.  Basically what you get is a bunch of stories (most, if not all, originally written for Strange Reaction's Mike Check), loosely gathered under topics. Mike was a teenager during the second wave of punk and first wave of hardcore on the late 70' early 80's LA scene so it makes for an interesting read. If you've ever been in high school, had a dysfunctional family, had friends, been to punk shows, married with children or just plain old grown up, then you can relate. Very easy reading and because of the conversational nature, I breezed through it pretty quick and was left feeling like I could do that again, if Mike ever wrote a follow up (which I think he has plans to do). There is a Facebook page to check out, which is worth your time because Mike is a master of the Photoshop and has done some cool things with the cover of his book. You can get the book for about $14 at Headline Records or Createspace type in FGACJX53 for a discount.