Rock 'n' Roll Soldier: A Memoir

by Dean Ellis Kohler, Susan VanHecke

Overview

"During a time when none of us knew for sure if we would live or die, I came to know the true power of music."

Dean Kohler is about to make it big—he's finally scored a national record deal! But his dreams are abruptly put on hold by the arrival of his draft notice. Now he's in Qui Nhon, Vietnam, serving as a military policeman. He keeps telling himself he's a musician, not a killer, and that he's lucky he's not fighting on the front lines. When Captain orders him to form a rock band, it's up to Dean to find instruments and players, pronto. Ingenuity and perseverance pay off and soon the band is traveling through treacherous jungle terrain to perform for troops in desperate need of an escape—even if it's only for three sets. And for Dean—who lives with death, violence, and the fear that anyone could be a potential spy (even his Vietnamese girlfriend)—the band becomes the one thing that gets him through the day. During one of the most controversial wars in recent American history, this incredible true story is about music and camaraderie in the midst of chaos.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061948831
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	12/15/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	293
File size:	342 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Dean Ellis Kohler started a band and recorded a single while serving in the Vietnam War. Today, he owns an advertising and public relations company and a mobile disc jockey business. A true Renaissance man, he's also worked as an entertainment agent, commercial artist, graphic designer, photographer, video­g-rapher, studio and concert sound engineer, sound system designer and fabricator, and television and radio broadcaster. He has remained devoted to writing, recording, and performing music throughout his life as Dean & the Mustangs, the Satellites, the Electrical Banana, the Soft Light, Spectrum, Mad Wax (and alter ego band Marc Wyld), Mousey Brown, Big Bubba & the Blockbusters, and currently as Dean Kohler. He lives in Hampton Roads, Virginia.

Susan VanHecke is a journalist, coauthor of Roadwork: Rock & Roll Turned Inside Out and Three Steps to Heaven: The Eddie Cochran Story, and author of Race with the Devil: Gene Vincent's Life in the Fast Lane, which was adapted into an award-winning screenplay.

Editorial Reviews

A memoir about starting a rock band in the middle of a war zone. Drafted into the Vietnam War, Kohler served in a small port town, enforcing the law as part of his military service. Under orders from his commanding officer, the young MP formed "Electrical Banana" with a few fellow draftees and enjoyed a wildly popular run of gigs, including a performance on the front lines, before returning home to restart his music career. With its focus on overcoming adversity and creating positive situations, the narrative could devolve into a blathering self-help book, but Kohler and co-author VanHecke avoid that trap entirely. Reluctant readers will find plenty of action and suspense in the war scenes, while those who are musically inclined will appreciate the trials of starting a band, no matter what the circumstances. Brief sidelines regarding both the motivations for and the difficulties of the war emerge, but it does not overtake the plot, and Kohler avoids getting bogged down in the politics. Humorous and light, with a hint of despair, the narrative depicts life continuing beyond conflict. (Memoir. YA)

Kirkus Reviews