The Yin and the Yang of It All: Rock'n'Roll Memories from the Cusp as Told by a Mixed-Up, Mixed-Race Kid

by John Kim Faye

Overview

In 1966—the Year of the Horse, not to mention Revolver and Pet Sounds — John Kim Faye was born out of wedlock to a 40-year-old Korean mother and a 62-year-old Irish father. Faye grew up in the state of Delaware, where laws forbidding interracial marriage were still on the books until 1967.

As the lead singer and primary songwriter of the Caulfields, Faye was one of the only mixed-race Asian American frontman to sign a major record contract in the alternative rock heyday of the 1990s. In an era that preceded K-Pop—and even the rise of the internet—Faye’s personal journey did not lead to superstardom. Instead, The Yin and The Yang of it All is a memoir about the discovery of a voice, a tribe, and a musical ethnicity that runs far deeper than his Korean/Irish roots.

Bookended by the loss of this father against the backdrop of his tumultuous childhood in the post-Vietnam 70s and his mother’s tragic passing in 2012, Faye’s story weaves a tapestry of revealing moments as told from his unique perspective on the cusps of identity, race, and fame.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642257434
Publisher:	Advantage Media Group, Inc.
Publication date:	04/04/2023
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	677,727
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

JOHN KIM FAYE is a music “lifer” whose career spans four decades and counting. As a recording artist, producer, mentor, open mic host, and recently retired songwriting professor at Drexel Universityin Philadelphia, Faye has seen the music industry from every conceivable angle— from the heights of major label excess to the trenches of DIY guerilla warfare.

His various musical iterations—the Caulfields, John Faye Power Trip, IKE, John & Brittany, and his solo works— have yielded over eight hours of recorded music, song placements in film and television, substantial commercial and satellite radio airplay, and a storage unit in Elkins Park filled with boxes of CDs that he’s still trying to get rid of.

Table of Contents

A Prologue
Introduction:Letter to an 8 x 10

Part I: Figure It Out
Speak Up
The Mulligan
Beside the One She Loves
Minor Key Moments
The Day that Came and Went
Letter to an 8 x 10, Part 2

Part II: Dopamine
I Wanna Go Home
The K-tel Years
Scratch 'n' Sniff
Jig = Up
Pompalaise
Letter to an 8 x 10, Part 3

Part III: Teenage Fix
Punk Brothers, International
Nosebleeds
Suburban Lizards
No Applause
The Money Note

Part IV: Salad Days
Beat Clinic: Just the Factoids
Townie
March of Dimes
Independence Days
Driveway Moment
Estate Tales
The End of the Salad Days

Part V: The A&M Years
For Rudy
Baby Band
Found Money
Tony's Theme
Ecosystem of a Van
Down Unda
Capital Lipstick L
The Devil Wears Nada
I Think This Is It
Wrong Exit

Part VI: Unsigned Again, Naturally
Power Trip
As Long as I'm Around
Hit 'Em Low, Hit 'Em High
Baby, Do You Wanna Take a Ride?
In and Out of Weeks
Opening Act
Have a Nice Day

Part VII: It Keeps Evolving
Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
1-Way to Avalon
Odyssey
Walk the Walk
Last Letter to an 8 x 10

Acknowledgments

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A backstage pass to the glory days of alternative rock." — BookLife by Publishers Weekly

"If you are interested in reading about the life of a musician, The Yin and the Yang of it All should be on top of your list." — Readers' Favorite

"The Yin and the Yang of It All is an energetic musician’s memoir by a man seeking reconciliation with his origins." —Foreword Clarion Reviews

"... Faye’s thoughts on music and family are likely to linger in readers’ minds." — Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

03/06/2023

Faye debuts with a high-spirited memoir detailing his time as front man for 1990s alt rock band the Caulfields, alongside a vivid rendering of his lifelong love affair with music: “Music gave me my voice—not just the transmitter of lyrics and melodies from the songs I write but my place in the world, my sense of belonging somewhere and believing in something.” The son of a Korean mother and Irish father, Faye candidly shares his struggles with “growing up Asian” as he explores the often opposing forces of his mother’s culture, his school experiences, and the ever-present undercurrent of music humming in the background of his life.

In many ways a love letter to his music obsession, this polished memoir will awaken the songbird in readers familiar with ‘80s vinyl hits and the rising star of punk rock. Faye’s first band, No Excuse (later renamed Beat Clinic), found inspiration in artists like MDC and Dead Kennedys, and served as a mouthpiece for his initial attempts at lyrics and later development into lead singer. Faye fondly recalls their early days of cover shows and broken-down vans before reaching their big break in ‘94 as the Caulfields with A&M Records. Those recollections are consistently entertaining, whether it’s their first show with the then-unknown Indigo Girls or being pelted with water bottles onstage at ZephyrFest in New Orleans.

Faye covers the eventual breakup of the band, too (live on the radio, when the collapse of their label deal was a foregone conclusion), as well as his solo work and other projects, culminating with band IKE, which opened for Bon Jovi in 2006. He never shies from the weightier topics, including his divorce and the idiosyncrasies of his close relationship with his mother, who passed away in 2012 after a string of health issues. Rockers and anyone else eager to live a creative life will appreciate Faye’s intense passion for song throughout, “the voice that projects the me I want to see in the world.””

Takeaway: A backstage pass to the glory days of alternative rock.

Great for fans of: Kim Gordon’s Girl in a Band, Bob Mehr’s Trouble Boys.

Production grades Cover: B+ Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews

John Faye was right on the edge of having everything he ever dreamed of, staring rock ‘n’ roll success squarely in the eyes… until it was all ripped away. “The Yin and the Yang of it All” is an exceptionally crafted, hilarious, and poignant tale about how everything you think you always wanted might not be what you wanted after all.

~ John Ratliff

From the Publisher

2023-02-22
Faye recounts a life caught between identities in this debut music memoir.

The Caulfields released two albums with A&M Records during the height of late-1990s alternative rock. Unlike many of their contemporaries, however, the band was fronted by a mixed-race singer/songwriter. Faye was raised in Delaware by a Korean American mother who was 40 years old when he was born; his father was a 62-year-old Irish American ex-cop who died when the author was 6. Faye thought of himself as a perpetual outsider—a sensitive child who felt alienated from White kids he grew up with and from his extended Korean family. He found his voice in rock ’n’ roll, although that path was hardly a simple one to follow. As a lifelong working musician, Faye says, he still feels caught between worlds: “I’m always just one song, one soundtrack, one viral anything from being able to put my kids through college,” he writes in his preface, “or one unforeseen dry patch from having to play ‘Wagon Wheel’ in front of an eighty-inch plasma TV that the bar owner refuses to turn off during my set.” With this memoir, Faye recounts not only “the Caulfields’ fifteen minutes in the spotlight,” but what happened to him before and after it: his confused childhood in the 1970s, the premature demise of his band, and the way music and writing helped him to grapple with subsequent losses in his life. Faye’s prose is even and evocative, particularly in chapters framed as letters to his late mother. Here, he drives past her old house: “Even though the bamboo trees are gone—the ones that used to piss off the neighbors when they sprouted up into their yards—the Japanese maple you planted when I was a teenager is still there, standing as strong as I remember, although the current occupants don’t seem to have the skill or desire to maintain it like you did.” The book sometimes drags a bit due to its length of nearly 450 pages, but Faye’s thoughts on music and family are likely to linger in readers’ minds.

A sometimes-rambling but often affecting remembrance.

Kirkus Reviews