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Rock 'n' Roll Soldier

A Memoir

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

"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.

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    • School Library Journal

      September 1, 2009
      Gr 9 Up-Drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, Kohler got the chance to pursue his desire to make music when he was asked by his captain to put together a rock band. He recruited three other soldiers, found inexpensive instruments in the local town, and set about practicing and then playing for fellow combatants in the 127th Military Police Company. Soon, he became more serious and tried to get the Electrical Banana gigs in all the clubs in Qui Nhon and beyond. From his eye-opening perspective, Kohler draws in readers with some gut-wrenching accounts of warfare, lightening the mood with references to bands, songs, and his love of music. This memoir reads like an action-packed novel and pairs well with Walter Dean Myers's "Fallen Angels" (Scholastic, 1998). It could provide an outstanding cross-curriculum tie-in between social studies and English."Dylan Thomarie, Johnstown High School, NY"

      Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      July 1, 2009
      Grades 9-12 Thewar memoir gets a unique spin with Kohlers recollection of his time playing rock and roll in the Vietnamjungle. The 19-year-old Kohler arrives in Qui Nhon in 1967 as part of a new military-police company, but hismind is onthe record deal his bandhad to turn down when he received his draft notice. Word of his talent gets around, though, and soon Kohler and three fellow privates are buying instruments from local merchants and rehearsing covers of everyone from Hermans Hermits to the Velvet Underground.Their bandthe Electrical Bananaquickly becomes the in-demandentertainment for nearby companies, and Kohler is determined to play every gig, even when it means traveling unarmed through VC territory. As scenes of panic and carnage alternate with the wild cheering of weary soldiers, the theme hits you in the gut: the restorative power of music is real, and no band, no matter how famous, could havebeen any more important than the Electrical Banana. A sober but ultimately inspiring read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

    • The Horn Book

      January 1, 2010
      With Susan VanHecke. Like thousands of other nineteen-year-old boys in 1966, Kohler found himself headed across the Pacific to Vietnam with no clear idea of how he actually got there. The first-person, hairy-chested narration provides an excellent on-the-ground look at MP life during that war, enlivened by Dean's keen interest in music and formation of a band to entertain his fellow troops.

      (Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

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Languages

  • English

Levels

  • ATOS Level:4.3
  • Lexile® Measure:630
  • Interest Level:9-12(UG)
  • Text Difficulty:2-3

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