Ear Damage Website

(Alabama, USA)

Peter Kalafatis is the latest in a long line of old punks and Gen Xers to recap his formative years. But unlike many who look back fondly on their glory days, by highlighting culture, music, and happier experiences, Kalafatis recollects on his rough and tumble upbringing and coming of age in New York's cut-throat boroughs and hardcore punk scene. But really, A Rebel Life is Peter trying to make sense of his brother's death by overdose. Kalafatis basically clams that the rich have got his brother's blood on their hands because of "manipulation of the wealthy class to maintain their status." Despite somewhat unclear explanations of his stance and seemingly misdirected anger, I could see what Kalifatis is getting at. Societies have been known to systematically keep their working classes and other minorities from education and means to acquire wealth and bring themselves out of poverty, and drugs have without a doubt been a powerful tool of "the man", directly or indirectly, to help keep a boot on the neck of the poor and working class in America for at least the past 30-40 years. Let's not even get into how hard it is to get health insurance if you're labeled a drug addict. But…having stated all that, basis of this book still seems like a bit of a stretch. Peter and his brother ran away from home at an early age, joined and started gangs, did drugs and lived a violent "one day to the next" lifestyle. Death by any means could have come at any time for either one of them. His brother could have lived to a ripe old age of 34 or 35, which was pretty much the case in this instance. Regardless of the reasons, if you spend most of you're life doing drugs and living a violent lifestyle, 34 years could end up being a long time. Anyway, not a bad read overall, and I really do think the author is on to something, at least to some extent, with his accusations of the wealthy keeping the working classes from better education and opportunities. But it also seems he can't accept that his brother had a part in his own demise. [CS]