The Prodigal Rogerson – The Tragic, Hilarious, and Possibly Apocryphal Story of Circle Jerks Bassist Roger Rogerson in the Golden Age of L.A. Punk, 1979 – 1996, Hunter J. Bennett

Microcosm Publishing, 2752 N Williams Ave., Portland, OR 97227, Usa www.microcosmpublishing.com

„In 1983, Circle Jerks bassist Roger Rogerson stole the band’s van and dropped off the face of the earth. Thirteen years later, he came back, demanded that his bandmates reunite so they could become “bigger than the Beatles,” and promptly dropped dead. Though he was a founding member of the band and played on three of their best albums, Rogerson was lost to history.“ The author planned to do a article for „Ugly Things“ magazine and got lost in his research work – out comes this book. He spoke to people who knew Roger when he was in the Circle Jerks (so of course he talked to Keith Morris and Greg Hetson) and also to people that knew him while he was in the LA scene and then somewhere else.

This gives a good picture of who this guy was and what was – or was not – on his mind. Not very surprising he was a classic LA punk of that era, interested in drinking, drugs and becoming famous. It is not nice to speak ill of the dead, but it must be said it seems he was not always a nice guy and as Lisa Fancher (Frontier Records) puts it: „He was his own worst enemy“ probably says it all. If you are a fan of the band and want to know what happened to Roger, you will find out here. It is mostly quotes from interviews with a bunch of people, often commented by the author. There is also photos and flyers thrown in, but the size of the book (14 x 17,5 cm) does not really support that. Short, quick and amusing – but not very much more really. 93 pages, 7,95 $ (dolf)

Isbn 978-1621063032

[Trust # 186 September 2017]