Finished Sa 8/2/14
I never particularly cared for the music of Guns N' Roses, but I always liked their EP, 'The Spaghetti Incident'. It seemed far too punk for a mainstream, heavy-metal hair band, and probably that's due to the influence of their bassist, Duff McKagan (Michael Andrew-1964).
He's from the Seattle area, and grew up and was friends with many of the Grunge/Punk superstars of the 80's. Mother Love Bone/Soundgarden/Alice In Chains/Curt Cobain/Soul Asylum/ and all of the rest.
The youngest of eight children. His father was a fireman and much older than most fathers. He respected his father for being a fireman (thought this was an admirable occupation), but all of that changed when his father cheated on his mother and the marriage broke up. It was only until he was much older that he was able to become close to his father, but his mother was always a driving force in his life.
When he left for LA from Seattle, he always had a plan, and even though he never really had much of a roof over his head, he always had a job. Minimum wage jobs, although he was able to become somewhat trained as a pastry chef.
The family was very much affected by his Depression Era father. 'The McKagan's never live beyond their means' (He said this on the David Fricke interview at the Strand Bookstore). "FHB" means, 'Family Hold Back'. When guests showed up for dinner, his family would let each other know that they should hold back so that the guest would have enough to eat'.
He seems very sympathetic to Axle Rose who is generally perceived to be the villain of the band. Rose sounds like he suffers from mental issues and Duff describes his life-long battle with panic attacks.
After he kicked drugs and alcohol he went back to school, first to Santa Monica Community College, and later to Seattle University's Albers School of Business. He went from not knowing a thing about finance to becoming actively involved in managing his portfolio, which includes everything from stocks and mutual funds to property. He writes a financial column for Playboy.com. He is co-founder of a business venture called 'Meridian Rock' which provides investment counselling to rock stars.
The book was very readable and he apparently wrote the book himself. There is no ghost writer (or, at least none is credited).
To kick his habits he got involved in mountain biking and martial arts. And, reading seemed to provide an escape and a blueprint to get a handle on his life. He never really completed high school, and went back when he was in his late twenties to get a GED , community college credit, and then on to a four year college. Also, some on-line credits.
I liked the idea that he thought that he was alone in not understanding the financial contracts that he and the band had signed. Although he did say that he demanded to know the real addresses of his money minders. More than an implied threat that if things went south, he'd come a looking. He brought it to an MBA (I think this was his brother) and he said that he didn't even understand the contract. I guess the banking industry loves this idea that what they do is so complicated that 'mere mortals' cannot possibly comprehend what they do, so it's best just to 'trust in your betters'.
It's hard to believe that anyone could drink ten bottles of wine a day, yet he claims that this is what it took when he stopped drinking whiskey and opted for something less strong.
Duff Beer from the Simpsons is named after him, although the show scoffs at this idea.
McKagan sounds like an interesting person and would probably stand out in any endeavour.
He's probably a rock star that would be interesting even if he never played a note. Although, he never mentions much about what he listens to, and it doesn't sound like he is a collector of music, but he's obviously a fan.
YouTube 36" video/interview about IT'S SO EASY-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAKzJB_P3YY
Link to his entry on Wikipedia-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duff_McKagan
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