(Faber and Faber)

www.us.macmillan.com/faberandfaber.aspx

Mike Edison has the kind of life people imagine journalists who cover pop culture enjoy; hanging with celebs, indulging in all manner of mind-altering substances, having copious sex with gushing admirers, and even making enough of a living at it that he doesn't have to take part-time jobs to support his writing habit (all of which is completely contrary to my own experience, but maybe it's different for girls).

All of which could be fairly infuriating to read about - how dare this man have more fun than me! Pro wrestling, porn, pot... according to I Have Fun Everywhere I Go (subtitled Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and The World's Most Notorious Magazines), it seems there isn't a vice Edison hasn't waggled his toes in (not to mention his stints in bands like Sharkey's Machine and the Raunch Hands, to mention a few), and if he's not knocking back shots with Evel Knievel in Vegas he's toking alongside Ozzy Osbourne at a High Times photo shoot. The saving grace is that Edison is smart enough to mix in a healthy dose of self-deprecation while relating his exploits, even going so far as to expertly tug on your heartstrings by taking you step-by-step through the love affair that shattered his heart (yes, he has one). He doesn't hesitate to admit when he makes a mistake or a bad call (as when he initially dismissed The Simpsons as not funny, now confessing "Okay, so I fucked up"). And because any new venture he enters into is as likely to end up in defeat as triumph, you keep turning the pages to find out what scrape Edison will next find himself tumbling into.

In addition to being a memoir, it's also a wistful look back at the era of entertainment journalism before the rise of the Internet. It's not that publishers were any more idealistic back then; they wanted to make money just as much as they do today. But there was a greater freedom at work when corporations hadn't taken over most of the playing field, and any new idea had to be market tested to within an inch of its life. Somehow, Edison manages to convey a spirit of innocence about the period, even as he discusses the "dramatic impact" to be found in a photo spread of "a couple of D-cup strippers getting it on in football helmets and heels."

Besides, you gotta love a guy who writes lines like "Generally speaking, the U.S. government is a humorless bunch of cocksuckers, and they do not care that you are not hurting anyone by getting high." GILLIAN G. GAAR