On Sunday, November 22nd Phil will be appearing at the San Marcos Public Library in San Marcos, TX for a special "meet the authors" event; part of Texas Writer's Day. For more info. visit www.whiskeyrebel.com WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK? Certainly anybody who’s been screwed around by a boss or two; if you hate your present work situation, this book could change your life. I spent three fucking years mulling over the sordid truths behind the employment game. Besides all the bitterness behind the book, it’s also loaded with funny stories. I’ve worked some goddamned weird jobs over the years; I sold toilets at Sears… I worked for Radio Shack for three years without a raise!! I was a three-piece suit wearing manager with an office, secretaries and booze in my desk for a while. I even used to hang advertisements on doorknobs in the rain! By the way, it has almost NOTHING to do with music or bands or rock and roll… so even your Mom might enjoy it. —The Whiskey Rebel Revised & Expanded Second Edition; Featuring 52 Additional Pages Intro by Jim Goad * 396 pgs * 5 1/2 X 8 1/2 Ordering: $18 ppd US & Canada / $25 ppd elsewhere mail orders: send well concealed cash or a check / money order to: Steel Cage Records, PO Box 29247, Philadelphia, PA 19125 credit card orders (via paypal): hit the appropriate button below to add item to your shopping cart Allow 2-4 weeks for delivery, although it rarely takes that long.

Reviews: Jobjumper is as rough, relentless and raw as you’d expect a memoir from the leader of the punk rock band Rancid Vat to be. Perhaps you wouldn’t expect The Whiskey Rebel (Phil Irwin) to be as precisely detailed in depicting his entire working life, with both excellent perspective and no bullshit or clichés. From picking strawberries and babysitting as a suburban adolescent, to retail sales in Sears and driving teenage boys around in a van, dropping them off to sell newspaper subscriptions, and drinking beers and blaring The Cramps on the ride home, it’s not pretty. But anyone who’s held a bullshit job (and isn’t that everyone?) knows it’s the ugly truth. Both smart and smart-assed, this linear narrative spells out hard-won life lessons about working for almost every kind of employer. Jobjumper can be disgusting at times, and while you may end up loathing the antihero Irwin makes himself out to be, he’s the first to admit he can be hard to take. Irwin’s prose can beat up Bukowski’s any day of the week. Once you accept Irwin for who he is, you still may not like him. But to fool yourself into thinking that you’re better than he is because you think you’re somehow better than an alcoholic tattooed roughneck, or that you’re proud of your unblemished work record is naïve. Irwin makes his choices and deals with the consequences, for better or worse, sober or blind drunk. He doesn’t let his work or job define him. If you do, keep it to yourself; he doesn’t really want to hear it.
—Alex Richmond, Philadelphia City Paper

Those familiar with the Whiskey Rebel (a.k.a. Phil Irwin) — who pens columns for fanzines like Hit List and Carbon 14 and his own Traitor Baiter and Drink Around The Clock and plays in the obscure punk rock bands Rancid Vat and Alcoholics Unanimous (among others) — will notice that this book strays from his usual favorite topic of rock and roll. Here the Whiskey Rebel carries us through his mostly torturous endless string of nine-to-fives and night shifts, from his teenage years to his most recent job at Tower Records (where he was helping to support a wife and kid no less), before abandoning it all to become his own boss (cyberselling LPs). Even though it’s mostly work stories, his favorite pastime of alcohol indulgence is mentioned a hell of a lot (what else can you expect from a guy who has written songs like “Shittin’ and Pukin’ at the Same Time Blues”)? While fans of the Whiskey Rebel will no doubt be interested in Jobjumper, even if you don’t know his work, don’t let that deter you from indulging in this hilarious and wildly entertaining perspective on scraping by in the American workplace. Door-to-door encyclopedia peddling, inventory taking, selling electronic crap at Radio Shack, dishwashing at a Pancake House, selling toilets at Sears, checking in customers at a tattoo shop and much, much more—the Whiskey Rebel is an undeniable expert in jumping from paycheck to paycheck. From top to bottom - from having his own office with secretaries to being the only over-30 male doing data entry in an office full of high school girls—he’s been there, done that, and back again. For every lousy clock-in he gives a comical look at the underbelly of shitty minimum wage jobs: humiliating interviews, condescending temp agencies, psycho bosses, bizarre, unbearable workmates, and mad scrambling to find a way to take a comfortable, decent shit during work hours. Work, sex, drugs, lots of drinking on the job, and a teensy bit of rock and roll—the Whiskey Rebel’s offbeat humor makes for one hell of a good read.
—B. R. Allen, SF Bay Guardian

Read the Reb's on-line journal @ www.whiskeyrebel.com