A Note from the Author ix
Prologue A Swingin' Teenager 1(6)
Chapter One Three Wishes 7(16)
Chapter Two My Golden Childhood 23(24)
Chapter Three Girls, Guitars, and Glory 47(21)
Chapter Four The Ugliest Kid in the World 68(15)
Chapter Five Not Your Regulation HO Tour 83(15)
Chapter Six Back Through the Looking Glass 98(13)
Chapter Seven Fame and Famine 111(11)
Chapter Eight Illegal (Hollywood Sex-Rat) Alien 122(17)
Chapter Nine America on $180 a Month 139(14)
Chapter Ten The Americanization of Ricky 153(11)
Chapter Eleven So Long, Chickens; Thanks for the Eggs 164(9)
Chapter Twelve What's the Point of Being a Doctor if Everybody Dies? 173(9)
Chapter Thirteen We Have Ignition 182(14)
Chapter Fourteen Sex, More Sex, and Rock and Roll (No Real Drugs to Speak Of) 196(16)
Chapter Fifteen My Depression 212(19)
Chapter Sixteen Of Hawks and the Island of the Long White Cloud 231(11)
Chapter Seventeen A Better Destination 242(11)
Chapter Eighteen How Bad Could It Be? Pretty Fucking Bad, Actually 253(9)
Chapter Nineteen Darkness at Noon 262(13)
Chapter Twenty Healing to Do 275(17)
Chapter Twenty-One Big Boys Do Cry 292(9)
Chapter Twenty-Two Where It All Began 301(9)
Chapter Twenty-Three In Overdrive 310(11)
Acknowledgments 321