Growing up a privileged upper middle class kid in New York City, Jeff Nichols should have had it all. Instead, with a litany of learning disabilities and conditions ranging from ADD and dyslexia to Tourette's, there was no smooth sailing for him. After bouncing from elite private school to elite private school, he lands at Hobart College, where he drinks everything that is offered to him and tries every drug known to man, earning the nickname "Spicoli" (after the stoner from Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Miraculously, he graduates and is offered gainful employment at Merrill Lynch, where he manages to last a year until being unceremoniously dumped with the words, "You are weird, incompetent, and often stink of booze." And that's when Jeff discovers AA . . . mainly as an ideal forum for working on material for a burgeoning stand-up career and meeting girls. His string of disastrous odd jobs (dictionary salesman, Broadway usher, substitute teacher in NYC public schools) ultimately leads him to discover his heart's desire: charter fishing. When Jeff decides to document his misadventures and is turned down by every literary agent in town, he perseveres. Things then take a crazy turn when a leading indie production company buys rights to his unpublished manuscript, and his life as a loveable screw-up is brought to the screen. Hilarious, kooky, and oddly inspiring, Trainwreckis proof that a life disastrously lived can still turn out beyond your wildest imaginings.

Sam Morgenstern's classic anthology, now thoroughly updated with new selections and commentary reflecting recent music scholarship.