The author is donating $1 from every soft cover sale of this book to the Elyssa’s Mission, a Northbrook, Illinois-based not-for-profit foundation that provides help, support and suicide prevention programs to prevent teen suicide. Donations will help to fund the Mission's Signs of Suicide Program, which they currently provide to junior and high schools in Illinois.

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Entries in cheese curds (1)

Sunday
Mar182012

Cheese Curds: The "Cheeseland" Song Playlist

When you're a teen-ager, music means more to you than at any other time in your life. Or at least that is true for me. The songs that I listened to then have stuck with me for the thirty-plus years that have followed. They take you back to a time and a place when life was so much simpler and so much more complex.

Music constantly plays in the background of the first part of Cheeseland. The two main characters always seem to be battling for control of the 8-track player. That is how I remember my life as a teen. The music I listened to shaped me and defined me. 

Here, in chronological order, is Cheese Curds, the book's song playlist: 

  1. "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin
  2. "2112" by Rush
  3. "Jailbreak" by Thin Lizzy
  4. "Surrender" by Cheap Trick
  5. "Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)" by Pat Travers Band
  6. "Running with the Devil" by Van Halen
  7. "Jamie's Cryin'" by Van Halen
  8. "Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)" by Little Walter
  9. "Keep Pushin'" by REO Speedwagon
  10. "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin
  11. "Rocks Off" by The Rolling Stones

A footnote: All of the songs on this playlist are referenced in the book's first part. Two of them - "Running with the Devil" and "Keep Pushin'" - also appear in the book's second part. No other song references are made in the book's second part.