Long before James Oseland was a judge on Top Chef Masters, he was a teenage rebel growing up in pre–Silicon Valley California, yearning for a taste of something wild. Diving headfirst into the churning mayhem of the punk movement, he fashioned himself an alter ego—Jimmy Neurosis—and embarked on a journey into a vibrant underground world populated by visionary musicians and artists.

In a quest that led him from the mosh pits of San Francisco to the pop world of Andy Warhol’s Manhattan, he learned firsthand what comes of testing the limits—both the joyous glories and the unanticipated, dangerous consequences.

With humor and style, Oseland brings to life the effervescent cocktail of music, art, drugs, and sexual adventure that characterized the end of the seventies. Through his account of how discovering his own creativity saved his life, he tells a thrilling and uniquely American coming-of-age story.