Midnight, Jesus & Me: Misfit Memoirs of a Full Gospel, Rock & Roll Late Night Suicide Crisis Psychotherapist

Blaine, "a lapsed Catholic with a bad case of magical thinking, a scatterbrained mystic who looks like a roadie for Foghat," mesmerizingly spins tales of love, utter loss, despair, anxiety, uncertainty, hope, and redemption in these reflections of a misfit among misfits. Meeting others in the midst of their own troubles, never judging, always embracing difference, he strives to help others recognize and accept their own self-worth. A musician who spent his early years in gospel bands, Blaine struggles with vocation, settling on psychology and counseling, but he also struggles with the traditional understandings of church and religion. Through these short stories of his various attempts to intervene and bring people back to themselves, as well as humorous recollections of his hours spent spinning records as a DJ in strip clubs and roller rinks, Blaine declares that understanding emotion provides a key to unlocking the door to many issues. "Rock and roll is emotion. Film is emotion. Gospel is emotion. The bottom line in art that matters%E2%80%94is emotion." He concludes that "some of the most down-to-earth good-hearted people I meet are drug addicts and deviants and manically depressed. It feels like good church to me." Blaine also provides a list of songs at the end of the book so readers can select any song and read to the beat to which he wrote the book. (Apr.)