Gary Benchley Rock Star

"Before I moved to New York from Albany, I wrote out a careful, step-by-step plan: 1) Rock out; 2) No more data entry."

Gary Benchley, recent college grad and aspiring rock star, left his dead-end life in Albany to seek his fortune in that hotbed of hipsters — Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Earnestly optimistic and completely confident in his fate, Gary writes of his trials and tribulations securing a roommate, a girlfriend, and even a band — the "world's most inclusive band" — complete with a gay synth player, a hot chick drummer, and a cool black bassist. Calling their not-quite-musical sound "indie prog," they combine the most pretentious music of the 1970s with the most pretentious music of today. But after a dozen shows and even an album, the band begins to fall apart, and Gary finds himself increasingly disillusioned with his rock star fantasies. In Gary's world, though, the glass is always half full.

"A wry debut about self-absorbed twentysomethings who ditch bourgeois gigs in data entry for rock-'n'-roll dreams....A snapshot of what it means to be young, smug and oh-so-trendy, circa 2005." Kirkus Reviews

Paul Ford is an editor at Harper's magazine and regular commentator on All Things Considered.