Review: Can I Say

Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums Drums Drums by Travis Barker was one hell of a read (or listen in my case)! It's interesting that I even considered reading this book, let alone purchased it, because I have never been a huge fan of Blink-182 and I didn't know much about Travis Barker. I liked Blink's song "All the Small Things" and I occasionally watched "Meet the Barkers" on MTV, but there was nothing that stood out to me, except that I knew that he was a rockstar. After reading his autobiography, my perception of him has completely changed.

Barker starts his autobiography detailing his childhood; how he grew up in humble beginnings, how the end of his parent's marriage affected him, how his mother's death impacted him, and how he came about playing the drums. His early life was surprisingly very relatable - like, he could have easily been somebody that I went to school with. 

Beyond his childhood, he talked about how he came about drumming and more specifically drumming for Blink-182. I never knew that he was not a member of the band to begin with. He actually started with Blink-182 years after they were established, as he was filling in for their previous drummer. Not only that, but he was not exclusive to Blink-182. He played for at least 2 other bands simultaneously. Throughout the years, he also juggled a clothing line, a restaurant, his own band, and other side gigs. Very impressive. One theme that was resounding in Barker's book was not to judge a book by it's cover. He detailed several occasions in which people expected him to be some lazy stoner that was in and out of jail; yet, he turned out to be one of the hardest working men in the industry! 

I think I really picked up this book because I was interested in the plane crash that he, DJ AM and two of their friends were in. I remember when it happened and that Travis Barker suffered PTSD from it and it ultimately was a factor in DJ AM's death, but beyond that I didn't know much. Barker did a great job describing what happened and it was unbelievable. I never knew that he had 3rd degree burns over 65% of his body. He ended up having to get over 20 surgeries because of the crash, yet, he managed to persevere through it all. If anything, the plane crash is a huge testament to the strength and willpower that Barker has.

While this was a great story, it wasn't the best to listen to. I do not recommend listening to the audio version of this book - at all. Throughout his book, Barker has important people in his life tell stories of their own about him and in the audio version, it was difficult to tell when their story ended and Barker's continued. There was no significant pause indicating that their anecdote was over, no change in inflection on the narrator's part...nothing. So every once in a while, it became confusing. 

If you are/were a fan of Travis Barker's or Blink-182, I encourage you to pick this book up. I can appreciate why so many people have so much respect for him and why he has been so influential in the music industry.

Until we read again...