Dichotomies

“a remarkable first-person odyssey of a young touring musician who artfully combines his comedy rock music performances with completing demanding, long distance, higher education studies. dontre offers a living, often humorous, and sometimes bawdy, chronicle of memorable characters he meets on the road. he adds to the mix practical insights gleaned from his school work, as well as vivid descriptions of the highly-charged, emotional ups and downs of high energy concert work.”

-Ray Forbes, Ph.D., Professor of Business Psychology, Franklin University



“I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place and cannot decide if this book is funny or insightful. As inferred from its title, that's probably because it is both.”

-Mats E. Eriksson, Ph.D., author of Another Primordial Day, Professor of Paleontology, Lund University



“This is a must-read for any potential college student who thinks that they can't do it, whatever the reason. ‘I'm not the college type…I'm too (fill in the blank…).’ Alex shows that with some tenacity and grit, anyone really can earn a degree—even on the road and next to a dumpster! I am truly in awe of what he accomplished and how he stayed committed to this amazing journey. It is the rare student that can expose a professor to a new iteration of a genre of music while also contributing to the field of business psychology in a meaningful way. After 20 years of teaching, Alex has motivated me to work harder to be a source of motivation to my future students.”

-Kristan Jones, Ph.D., Professor of Business Psychology, Franklin University, Director of HR Talent Development at Raymond James

 

“On tour, while the rest of us were crapping, napping, fapping or gormandizing, Alex was studying and working on speeches for his degree. It doesn’t end there, then he would play a flawless set every night on the drums…he’s a bad-ass dude with a heart of gold.”

-Todd Smith, Dog Fashion Disco, Polkadot Cadaver, & Knives Out



 “I can't really say whether human psychology and touring go hand in hand, or if they are arch enemies…but I will never forget walking off a soundcheck to find Alex’s face lit by his laptop while working on a psychology paper. Usually the few times I have seen people whip out laptops on tour is to pay their bills, Skype with the family, or to check in with their probation officers, and not to write academic articles on "Psychology of Organizational Coaching". To pull things like that off in a touring environment is as impressive as the drumming of Alex Dontre.”

-Niklas Karvonen, Ph.D., Machinae Supremacy, CTO of Substorm



"Sex, drugs, and rock and roll is a tired cliché. Alex is a perfect example of a...

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction to Tour Life

Chapter 2011

Pestering Mushroomhead

Proctor Exams

Personal Finance 101

Chapter 2012

Ventana Punches Your Cock In

West Coast with Downtown Brown

Another Semester, Another Tour

Hard Lessons

Chapter 2013

Polkadot Cadaver and Psych 101

Sleep Debt

Crushing Candy 101

Chapter 2014

Revenge of the Capstone    

Summa Cum Laude

Speaking with Dog Fashion Disco

The End of Proctors

Chapter 2016

Nekrogoblikon

Summa Cum Laude Secundus

Conventions & Festivals

Summer of Psychology

Presentation by an English Dumpster

Chapter 2017

Setting Goals and Rock ‘n Roll

Commencement Speech

To Be Continued

Dichotomies

Appendix A: Speech Transcription

Appendix B: Master’s Thesis

Appendix C: List of Classes

References

Index

Recommended Reading

About the Author