Oct 12, 2020
1985 … Los Angeles
The Hair Band era has just begun, cocaine is the drug du jour and as the first girl hired at the iconic Hollywood Guitar Center, Taylor Van Arsdale was given a front-row seat to a parade of dreamers, druggies, and misfits flocking to the store. But in this world of — yes — sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, is also the story of a young girl discovering herself, making mistakes, falling in and out of love, and becoming a woman.
Her career began as the first girl hired at the famed Hollywood Guitar Center, and her debut narrative award-winning non-fiction, Cocaine To Bain: Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘n’ Roll, and the Inside Story of the Hollywood Guitar Center, is the culmination of that drug-drenched year.
Don't miss any part of Taylor's story - listen here:
In Taylor's words: "I have been truly blessed in so many ways—I mean, we all go through trauma. It’s inevitable. I’ve always tried to look at the positive side of things. But I also think we bring negativity to ourselves. You get to a point where you are like, “I don’t want any more misery in my life,” and you start eliminating things that make you unhappy.
I was with a really bad man for a long time and got sick of being hurt and unhappy (not my husband, but after him), and I kept thinking, “Why am I continuing on this path?
So I changed the locks and booted him out.” I had no money, no job, I didn’t know how I was going to pay my rent, but I thought, “I have to get out of this situation and no good will come to me until I do.” That’s the thing, for me it was, “I have to put my faith into believing that God will help me somehow.” When I finally took steps to improve my life, that’s when my life started getting better."