<p>On June 28, 2015, retired California State University, Chico librarian Jim Dwyer was found unconscious on the floor of the men's room in a mini-mart outside Sacramento, apparently on his way home from the Bay Area opening night of the Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well tour. He died that evening in a nearby hospital.&nbsp;A nationally recognized literary scholar, Jim had dubbed his alter ego the Rev. Junkyard Moondog, reading beat-like poetry at open mics, joining local bands on stage, marching for peace and justice, working to save endangered species, and generally raising his freak flag high.</p><p><br></p><p>A year after Jim's death, his friend and colleague Steve Metzger bought Jim's tiny run-down cottage from Jim's brother Billy, whose only condition was that Metzger not remove Jim's giant peace sign-fashioned of yellow and white freeway-lane divider dots-from the sloping street-facing roof of the house. Metzger, adjusting to recent personal changes of his own, set about restoring the cottage. He eventually christened it the Blue Peace House.</p><p><br></p><p>Part biography, part memoir, <em>Rock My Soul: A Poet's Heart, a Brokedown Palace, and a Final Fare-Thee-Well </em>examines Jim's complicated life, drawing on extensive interviews with Jim's neighbors, friends and colleagues. The book also highlights turning points in Metzger's 40-year freelance writing career, along the way offering a look at Chico history, including the filming of <em>The Adventures of Robin Hood,</em> Woody Guthrie's little-known summer in Chico, the WWII Chico Army Air Field, and the beginnings of the Chico Peace and Justice Center. </p><p><br></p><p>Facebook posts from Jim's/Moondog's friends after they learn of his death shed further light on the life of this eccentric scholar/artist.</p>