Punk Rock Chick In Providence Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Punk Rock Chick In Providence? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Punk Rock Chick In Providence. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Punk Rock Chick In Providence ReviewHaving frequented the Living Room and Lupo's in 1980-81, I was pleasantly surprised to find that someone had written a book on the subject, and purchased it hoping the book would capture and add to that bank of memories. This book was quite a disappointment. The book does little to capture the magic of the time or the atmosphere of Providence or provide insight to the development of the "do it yourself" local music scene and lacks detail in describing events and localities mentioned. I'll do a better job of it here.
The Providence music scene in the late seventies and early eighties was centered around the southwest end of Westminster Street. Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel and the Living Room were across the street from each other. There were times when [...] and would get you into both clubs for the evening.
Lupo's was a more diverse club. They booked national acts looking for a smaller venue, blues, and some local bands. The Pretenders and Graham Parker and the Rumor blew the roof of the place in 1979. The Dead Boys quit playing their set after a few songs, claiming the audience was throwing bottles at them, and the tale is that they got beaten up by bouncers after the show.
The Living Room focused more on the burgeoning local scene. The stage was in the corner up against the window on Westminster Street. The room was long and narrow. Mainstays at the Living included the Probers, the DC Tenz, the Schemers, and the Mundanes. I recall one evening in October 1980 watching the Shirts from New York play a great show. A lot of the bands from Boston also came to play both venues. These included Lou Miami and the Kosmetix, Human Sexual Response, the Neighborhoods, and Robin Lane and the Chartbusters, who played an energized style of folk-rock, with a New-Wave feel and great harmonies. Hands down, the original Living Room was the best place I've ever seen live music in my life, which is certainly not to diss Lupo's.
I was at many of the shows discussed in the book. Simon's in Pawtucket was a restaurant that served blue plate specials to senior citizens during the day. During the heyday of the scene, they would push the tables into a corner and use the restaurant to host punk shows on occasion. The DC Tenz and Probers played energetic sets opening for the Dead Kennedys at Simon's, where Jello Biafra demanded the audience throw expensive mixed drinks, as opposed to cheap beer, on him as he performed. He was drenched in alcohol and liquid, like he had just come out of a swimming pool.
The Living Room closed down in May 1981 to make way for a federal building that would eventually be built there. A new Living Room opened a couple of years later in the Bubble complex, then many years later on Rathbone Street. The owner was tragically killed when hit by a car a couple of years ago.
If you are expecting this book, based on it's title, to document this music scene outlined above, it doesn't. Suffice it to say that no one is likely to mistake Ms. Dyal for John Steinbeck. The book is about 100 pages of big print on small pages, amateurish, and might not even get a good grade as a college term paper. There is little in depth discussion of the music, the city, or the quirky traditions that permeate the area. The author states she was a photographer, but there are no photographs in the book.
As for being a memoir, there is a strong sense of vendetta to this book. The author sinks to trashing her former boyfriend and expressing jealousy that she doesn't possess the musical talent of the singer/guitarist. 25 years of therapy and institutionalization don't seem to have done much to cure her of trauma from that era. I would interpret her character accusations with the proverbial ton of salt, drug clouded memories of incidents carrying unhealed emotional scars. Oblivious to the difference between being the bass player's girlfriend and a member of the band, the author Yoko Onos her way around the band's activities. Ms. Dyal also spends much of the book discussing her employment as a graphic artist, various moves and travels, home movie level stuff that is tedious and not very interesting.
The book mentions that the Rock Hunt winners played a concert that was broadcast on WBRU radio. I recorded it off the radio that evening and it has remained one of the most played tapes in my collection ever since. I've even taken out my guitar and attempted to strum along a few times, unfortunately my guitar playing is about on par with Ms. Dyal's writing.
For those who wax nostalgic and want to remember this charming time in RI, this book doesn't cut it. Here are some alternative ideas; there are a bunch of Mundanes mp3s that one of the band members posted for free download at: [...]. If you know anyone who has a recording of that DC Tenz broadcast, get a copy, it is something special.
I generously gave the book a 2 rating because the topic is dear to me. In 1982, I moved away from RI and have held a nostalgic place in my heart for my last years of a more carefree existence before moving on to the responsibilities associated with adulthood and aging. Like many others, I went to these clubs for the music as relaxation and fun rocking out on breaks from my schedule of studying and working. The book would have been more enjoyable if it were a bit more gracious to those who provided good times and entertainment to the college and 20-something year olds of the community. I found the anecdotes like whining about not being invited to snort coke with the band in the dressing room petty and superfluous. While the author admits to being drunk and obnoxious at the Bon Vue Inn, I remember the five song encore the DC Tenz played to top off rockin sets by both bands and everybody having a great time.
This book will sell very few copies. Those who read it, like myself, will shake their head wondering why they did so, or why it was ever even written. Although I did not know any members of any of the bands personally, and was by no means a "scenester", I probably could have written a better book on the subject myself, hey...I practically just did.
Well, let's go!
Punk Rock Chick In Providence OverviewThis is my story about my life as a punk rocker. It is also the beginnings of the punk rock scene in Providence, Rhode Island.

Want to learn more information about Punk Rock Chick In Providence?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now