In the years between the meteoric launch of Madonna and Countney Love, Petal Pusher takes readers on a thrilling journey across rock-and-roll - from the big-haired 1980s to the grunge-filled 1990s - when Laurie Lindeen brought her all-girl band Zuzu's Petals to compete in the indie rock arena. Always engaging, at turns hilarious and heartrending, Petal Pusher is an insightful behind-the-scenes look at music on the frontlines, and the awe-inspiring tale of one woman's triumphant fight against disease and the disillusionment of life in the rock underground.
Petal Pusher
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Sharp and sensitive, stoned silly and serious, all in the right places, Lindeen's account of her life as guitarist and songwriter for Zuzu's Petals is a love song (played really fast) for the postpunk or Amer-indie scene of mid-1980s Minneapolis, when bands like the Replacements and Soul Asylum had yet to move from cult heroes to major-label artists. It was also the time when Lindeen, a music-loving, four-time college dropout with multiple sclerosis, could guilelessly decide to "start a band and make that exciting life of song and guitar feedback, travel and intrigue, carousing and cavorting our own." What Lindeen finds at first is fulfillment and self-confidence on stage, and at the end a hard cycle of "drive, eat, go to a bar for sound check, hang out, play" that leads to her breaking up the band. In between, along with some touching scenes from her youth, Lindeen skillfully details great and not-so-great gigs, horrible hotels, wonderful (if weird) fans, boyfriends and all sorts of strange events and locations ("The walls are covered with black Astroturf"). After paying her dues, Lindeen finds love and marriage in ex-Replacements leader Paul Westerberg, which brings it all back home for her—and her readers—in what is a truly wonderful book about life in rock music. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
The cofounder of all-girl rock band Zuzu's Petals effortlessly captures the indie-rock world of the 1980s and 1990s. She started her rock career in Minneapolis, moving there with two best friends. Her favorite musicians and bands (Prince, Soul Asylum, the Replacements, the Jayhawks) hail from there, she says, and besides, it's the hometown of Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore's TV-series character): "like maybe I could make it after all," Lindeen ventures. Turns out, she married Replacements lead singer Paul Westerberg. She recalls the Petals' first, Labor Day 1988 gig at a Minneapolis bar (they barely had enough material for a set). She writes about their cross-country and international tours of various dives and pubs--hardly the stuff of glamour--and her sweet first date with Westerberg. What makes her story unusual--and poignant--is her eventual diagnosis with multiple sclerosis, which only makes her work harder. Petal Pusher's behind-the-scenes aura ought to impress readers beyond rock-memoir mavens and Replacements (and other midwestern rockers') fans. June Sawyers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating memoir of a women overcoming hardship through perseverance,
By Alis "Black and Red Dog" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story (Hardcover)
This is a fascinating, memoir of an unusual journey. Laurie goes from overcoming a debilitating diagnoses of a chronic illness to achieving rock success with a national tour. This is a truthful assessment of the real world of rock and roll in all it's raw, gritty glory. In a country obsessed with fame, it is refreshing to remember people who play music and compose music because they love it. It is a love story, to rock, to her husband and her family. Laurie shows a mastery of nonfiction. I love this book! Check out this cd A Pregnant Pause
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cool Read,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story (Hardcover)
just finished a page turner. It's called "Petal Pusher" and "it's a A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story". I always wanted to be in a band, but only watched curiously from the sidelines. )Unless, of course, you count my 15 minutes to fame as one of many backup singers to a famous girl band, a couple of times...) This book is tough to put down and easy to read. It's gritty and real and puts you right there. No bull. I give the author kudos for following her dreams and going after it. That takes guts! While reading it, I could almost feel the sludge of being on the road. I could smell the lingering beer and smoke in the clubs, and the hangovers of one's youth. I was a fly on the wall, and I enjoyed the challenging ride.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
True Rock Woman,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story (Hardcover)
I'll admit to reading this book because of Paul Westerberg but Lindeen MORE than holds her own. She is an articulate writer who paints a vivid picture of band life in the early 90's for a band that always seemed to fly below the radar. She struggles with a lot of issues women struggle with-school,men,career, family-and all of these through a lens of her own health concerns. While sometimes her motivations for doing something (moving, starting a band) are a bit vague and not fully explored, this is a good read and refreshing from the 'I'm with the Band' to I AM the band from a female p.o.v.
And yes, this totally made me get out my Zuzu's Petals cds (yes, I have them BOTH) and play 'Johanne" and you'll want to as well.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
(learn more)
mercy rule Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Zuzu's Petals, New York, Soul Asylum, Martha's Vineyard, Adam Ant, Carly Simon, Billy Joel, Jimmy Bullseye, Sonic Youth, Doc Martens, Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin, West Bank, Aunt Chris, Hank Williams, East Coast, Think System, Melody Maker, Ant Music, San Francisco, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Wagon Wheel, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stone Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
mercy rule Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Zuzu's Petals, New York, Soul Asylum, Martha's Vineyard, Adam Ant, Carly Simon, Billy Joel, Jimmy Bullseye, Sonic Youth, Doc Martens, Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin, West Bank, Aunt Chris, Hank Williams, East Coast, Think System, Melody Maker, Ant Music, San Francisco, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Wagon Wheel, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stone Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
So You'd Like to...
|
|
