Laurie Lindeen, in the 1990’s, was the lead singer for the group, ZuZu’s Petals. ZuZu’s Petals always seemed to be on the verge of making it big, but they never quite did. Despite some critical review and decent sells, they were always an opening act or headlining in clubs and bars that ranged from fairly decent to perfectly awful. They never made enough money to quit their day jobs; in Laurie’s case, cooking in a less than posh food establishment. So, when, the subtitle of the book is ‘A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story,” it seems this Cindy never quite makes it to the ball (although she does find not one but several Rock ‘n Roll Princes along the way.)
With a diagnosis of MS always in the back of her mind, Laurie travels the rock backroads of America and England with her mates Phyll and Coleen, determined to make it big in the indie rock scene. Hanging out with well-known musicians like Soul Asylum and The Replacements, she finally settles on Phil Westerburg of The Replacements as her life partner (and is still married to him today.) But the rock and roll life, in this memoir, is mostly boredom and disillusionment, broken up mainly by thrift store shopping.
There are no juicy stories of groupies, wild parties, and drugs here; no throwing televisions out of hotel windows; just a very honest, no-holds-bars looks at what it’s really like to be almost the next big thing in rock and roll.
I did not come away from this book feeling that I got to know very much about Phyll or Coleen, and I felt I got a fairly one-sided view of Laurie, the view with all the angst and less of the view of Laurie having fun and centering on other people than herself. But, hey, that’s indie rock for you.
The book could have certainly used some photos. Photos would have helped me feel that I knew these people and had shared their travels much more.
Nevertheless, I give the book four stars for its honesty and unromanticized look at the indie rock lifestyle.