I`m Not Holding Your Coat – My bruised-and-all-memoir of Punk Rock Rebellion, Nancy Barile
Bazillion Points, 61 Greenpoint Ave. # 504, Brooklyn, NY 11222, Usa, www.bazzilionpoints.com, / Turnaround UK, www.turnaround-uk.com
The book starts out, as printed on the title, with a conversation featuring Ian MacKaye, whom the author knows from back in the days. Cool. After a introduction by Nancy her story begins when she is eleven, almost half the book is her coming of age story as a kid and teenager. That is well written, and for people who know Nancy surely more interesting than for people who don’t. Anyway, since it is a nice narrative it was entertaining to read. The book picks up once she enters the punk and hardcore scene in Philadelphia in the very early eighties. There is a couple of chapters she concentrates on certain events:
„Punking it up in the big city“, „Black Flag, S.O.A. and the Kensington brawl“, „Punk fest and the Anti Pasti drama“, „Bombed at a Dead Kennedys show“, „I meet my match“, „Welcome to Boston and the KKK and my baby far away“, „A philly punk moves to Boston“, „The ghetto riders & a hit and run: A night at Buff Hall“. This is what I was expecting from the book, cool story’s from back in the day, travels to New York City, organizing gigs in Philly, falling in love (with Al from SSD, who later became her husband), fights, cops – everything was new and dangerous but she discovered freedom. Of course back then, the scene was never a boys club and women where not there to „hold a coat“. Nancy goes from fan to manager of a band to concert promoter and explains why the experience in the scene helped to shape her into the teacher she is today. One gets the impression with her move to Boston and „finally“ with her marriage to Al in 1989 her activities in the scene stopped. I could be wrong, but it seems the last 26 years she was concentrating on her teaching. Anyway, the author has either a very good memory or wrote a detailed diary back then. Either way, it makes it a interesting read to get a feeling how one of the happiest time of her life went by. Tons of story’s, anecdotes, details, names of famous and not so famous people, party’s, concerts – it is all there. The book is basically the story of her life as a kid and teenager and young adult. It is not so much about the scene and bands and politics and such. But if, it is from a very personal perspective. So glad she was part of the punk scene, since I have to admit that the first bit of the book, which is also very private and detailed, was a bit disappointing, since my expectations where different. Anyway, there is also a good part of the book where my expectations are met. That means I can not fully recommend this, but recommend this if you like punk memoirs and biographies about the early days of the scene. And of course it is good to read it from a women’s perspective. There is also a bunch of photos, all black and white, from shows and party’s, of Nancy and her friends. Here and there is a gig-flyer from concerts she attended. At the end there is a afterword, acknowledgments a playlist and infos about the author. 192 pages, paperback, 14,95 US $ (dolf)
Isbn 978-1935950202
[Trust # 210 October 2031]
