Book Review: Readings

Nerd Girl Rocks Paradise City: A True Story of Faking It In Hair Metal L.A.

by Anne Thomas Soffee

Chicago Review Press, 242 pp., $22.95

When Axl Rose proclaimed, "You know where you are? You're in the jungle, baby! You're gonna diiieee!" in 1987's "Welcome to the Jungle," he was talking about Los Angeles, a city where stars are "made" with a sweaty power handshake and the rest of the population floats along waiting for it. That's where writer and journalist Anne Thomas Soffee found herself in the early Nineties on her way to being the "next Lester Bangs." After escaping the stuffy, khaki-colored confines of Richmond, Va., with an English degree, Soffee lands in L.A. to attain her starry-eyed dream of partying with rock stars. Along the way, she befriends Glenn Danzig, gets duped by a legendary punk rock writer from Spin, does press for has-been metal bands, attends Weight Watchers meetings, rides a nightly barstool next to a pill-popping co-worker, and becomes her worst nightmare. When a friend remarks, "You really are Bobbi Fleckman now" (the tacky A&R rep from Spinal Tap, played by Fran Drescher), Soffee responds: "I am worse: blithely telling musicians to lose twenty pounds or bleach out their hair without the first thought to the quality of their playing … I am contributing to the downfall of the thing that has always meant the most to me – rock 'n' roll." While Soffee's is a cautionary tale, it's not a new one. She never really makes it past reviews in Screamer magazine, and it's clear from her clever asides (in the form of Q&A's) that she isn't even really clear what she's doing there. After a puff piece on a band called Spread Eagle, she asks herself:

"Q: So, would you say that this was where you hit rock bottom with your journalistic integrity?"

"A: Yeah – but that doesn't mean I stopped digging."

Inevitably, Soffee's dalliances with a junkie boyfriend and prescription drugs land her in rehab shortly after grunge kills the metalheads dead and the L.A. riots set the city ablaze. She then hightails it back to Richmond after being accepted to a creative writing program. Nerd Girl's a nice change of pace from the usual overdose/breakdown combo. Soffee never really "makes it," but she does a good job of faking it – and that's the American Dream.