Nicole Panter probably wouldn’t remember this,
but we met at a San Diego tattoo convention in 1991.
She was then doing research for a project on Fifties girlie-model Betty Page,
she of the short black bangs and stiletto heels. I recognized Panter’s name
from the Pee Wee Herman’s Playhouse on HBO and said so; she was
dumbfounded that anyone paid attention. I’m a writer, too, I told her, so I
read credits and bylines. We talked for about 20 minutes, exchanged phone
numbers and addresses and, of course, haven’t spoken since. I don’t know what
became of her Betty Page project, but Panter’s book, Mr. Right On and Other
Stories (Incommunicado, $10 paper), has held my attention in a way
books seldom do. It’s partly that the bittersweet tone of her vignettes and
poetry is confessional and free-spirited – sharp but never mouthy – and partly
that we’re of a similar age so that her reflective prose has the same time
frame of reference as my life; reading Mr. Right On is like
unexpectedly running across an old friend and having an hour or two to spend
visiting. “1979 FuckyouPunkrock” lets on only in the “To Darby” dedication that
it is about Panter’s last meeting with her friend and vocalist of L.A.’s punk
band the Germs, Darby Crash. He is not mentioned by name in the story; Crash
overdosed on heroin in 1980 but his death was overshadowed by John Lennon’s
murder the following day. Poignant and terse… The title of Cynthia
Heimel’s books should say it all, except that there’s always so much more
inside. If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? (Atlantic Monthly Press, $20
hard) is another anthology of columns and essays from Playboy and
Village Voice, much like her previous book, Get Your Tongue Out of My
Mouth, I’m Kissing You Goodbye. When it comes to the witty retort, Heimel
can sub-reference with the best of them, lampooning feminism with “The Hidden
Life of Women Who Run With the Dogs” or identifying the gleefully shallow and
debauched Patsy and Edina on Absolutely Fabulous as good role models…
Anka Radakovich’s The Wild Girls Club (Fawcett, $10 paper) is
mouthy, tackling subjects like how to get the upper hand when having sex
one last time with an ex, auditioning condoms, and cunnilingus. Neither
adjectives nor modesty are spared in her collections of essays taken from
Details magazine, and it’s interesting to note that, like Cynthia
Heimel, Radakovich writes her opinionated, take-no-prisoners screeds for a
men’s magazine. Good for them… The Jerky Boys: The Book (Harper-Perennial, $12 paper) was intended to promote The Jerky Boys’
movie. Fortunately, both ventures bombed; the book’s frat-house humor is a
laugh-once-and-put-it-away read. Oops! Gone already…– Margaret
Moser
This article appears in June 2 • 1995 and June 2 • 1995 (Cover).