About this item
"Brave and engaging."--Kirkus Reviews The remarkable follow-up to her sensational, bestselling memoir At the launch party for her memoir Clothes Music Boys in 2014, Viv Albertine received the news her mother was dying. She left the party immediately and spent a few final hours with a woman who had been an enormous presence and force in her life. In the weeks that followed, Viv was left with the task of sorting through her mother's affairs. In that process she came across one fatally curious item: a bag labelled "To throw away unopened". This auspicious moment lies at the heart of Viv Albertine's second book, part memoir, part manifesto, part polemic in which she touches on sex, ageing, feminism (in all its guises) and other conundrums that characterize the 21st century life. It is a bold and unapologetic follow-up to a book which became a sensation by a musician and writer who sits at the heart of the counter-cultural landscape today as a celebrated and feted figure.
About the Author
Born Sydney, Australia. French/Corsican father, Swiss mother. Brought up in North London (Muswell Hill) . Quite poor. Comprehensive school. Favourite subjects, buying records; clothes, boys, art, English. Age17 went to art school. Dropped out and worked at Dingwalls, music venue Camden Town. Went to another art school met Mick Jones, saw The Sex Pistols first show. Bought Horses, Patti Smith. Dropped out. Bought Les Paul Junior with £200 my grandmother left me. Formed a band with Sid Vicious, Sarah and Palmolive called The Flowers of Romance (named by John Lydon) . Started to learn to play guitar. Taught by Keith Levene who I have known since we were kids. He taught me that any sounds can go together, he really developed my ear and loads of other stuff. Johnny Thunders taught me how to do screamers (his name) and Joe Strummer, to tap my foot and play at the same time. I didn't have sex with any of them. Saw The Slits play their first show, called them the next day. We got together I back-combed their hair like The New York Dolls. We looked like a band. After The Slits I went to film school. Didn't drop out. Directed stuff for about ten years. Made some money not art. Now making sculpture and writing / recording / performing my own songs.
