Lollipop Lounge by Genya Ravan

I LOVED this book.

Got it for free from the Strand Bookstore about a month ago. & I'm so glad I did! This book was a non-stop read for me. Any chance I got to read it, I did!

One word to describe the subject of this autobiography:

SURVIVOR

Genya Zelkowitz. Nicknamed Goldie by her Holocaust Survivor parents.
(She never knew her birthdate bc she was born during the Holocaust to Jewish parents in camps.)

If you can't read through the full 295 page life story of Genya, then all I can do is URGE you to read just the first twelve pages!

Goldie went from growing up in LES of NYC to being a cheesecake model, to being the lead singers of an all girl 60's band to SINGING, PERFORMING & hanging with the Rolling Stones, the Kinks...

She was and still is a force to reckon with.

"Genya sings from her C*nt!" As one music producer once said...

She has the street cred of hailing from CBGB's long before the name was plastered on t-shirts to be sold at Urban Outfitters...

AND her song
Love is a Fire is on the movie soundtrack to The Warriors !!!!

I LOVED this book.

Genya is BAD ASS
Genya is Honest
Genya is FUNNY!

Check out this Excerpt:
"From the very beginning of Goldie & the Gingerbreads, it was fun to watch people's reactions when we pulled up to a club we'd never played before, especially when we traveled out of the New York City area to places where no one knew anything about the band. We would see the owners or managers of these bars getting more and more nonplussed as it dawned on them that we really were an all-female group...

At the time we all looked like Annette Funicello on ludes except Ginger, who, carrying her trap cases and other drum equipment, was more like a pretty version of Gorgeous George. For some reason, this made the men really nervous and awkward. And, boy, did we love to goof on them. Sometimes when we'd be setting up our equipment I'd whisper to the girls, "Let's do the heart attack." This was the clue for us to do phony sound check playing each in a different key. Of course, the result was the most god awful noise. The guys would usually stop whatever they were doing and exchange horrified looks. We would come to a stop and speak to each other as if we were satisfied with how we'd sounded, then say to the guys, "OK, what time do you want us to start playing tonight?"

Hahahah!

It was a treat to read along about her life. Towards the middle is where the self destructive behavior starts to bleed in. I started to become disinterested but then quickly she grabs me back in bc she begins to realize it was Her habits that were creating these dramatic pitfalls.

Eventually, she survives bad men, bad woman, Lung Cancer and is Sober: no drinking, no drugs, no smoking.

Stone cold sober.

Which for her was a scary sobering thought.

I turned the 300 pages and hypnotizingly read along as this Rock Godess pushed through life to become the full person she is.

I felt like we were friends and as she wrote the pages I was traveling along with her.

It's a book about a rock n roll performer who went up against all odds, sexism, racism, humanism and found hope & soul within it all!

Powerful stuff.

Today, RUN to buy this book! If you like biographies and if you like reading about the rock n roll lifestyle, def worth checking this book out! Then ask yourself: What would your life story read like?!?! Is it close to being over? Have you just begun?

Xo

PS: She lives in New York City...

I might have to stalk her ;)

PPS: JK! Genya is paranoid about people following her so I would Never do that!

But...

I would def give her a big High Five!

www.genyaraven.com