Belinda Carlisle

Shop Indie Bookstores
Carlisle, Belinda. Lips Unsealed: A Memoir. New York: Crown, 2010.

Like many teenage girls in the early 80's, I adored The Go-Go's and tried to dress like them. As they were the first all-female band to top the Billboard charts and earn a double-platinum album, they were certainly worthy of our admiration. The Go-Go's played their own instruments, wrote their own songs, and had a female manager.



Back then, there weren't all that many female musicians to look up to. I didn't like Pat Benatar's songs or her style. I hadn't yet developed a taste for Kate Bush's operatic voice, and I didn't like Stevie Nicks because I thought her Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie* was more deserving of stardom. I tried to sing like Chrissie Hynde, but I didn't have the figure to dress like her. I loved Blondie and Bow Wow Wow's music, but their female lead singers were a bit too beautiful.


The Go-Go's were just right. Even a chubby girl like me could dress like a Go-Go!




Belinda Carlisle's memoir Lips Unsealed is titled after the Go-Go's hit song Our Lips Are Sealed. The first half of the book is lots of fun. She writes about touring with Madness, kissing Jim Hutchence, partying with John Belushi, and getting drunk with Tim Finn from Split Enz.

Like her solo career, the second half of Belinda Carlisle's memoir isn't very exciting at all. It's mostly a confessional about her escalating addiction to cocaine. She is so brutally honest, that she comes across as being unlikeable. She admits to feeling undeserving of her fame, and in doing so, she makes the reader agree with her.

*Christine McVie takes the lead in this Fleetwood Mac performance:

Boys Keep Swinging

It took me about halfway through to figure it out, but this week's Friday book pick is also about a young man who cross-dresses.

Brothers, Meagan. Debbie Harry Sings in French. New York: Henry Holt, 2008.

Isn't Debbie Harry Sings in French a great title? It's the story of a teenage Blondie fan named Johnny who moves to the Deep South where he is often beat up and accused of being gay. Remarkably, Johnny does not let the bullying break his spirit. He falls for a music-loving cool chick who turns him on to Patti Smith and helps him find his inner diva.

Blondie (Musical group). Greatest Hits [Sound & Vision]. Hollywood, CA: Capitol Records, 2006.

In the acknowledgment section at the end of the book, the author thanks:

" . . . all of the artists mentioned in this book (and many who aren't) for all the verses, riffs, fashion sense, and menacing poses struck on stages and album covers alike that helped me and many other gawky kids in the far reaches of suburbia survive our hapless solitary teenagedoms."

me, circa 1982

Although my "teenagedom" was actually quite enjoyable, I did like to strike poses and try to sing like my idols Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Tracey Ullman, and Patti Smith.

ps. While we're on the topic, do you remember this great David Bowie video?

Debbie Harry sings in French

I haven't read the book yet, but I love the title.

Brothers, Meagan. Debbie Harry Sings in French. New York: Henry Holt, 2008.

Here's my rendition of Sunday Girl en français:

"This ain't no Mud Club"

Congratulations to Miss New Orleans for correctly answering this week's music trivia question! The initials "CBGB OMFUG" stand for "Country Blue Grass Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers." Miss New Orleans found the answer in this Wikipedia article about the legendary punk rock venue, CBGB's.

CBGB's was famous for premiering great rock musicians such as Patti Smith, Blondie, the Ramones, and the Talking Heads. To learn more about the American Punk Rock Movement, visit CBGB Online which is "the official website to the historic cradle of underground music in New York's Lower East Side." The site includes this first-person narrative by the late Hilly Kristal who founded the club in 1973.

I'm afraid I don't have any interesting personal stories to tell you about CBGB's. I went there a couple of times when I was in my twenties, but I don't remember much.

Stay tuned for next week's trivia question. Who knows? You might find yourself in the winners' circle with Miss New Orleans, Honest Abe, Thursday, and Rockin' Rob!