New Book: Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock by Sammy Hagar

Well over a month ago, I finished reading Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories by Chuck Palahniuk, which is a collection of nonfiction essays and stories on a diverse array of topics, including wrestling (real wrestling, not WWE), taking steroids for shits and giggles, people who build castles as their homes, and a combine demolition derby in Washington state.  There were also interviews that Palahniuk did with famous people, including Juliette Lewis, Marilyn Manson, and a guy who built his own rocket ship.  All in all, it was pretty interesting, and there were some pretty funny parts, like when he described getting an infection on his scalp right before he was supposed to go meet the producers of Fight Club.

After that, I read Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl: A Memoir by Carrie Brownstein.  Brownstein is a founding member of influential all-female band Sleater-Kinney (although, as I learned in book, she would probably not be happy with the fact that I just used the adjective "all-female" to describe the band), who has since shown her multi-talentedness (if that's a word) by co-creating and co-starring with Fred Armisen in the hilarious IFC sketch comedy show Portlandia.  The book focused on Brownstein's childhood and time with Sleater-Kinney.  Admittedly, I didn't know a ton about the band before reading the book, other than that they were associated with Olympia, Washington's riot grrrl movement (although they came along a little after the likes of Bikini Kill and Heavens to Betsy).  I enjoyed the book, even if it didn't touch on Portlandia.  Brownstein is as talented a writer as she is a guitarist and comedian.

My next book will be Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock by Sammy Hagar.  I bought this almost a year ago, along with a slew (but certainly not a slough or slue) of other books, in order to give myself a year or so (or multiple years, given how slowly I read) of not needing to purchase books once I've finished one.  I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bigger fan of David Lee Roth-era Van Halen than the Van Hagar era (and certainly than the short-lived Gary Cherone era), but if I had to choose between hanging out with Roth and Hagar, I'd take Hagar hands down.  He always comes across as a pretty normal, down-to-earth guy, despite having had massive success in the music industry for the better part of 40 years.  And, of course, you know he would have some good tequila.

Books read in 2016:
-Destiny of the Republic:  A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard
-The Dog by Joseph O'Neill
-Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll by Peter Bebergal
-Sick in the Head: Conversations About Life and Comedy by Judd Apatow
-Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories by Chuck Palahniuk
-Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl: A Memoir by Carrie Brownstein