From the late 1980’s through the Mid-90’s Laurie Lindeen fronted the Minneapolis-based all-girl band ZuZu’s Petals (the original band by that name, by the way, now that there are several). The Madison, Wisconsin native founded “ZZP” with limited experience, few “connections,” almost as a pipedream. Her 2008 memoir Petal Pusher: A Rock N Roll Cinderella Story is her story of those years.
ZuZu’s Petals Singer/Guitarist Diagnosed With Multiple Sclerosis
More than just another rock memoir, Petal Pusher is as much a coming-of-age and a coming-to-terms story, one propelled forward by the author’s having been diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) just as she starts her band, and this story. Indeed, it is this diagnosis that seems to grant Lindeen permission to go out and live her rock ‘n’ roll dream.
Petal Pusher has much to recommend it, not the least of which is Lindeen’s writing. An English Major at the U of Wisconsin, she went on to get MFA at Minnesota (post-rock ‘n’ roll) and now teaches memoir classes at Minneapolis’ vaunted literary center, The Loft. It shows.
Lindeen’s Writing Style & Structure Benefit Petal Pusher
Besides her easy-flowing, down-to-earth style, and her healthy dosage of humor (necessary for a life on the road with an indie band), Lindeen has structured her tale in a way that gives the reader an uncommon vantage point from which to view what she experienced. Rather than breaking up her disease, her band, her personal life into separate chapters, they are intermingled realistically, the way she lived it, adding a great deal to the feel of Lindeen’s growing frustration.
The author’s portrayal of the gritty life on the road leaves the reader longing for a shower: “It’s nine in the morning…here I stand with a cheap wine hangover, horrid breath, bloodshot eyes caked with yesterday’s black makeup, and a rat’s nest of hair. I’m in a rock ‘n’ roll band.”
It’s that type of humor that counters what might otherwise be a frustratingly sad story. Having to constantly worry about her MS (or trying to ignore it), dealing with a crumbling family life, going through a complicated abortion, on top of the dirty realities of her musical “dream-come-true,” it seems only humor and a survivor mentality will suffice.
Lindeen’s Insight, Humor Add Layers to Memoir
Beyond the humor, however, Lindeen shows real insight as to what this period has meant in the bigger picture of her life. That, of course, is one of the benefits of a memoir: the author’s ability to “look back” and frame what all these stories “mean.” Near the end of Petal Pusher, Lindeen does just this, but she does it within the context of the story, as she relates how the stage—the literal platform upon which she and the girls rocked—changed shape over the years, as the band gained an audience, recorded, toured, and finally tired of the lifestyle.
It’s insight like this, an extra layer added to her funny and behind-the-scenes stories, and her unflinching honesty, that sets Laurie Lindeen’s Petal Pusher: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Cinderella Story apart from other rock memoirs. This memoir rocks.
Lindeen, Laurie. Petal Pusher: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Cinderella Story, 2008 Atria Books, 320 pages. ISBN: 978-0-7432-9232-0.
Dale Van Every - Dale Van Every is a freelance and fiction writer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He earned his Masters Degree in English Literature from ...
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