Kim Gordon is one of rock's all-time greatest leading ladies. The former Sonic Youth frontwoman has a new book out Feb. 24, and it's appropriately titled Girl in a Band. She'll be going on tour beginning Feb. 23 but not in the traditional way: She's eschewing her guitar for a pen and arenas for bookstores. Along the journey, she'll be interviewed by several friends, including Carrie Brownstein (Sleater-Kinney, Portlandia) and Aimee Mann.
The forthcoming memoir is steeped in stories about the '80s rock scene and the international acclaim that made Sonic Youth the hippest band in the world.
Here's a short description from the publisher's website (via Pitchfork): Telling the story of her childhood, her life in art, her move to New York City, her love affairs, her marriage, her relationship with her daughter, and her band, this is a rich and beautifully written memoir. At the heart of the book is the examination of what partnership means-and what happens when it dissolves.
While Gordon has done few interviews specifically pertaining to her book, she did discuss many of its aspects in a 2014 interview with The Guardian; specifically, the gender-specific challenges she faced in the male-dominant rock world.
"I guess I had an authority problem," she said. "In rock music people have certain assumptions that it makes people more enlightened and it really doesn't. It was the same thing playing for Neil Young's audience [in 1991] and being reminded that hippies can be really narrow-minded. We were around people who felt like, 'We're groovy, we're cool,' but they were so sexist. It was just in your face all the time. I was looking for subject matter, and I thought: 'If I'm a woman, I can write about all these things. I don't have to write a love song.'"
Gordon will be making 11 appearances across the country this year. Check out the schedule below (via Pitchfork):
02/23 - Brooklyn, NY @ Greenlight Books/BAM Cinematek (with Margaret Bodde)
02/24 - New York, NY @ The Strand (with Elissa Schappell)
02/25 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Flyleaf/Cat's Cradle (with Jon Wurster)
02/26 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Humanities Festival (with Alison Cuddy)
02/27 - Austin, TX @ BookPeople (with Terry Lickona)
03/01 - Albuquerque, NM @ Bookworks/University of New Mexico (with Samantha Carillo)
03/02 - Seattle, WA @ Elliott Bay Books/The Neptune (with Bruce Pavitt)
03/03 - Portland, OR @ Powell's Books (with Jon Raymond)
03/04 - San Francisco, CA @ JCC San Francisco (with Carrie Brownstein)
03/05 - Santa Monica, CA @ Live Talks LA (with Aimee Mann)
03/07 - Los Angeles, CA @ MOCAtv (Bennett Simpson)
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