Telegraph Treasures: Alice Bag at Amoeba Records

Last Thursday evening, January 12, punk rocker and author Alice Bag took part in a special book reading/musical performance combo. It was sponsored by Moe’s Books, a bookstore on Telegraph, and hosted at Amoeba Records (also found on Telegraph). The audience got the opportunity to hear Alice Bag read from her memoir Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, A Chicana Punk Story,  as well as hear her perform songs that illustrated certain segments of her life.

Alice Bag reading from her book.

Her memoir read like an adventurous, though sometimes troubled tale, with musical experiences that ranged from East L.A.’s musica ranchera to Hollywood’s punk rock. She spoke about her life growing up in a violent male-dominated family to being a member of female-dominated transgressive rock bands. As quoted from Amoeba and Moe’s, “Violence Girl takes us from a violent upbringing to an aggressive punk sensibility.”

Although not every story ends up with a happy ending, Alice Bag’s difficult coming-of-age memoir leads us all to a grand and satisfying conclusion, complete with a successful marriage and children. After the performance, there was a short question-and-answer session as well as a book signing. There was quite a crowd at the event, with people having to stand in close proximity so as to try and see Alice Bag among the rows of CD’s in the back of Amoeba, and trying to take snapshots on their iPhones and cameras. Just how often do authors combine a rock concert with a book reading? Perhaps not too often. This was a fun event- it was great for Alice Bag to come visit Berkeley and honor us with her story and performance.

Rocking out with her band.