Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway

340 Pages·2011·2.76 MB·English

by  Cherie Currie

NEON
ANGEL
CHERIE CURRIE
WITH TONY O’NEILL
This book is for my mother, Marie; you are a miracle, my best
friend, and I love you. My son, Jake Robert Hays; you amaze me
every day and I couldn’t be more proud. And Kenny Laguna. You
never gave up on me or this book. Without you, none of this
would be possible. You are extraordinary and I love you.
In loving memory of Sandy West Pesavento.
A special thanks to my twin sister, Marie; my brother, Don; Vena
and my niece Grace; sister Sandy and brother Alan Levi;
Cristina Lukather; Trevor Lukather; Wolfgang (Dad) Kaupish;
Joan Jett; Gretchen Bonaduce; and Robert Hays, the best ex-
husband in the world.
Can’t stay at home, can’t stay at school
Old folks say, “You poor little fool”
Down the street I’m the girl next door
I’m the fox you’ve been waiting for
Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I’m your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
Hello world, I’m your wild girl
I’m your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
Stone age love and strange sounds too
Come on, baby, let me get to you
Bad nights causin’ teenage blues
Get down, ladies, you’ve got nothing to lose
Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I’m your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
Hello world, I’m your wild girl
I’m your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
Hey street boy, want your style
Your dead-end dreams don’t make you smile
I’ll give ya something to live for
Have ya, grab ya till you’re sore
Hello Daddy, hello Mom
I’m your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
Hello world, I’m your wild girl
I’m your ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Epigraph
Author’s Note
Foreword by Joan Jett
Chapter 1 - Diamond Dogs and Revelations
Chapter 2 - Rebel, Rebel
Chapter 3 - The Queen of Hate
Chapter 4 - Learning Experiences
Chapter 5 - The Orange Tornado
Chapter 6 - Cherry Bomb
Chapter 7 - “Welcome to the Runaways”
Chapter 8 - Mom’s News
Chapter 9 - Saying Good-bye
Chapter 10 - Highs and Lows
Chapter 11 - Touring
Chapter 12 - Kim Fowley’s Sex Education Class
Chapter 13 - The Road
Chapter 14 - Daddy’s Car
Chapter 15 - Snapshots of Europe
Chapter 16 - Greetings from Scotland Yard
Photographic Insert
Chapter 17 - Postcards from Nowhere
Chapter 18 - The Queens of Noise
Chapter 19 - The Procedure
Chapter 20 - Too Many Creeps
Chapter 21 - Live in Japan
Chapter 22 - The Last Straw
Chapter 23 - Beauty’s Only Skin Deep
Chapter 24 - One Hundred Ways to Fry a Brain
Chapter 25 - The Terrible Green Limousine
Chapter 26 - Killers and Clowns
Chapter 27 - Foxes
Chapter 28 - Battlefields
Chapter 29 - Annie and Me
Chapter 30 - Life in the White House
Chapter 31 - Marie Says Good-bye
Chapter 32 - The Twilight Zone
Chapter 33 - A New Life
Chapter 34 - The End of the Ride
Chapter 35 - This Side of Forever
Afterword
Acknowledgments
Copyright
About the Publisher
Author’s Note
This edition is based in part on Neon Angel by Cherie Currie with Neal
Shusterman, published in 1989.
All incidents and dialogue are to the best of the author’s recollection and
knowledge. Some identities were changed to protect the innocent, and in some
cases, regrettably, the not-so-innocent.
Foreword
by Joan Jett
I
met Cherie one night in the San Fernando Valley, at a club called the Sugar
Shack, which had become the place to go, since Rodney’s had recently closed.
Kim Fowley and I went there specifically to find a lead singer for the Runaways.
I remember seeing Cherie and her twin sister, Marie. They were standing
together—they were quite striking, and they definitely stood out.
Cherie had her hair in kind of a grown-out Bowie cut, and I picked right up on
that. When Kim and I spoke to her about trying out for the band as a lead singer,
she said yes, but the rest I won’t chronicle here, since it’s all in the book. The
thing is, she got the job! For me, Cherie was a great lead singer, perfect for our
band. “The Blond Bombshell”—she had total command of the stage. A little
tough, a lot nasty.
We were always well-rehearsed, so the shows were tight. As I watched from
my position to her right, Cherie was always very compelling. We were very
close friends, too. Besides our own music in the band, we both loved Bowie and
a lot of the same music. (There was plenty of disconnect about favorite music,
too.)
When the Runaways went to Japan with a hit record, it was so thrilling, so big,
so hysterical—and so different from America—it seemed like all we had
dreamed of. We lost one of our members in Japan, and Cherie soon followed
after we got home.
She had a big following, and was on a lot of magazine covers, so she figured
she could do better on her own, or at least that’s what I thought she felt. When
Cherie quit the Runaways, I was so pissed! She had bailed on the dream! I was
very angry and hurt for several years after that. Of course, I never stopped loving
the Runaways, and Cherie, too.
She left in 1977, and after that Cherie and I didn’t really know each other for
nearly two decades. I’ve grown up a lot since then, and now I realize things
happen the way they are supposed to happen. I’m not mad at Cherie anymore,
either.
And during the past fifteen years or so, since we have been working on the
business and legacy of the Runaways, we have rekindled our friendship. I must
say, I really only knew a small part of Cherie. Neon Angel is a chronicle of a
remarkable journey—the story of a remarkable woman who has an uncanny
knack of reinventing herself—from singer to actor to drug counselor to physical
trainer to mom to author to painter to chain-saw carver. Anyway, when Cherie
and I recently got together to record our songs for the Runaways movie, it was
like we never left. Thirty-two years had passed, but time stood still, and we
never missed a beat.
While excelling at every turn, she has also exhibited an ironic flair for finding
herself in dramatic situations.
So, to conclude, Cherie Currie—mother, uniquely devoted ex-wife, musician,
versatile visual artist—is really so talented. (I still can’t believe Cherie carves
wood with a chain saw, and is so good at it!) But what truly amazes me is what a
fine, honest, introspective author she is—with an incredible tale about an
incredible life, and a fascinating personal odyssey, as she lived it.
Joan Jett
January 2010