No New York: A Memoir of No Wave and the Women Who Shaped the Scene

Musician Bertei (Universal Mother) recounts in this exhilarating memoir her role in the rise of “no-wave” music, a countercultural sound that mixed “punk, rock, jazz, funk, hip-hop, film, art, and outlaw sensibilities.” In 1977, the author escaped a chaotic Cleveland upbringing for New York City, where she immersed herself in the flourishing punk scene at venues like CBGB. After an impromptu jam session in a friend’s loft, she joined James Chance and the Contortions, a no-wave group that played a “freaky hybrid of jazz, noise, and punk.” The author chronicles her brief tenure in the band, which was known for its high-energy, rowdy, and sometimes violent live shows (at one Max’s Kansas City gig where a fight broke out between bandmate James Chance and a concertgoer, Bertei dove into the crowd and began “punching and wrestling” audience members). Also detailed are the personality clashes and payment conflicts that led to her 1978 departure, after which she founded the Bloods, an all-girl group. Bertei brings the era’s music scene to life with colorful details, as when she recalls inviting a “haunted”-looking Sid Vicious in for tea after finding him slumped in front of her building, and celebrates the women who defined no wave music, among them Contortions bandmate Pat Place and punk pioneer Patti Smith. It’s an eccentric and energetic tour through a vibrant chapter of New York City music history. (Mar.)