July 18, 2007

Do the Local Motion

“I, California: a Memoir,” by Stacey Grenrock Woods

Sure, the Midwest farmers’ daughters may make you feel all right.

But, as one philosopher of femininity observed, the West Coast has the sunshine. And I, California, Stacey Grenrock Woods’s new memoir, is an homage to the type of girl who flourishes under its rays.

Subtitled The Occasional History of a Child Actress, Tap Dancer, Record Store Clerk, Thai Waitress, Playboy Reject, Nightclub Booker, Daily Show Correspondent, Sex Columnist, Recurring Character, and Whatever Else, the book is a series of linked essays in which Woods recollects, in vivid and fearless detail, her macrame-covered ’70s Sherman Oaks childhood and her adolescent ’80s journey from a performing arts academy on Ventura to the hair band-infested clubs on the Strip.

Through earthquakes and paradigm shifts, she waxes hilarious on such diverse topics as Peter Frampton’s chest hair; Luna bars; and drug use, from Ortho Tri-Cyclen to crack.

Getting through her loopy, smart-ass, wildly discursive musings without snarfing a single beverage is a feat unto itself.

There’s a reason people wish they all could be California girls.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore.