DATE: JUNE 29, 2021
FROM: MARCEE RONDAN/MITCH SCHNEIDER
AUTHOR LYNDSEY PARKER
SET FOR
JUNE 30
WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL MUSIC NETWORK
ONLINE CHAT WITH
WiMN FOUNDER LAURA B. WHITMORE
INTERVIEW WRAPS UP MONTH-LONG PROMOTION FOR
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BOOK
‘PERMANENT DAMAGE:
MEMOIRS OF AN OUTRAGEOUS GIRL’
MERCY FONTENOT WITH LYNDSEY PARKER
Author Lyndsey Parker will wrap up a month of promotion for the newly released book Permanent Damage: Memoirs of An Outrageous Girl (Rare Bird Books), which she co-wrote with late GTOs member Mercy “Miss Mercy” Fontenot, by participating in a June 30 online chat with Women’s International Music Network Founder Laura B. Whitmore. WiMN Founder Whitmore will talk with Parker–Music Editor at Yahoo Entertainment, and Host of ‘Volume West’ at SiriusXM Volume–about the book. Catch the live video interview here on Wednesday, June 30 at 5:00 PM (PT)/8:00 PM (ET) on the Parade.com Facebook page and the Women’s International Music Network Facebook page.
The WiMN event follows a Grammy Museum digital conversation with Alice Cooper, singer Arrow de Wilde of Starcrawler, Pamela Des Barres and moderator Lina Lecaro who discussed the book as part of COLLECTION:live, the Grammy Museum®’s new official online streaming service. Next came a SiriusXM Volume roundtable on release day with Parker, Pamela Des Barres, Michael Des Barres and Ahmet Zappa, which is available for replay on the SiriusXM app. And finally, a June 17 in-person celebration at Stories Books and Café in Los Angeles. The very special evening featured a conversation and Q&A with Parker and Pamela Des Barres (who not only wrote the book’s afterword, but was a GTOs bandmate and longtime friend of Fontenot’s), an acoustic Starcrawler live performance and a DJ set from Miles Tackett.
Lyndsey Parker and Pamela Des Barres
Photo credit: Bobbie Beeman
Starcrawler
Photo credit: Stories Cafe
Permanent Damage: Memoirs of An Outrageous Girl shows us the world of the 1960s and 1970s music scene through Mercy Fontenot’s eyes, as well as the fallout of that era–experiencing homelessness before sobering up and putting her life back together. Written just prior to her death in 2020 with veteran music journalist Lyndsey Parker, Miss Mercy’s journey is a can’t miss for anyone who was there and can’t remember, or just wishes they’d been there.
Mercy Fontenot was a Zelig who grew up in the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury scene, where she crossed paths with Charles Manson, went to the first Acid Test, and was friends with Jimi Hendrix (she was later in his movie Rainbow Bridge). She predicted the Altamont disaster when reading the Rolling Stones’ tarot cards at a party and left San Francisco for the climes of Los Angeles in 1967 when the Haight “lost its magic.” Buy the book here.
Here’s some critical praise for the book:
“Great writing; wild stories, but very dark…But through all of it Mercy emerged undaunted.”
★★★★ –Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, 2021
“The book reads like a romp, aided by Mercy’s keen sense of the absurd and flair for black humor…”
–Jim Farber, THE GUARDIAN, June 2021
“Lyndsey Parker’s excellent book Permanent Damage: Memoirs of an Outrageous Girl, written with and about GTO Miss Mercy Fontenot, is receiving heaps of well-deserved praise and attention.”
–Brett Callwood, LA WEEKLY, June 2021
“Permanent Damage: Memoirs of an Outrageous Girl is the posthumously published memoir of Mercy Fontenot…the memoir is, in two words, wild and weird…Fearless, shameless and regret-less, Miss Mercy’s tone in the book is casual, alarmingly so when she’s speaking about the most traumatic events: rapes, homelessness, the suicides of her parents, her drug use.”
–Lily Moayeri, ROCK AND ROLL GLOBE, June 2021
“Mercy, Mercy, She: A Famous Groupie’s Wild Child Story…The stories came fast and furious, as Mercy recounts her encounters with acts like those mentioned above along with Gene Simmons of KISS, Arthur Lee of Love, Shuggie Otis, Jobriath, Ike Turner, Gram Parsons, and Janis Joplin. Then there’s the book’s Marquee Batshit Crazy Story: Chuck Berry.”
–Bob Ruggiero, HOUSTON PRESS, May 2021
“Whoa! With what sometimes feels like a minor miracle, Miss Mercy’s life story careens from delight to disaster and back so many times there is a considerable chance of whiplash during the reading…With writer Lyndsey Parker’s above and beyond assistance, everything from tragedy, treachery, heartbreak and happiness come through in day-glo colors. In the end, Miss Mercy stands upright as a true survivor, except for the fact that she died not long before the book’s completion. But what is surely a small miracle, the memoir was finished and now permanently stands as a cautionary tale for those who get too close to the flame, or don’t have working brakes in how they live their life. And while there is no way to capture the three-dimensional swing of Miss Mercy’s daily travels in black & white, PERMANENT DAMAGE and its evocative prose and complete honesty comes close enough to the bonfire to catch afire. What a trip.”
–Bill Bentley, AMERICANA HIGHWAYS, June 2021
“Permanent Damage: Memoirs Of An Outrageous Girl…is full of stories, the ultimate tale of sex, drugs, rock & roll, rape, violence, homelessness, fun, parties, lovers, and independence…From page one, you are enveloped by Mercy’s straightforward, honest personality and you don’t feel like you’re simply reading another musical soap opera. She hooks you immediately and you laugh with her at her goofyness, drop your mouth to the floor when she casually mentions that her second husband beat her so bad he had broken all the bones in the side of her face, and envy her hangs with Robert Plant and Jimi Hendrix. The words flow like she’s right there telling them to you herself and the 208 pages fly by in no time.”
–Leslie Michele Derrough, GLIDE MAGAZINE, June 2021
About Lyndsey Parker:
Lyndsey Parker is the music editor at Yahoo Entertainment and host of the daily SiriusXM Volume show Volume West. Considered an expert in music and pop culture, Parker is an Online Journalism Award nominee and has written for Elle, MOJO, Rolling Stone, NME, and Guitar. She has appeared as a commentator for the ABC special The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story, AXS TV’s The Top Ten Revealed, and the documentary I Want My MTV, as well as for VH1’s Behind the Music, CNN, MTV, The Insider, and Good Day L.A.. She is the author of Careless Memories of Strange Behavior: My Notorious Life as a Duran Duran Fan (one of the first e-books published as part of Rhino Records’ all-digital music book series, which went to #1 on the iTunes Music Books chart).
AVAILABLE IN HARDCOVER and E-BOOK
BIOGRAPHY/ AUTOBIOGRAPHY/ MUSIC
9781644281826 | US $27.00 | 6 x 9 in. | 320 pp.
RARE BIRD BOOKS, A BARNACLE BOOK
DISTRIBUTED WOLRDWIDE BY PUBLISHERS GROUP WEST
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