Coloring Outside The Lines: A Punk Rock Memoir

By Aimee Cooper

Rowdy's Press

Gus heads: 3.5

Aimee Cooper tells her story of life as an L.A. punk

There are moments in our lives that tend to stay in our memory for any number of reasons, whether they be tragic or joyful. Some people are even so inclined as to write these instances down in memoirs, some of which often end up being very self-aggrandizing and overly cheesy. Coloring outside the lines is no ordinary memoir. It is a "punk rock" memoir.

Coloring outside the lines begins with author Aimee Cooper's first glimpse at the lively sounds of punk rock when she unknowingly visits New York City's CBGB, and is captivated by rocker Johnny Thunders. This encounter would prove greatly significant as it leads her down a path that would prove to be one of the most defining periods of her young life.

Cooper includes her encounters with some of the punk rock elite as she attempts to cement herself in the Los Angeles sub-culture. These include interactions with the members of X when she worked for Slash magazine, how she and her friend Maggie threw a spaghetti dinner for Black Flag, and how she babysat a doped-up Johnny Thunders.

There's something about this punk rock memoir that differs from most others in that it is an incredibly candid look into the lives of not so much the musicians, but the lives of the people who held it all together - the kids.

Cooper tells both sides of life on the edge. Whether it's getting arrested for a traffic violation or watching others around her slowly destroy themselves, Coloring outside the lines is packed from cover to cover with intense images and heartfelt emotions that most people can identify with regardless of context.

And in a rather appropriate format, the book ends at 132 pages with a few photos in the mid-section. Coloring outside the lines is even further broken down into shorter chapters and shorter action scenes, which cater to shorter attention spans. In a way, the book's structure itself could be compared to the style of music and lifestyle depicted within its very pages which were conducted in a punk rock; break-neck speed. It is published by Rowdy's Press out of Elgin, Texas.