Cinderblock Bookshelves

“My name is Rain Noel Perry, and this is my magnum opus.” So begins Cinderblock Bookshelves: A Guide for Children of Fame-Obsessed Bohemian Nomads, Perry‘s funny, harrowing and tender musical memoir of life with her father after the early death of her mom. “Billy Jack will make a brief appearance, as will Nancy Sinatra and Werner Erhard. There will be sex, drugs, and, yes, rock & roll,” continues Perry, in a loving yet clear-eyed tale of a childhood that spanned nearly 25 houses and a dozen schools, with an actor/writer dad who moonlighted as an oyster fisherman, a chef, an ecstasy dealer, and a traffic school instructor.  

“My dad and I limped closer, but we treated each other warily. What kind of adult relationship would we have?” The end of the last act of Rain's childhood arrives. Now what? Maybe Werner Erhard can help. Maybe it's true love she's looking for. Rain becomes a mother and must find a way to say goodbye to her dad.  

“Inverness in the Seventies was the kind of place where a tenuous duo like my dad and me could not only survive, but feel right at home.” Rain tells her father everything – from getting high the first time to being “really and truly into the world of boys” — until she finds herself with the first secret that's just too big to tell.    

“P.S. to Johnny: I am happy about the baby except the name. Couldn't we find something a little less far out?” Rain's mother dies young, and in a 1967 VW Beetle, Rain and her father hit the road.