Book Reviews: "Anti-Diva" by Carole Pope (2001) and "Sex Money Kiss" by Gene Simmons (2003)

In this continuing series on books I read while on vacation recently, I've decided to put two musicians together who couldn't possibly be more different from each other except for one key element. One is an artist, the other, a businessman; one's biggest success was opening for David Bowie at Toronto's CNE Stadium on the Let's Dance tour, while the other hasn't been anything less than a special guest for well over thirty years; one is a raging heterosexualist, the other, a hedonistic rug-muncher; and one claims to never have been drunk or high, ever, while the other never met a mind-altering substance they didn't consume. Carole Pope and Gene Simmons are opposites in many ways, but absolutely identical in that they have both lived life on their own terms.

Pope was one half of the late 70s/early 80s Canadian duo known as Rough Trade. You won't hear their songs on classic rock radio now, and rarely on your local 80s/90s/whatever station, but for those who watched video channel MuchMusic in its early days will remember them along with the Parachute Club and the Spoons as bands from Toronto who were a little more interesting than other Can Con fare of the era like Corey Hart and Luba.

She details her childhood briefly before discussing how she left the mid-town Toronto suburb of Don Mills at 18 to live closer to the bohemian sections of downtown. Selling weed to make money, she also adds to her livelihood by obtaining a short-lived gig working on the Rocket Robin Hood series and writing songs. Before long, Pope, coming to terms with her lesbianism, starts gigging around the city with ex-lover Kevan while hanging around the Second City crew (which later morphed into SCTV) and having affairs with the likes of Andrea Martin, snorting pretty much anything that was put in front of her, and working with mega-producer Bob Ezrin of Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd fame. She begins running with the Saturday Night Live crowd, gets into a difficult relationship with English chanteuse Dusty Springfield, and starts "dividing her time" as they say between Toronto, New York and LA as her fame increases. You know it has to end somehow, and Pope's indulgence and that of those around her soon ends when her brother and many of her friends are diagnosed with AIDS, and her own fame begins to dwindle to the point where she is playing women-only fairs in the Michigan peninsula. At the time of writing, she's living in LA full time, and just looking back on it all.

Even if you weren't old enough to be there, and I wasn't, this read still makes you feel nostalgic.

And then there's Gene. "Sex Money Kiss" is more about his life philosophy than it is his life story (see "Kiss and Make Up" for that). Peppered with quotes like "The only thing wrong with marriage is that one of the two people getting married is a man. He will tend to stray. She will tend not to. She only makes one or two eggs; he makes billions of sperm. The defense rests, your honor. Next case." and "You may not like rich people, but when was the last time a poor person gave you a job?" This guy is a self-confident, individualistic optimist, and as we all know, it has served him well (despite his kids taking the piss out of him every Sunday night from 9-10 on A and E). His success is illustrated with anecdotes from childhood as an Jewish immigrant living in New York with a single mom through to KISS and the many other projects he has had on the go over the years to earn himself more cash.

"Sex Money Kiss" is a fun, easy read that will make you laugh AND kick you in the butt, and even if you're not a fan, you've got to at least respect the guy because he makes it all look so damn easy.

Now how is this blog going to make me some money?

Overall ratings:

Anti-Diva: 9/10
Sex Money Kiss: 8/10