Life Stories #2: Storm Large

In the second installment of the Life Stories podcast, I talk with Storm Large about Crazy Enough, a memoir of her mother’s mental illness and the paths that Storm’s fear of sharing her fate—instilled by a careless remark by one of her mother’s psychiatrists when she was a child—led her down as a teenager and young adult. It’s a raw account of hyper-abundant sexuality and near-overdoses, but also of how she eventually steered out of her downward spiral through the power of rock’n’roll, and our conversation reflects the frank, uncensored quality of her memoir. (Which is to say, there is language, some of which is NSFW, so you might want to break out the headphones.)

I met up with Large at Brooklyn’s powerHouse Arena, where she was celebrating the release of Crazy Enough by performing songs from the stage version of her story—it was originally a one-woman show in Portland, Oregon, and there are plans in the works to bring the show to off-Broadway later in 2012. Based on what I saw and heard that night, it’s got to be quite a show, and Large was kind enough to let me include two of the songs from that evening’s performance in the podcast.

Listen to Life Stories #2: Storm Large (MP3 file); or download the file by right-clicking (Mac users, option-click).

PLUS, A REMINDER: I’m recording select episodes of Life Stories in front of a live studio audience. We’ll be recording a “pilot” of the live show in Manhattan on Wednesday, February 22, at Wix Lounge (10 W. 18th Street) with Rachel Shukert, the author of Everything Is Going to Be Great, and Reverend Jen, the author of Elf Girl. Join us at Wix Lounge at 7:00 p.m. that evening; RSVP on Facebook if you can, so we can estimate how many chairs we need to set out. If you’re in the area, I hope you can join us!

15 February 2012 | life stories |