Cleveland native Adele Berteil tells her growing up story in new memoir

By the time Adele Berteil, a show business renaissance artist, began writing her first book, she had already collaborated with a number of well-known musical groups.

She worked on an album with Brian Eno, produced a film for Playboy, formed the first full-fledged lesbian punk band, released several records on both sides of the Atlantic, appeared in her own videos on MTV, and was featured in the New York Times. The tumultuous No Wave scene of York in the late 1970s.

But these were not the stories she had to tell. Peter and the Wolves (Smog Veil) is a biography of Peter Lawner, the enigmatic and influential Cleveland rock and roll bad boy. Berteil became Lawner’s protégé, girlfriend, and roommate, and she took the ringside during his triumphs and tragedies. The book is a subjective biography weaving Lafner’s story with Berteil’s own, and Berteil depicts Cleveland in all its rusty gothic decadence. Its 2020 release coincided with a lavish Lofner tribute box set that was about fifty years late.

Her second book was another tribute to the underrated musical tinderbox. Why Labelle Matters (University of Texas Press) recounts the trajectory of powerful all-girl soul band the Bluebelles as they evolve into the explosive Afrofuturist trio Labelle. It’s well crafted, the prose is elegant, and there’s intrigue on every page. This book is also both a tribute and a memoir; the author is part journalist, part unashamed fangirl. In both books, she occasionally makes oblique references to her own past: a troubled childhood, wandering through foster homes and correctional facilities, sexual abuse. But the focus remains on her plots, leaving the reader to wonder: who really is Adele Berteil?

Her new book Twist, American girl (Ze Books), pretty much reveals the complexities of this multifaceted writer and performer. But we will have to accompany her from early childhood through painful upbringing and horrific trials. adolescence. “Restless” doesn’t describe the magnitude of trials, setbacks, and narrow chances this shrewd, self-aware child faced. She is also exceptionally literate; books are her refuge and life’s main cross-reference in her attempts to make sense of the pandemonium of dysfunction around her. All English literature, including the Greek classics, helps her understand her schizophrenic mother, idle father, soldier uncle, neighbors, teachers—anyone who can help her get through the barbed wire nest that is her home life. As a child, she analyzes each encounter for its veracity, intentions, and consequences. People and situations are constantly compared to stories she has read or conversations she has overheard in search of understanding. Hunger of all kinds is omnipresent; she describes her heart as a “fist of bees”.

Abandoned by her family, regularly betrayed in a terrifying parade of foster families and institutions, her trust gives way to cunning and the art of slippery subterfuge. She takes on many adaptive guises, roles, and nicknames. Chameleon roleplay is becoming an essential skill in her survival kit and one that will certainly apply in her later professional life. During one intimate conversation with a lover who is one or two years and a couple of changes ahead of her, Maddy (her alter ego in the book) admits to herself, “The truth is, I don’t know who the hell I am. I am who I need to be to stay safe.” But somehow she retains the necessary empathy for the plight of other injured travelers, even her criminals. This native emotional compass saves her and her reader.

In the book’s introduction, Berteil explains that she had to come up with a substitute character to represent herself, to provide some “protection while traveling through the war zones of my youth”. This character’s name is Maddie. This short distance also serves the reader, as the journey is often incomprehensibly terrible. Accurate, sensual prose Bertey – another gift to the reader. It helps raise the scary situations to a safer level for reflection. Maddie’s observations and predicaments ring true when viewed through the eyes of a real child or teenager rather than an adult. decades later. In this, Berteil corresponds to Linda Barry (The good times are killing me) and Janice Mitchell (My travel ticket) in their uncanny ability to successfully reincarnate as young adults and revisit the confusion and dangers of childhood.

Music is her second salvation, her constant companion. This is her soundtrack and her main bridge to her family and especially to other girls. The radio played relevant and complete music in those days. Record breakers were the ticket to social success; singing and organizing occasional concerts becomes an outlet. But adolescence is dangerous enough at best. Poverty factor, plus a girl all too aware of her growing weirdness, and you have a recipe for toxic abuse from her peers. Then add in parental neglect, a string of dubious authorities, and the vagaries of an institutionalized culture, and you have a recipe for disaster. In Maddie’s case, disaster isn’t the only option.

It is not a spoiler to say that there are gaps where the light enters, and that there may be a place of promise rather than a threat. Undoubtedly, this dynamic, gifted, expressive girl is waiting for a lot of promises and threats. But, no matter what, Maddie Twist, Adele Berteil, has a chance.

Amanda Rabinovich of WKSU interviews Adele Berteil about her new book Twist, American girl, on Monday 27 March at 7:30 pm at the Heights Arts Hall in Cleveland Heights, where Mac’s Backs Book about Coventry was presented. Admission is free, box office.

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