Some New Kind Of Kick: A Memoir

Kid Congo Powers (& Chris Campion) HACHETTE

Eloquent memoir of ex-Cramp.

Growing up in east LA’s Mexican community, Brian Tristan relocated to Hollywood’s glam scene as a Bowie-struck gay teenager. Smitten by punk in ‘76, he started a Ramones fan club, clicked with Blondie club president Jeffrey Lee Pierce, who taught him blues guitar, and the pair started The Gun Club before he joined the Cramps.

Named Kid Congo Powers by Lux and Ivy, he debuted on 1980’s Psychedelic Jungle carrying a long-time heroin addiction. Returning to The Gun Club for The Las Vegas Story,

Powers navigated Pierce’s wild disintegration before playing with Fur Bible then Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds between 1987 and 1990.

Peppered with relentless sex, drugs and loss (including Pierce in ’96), bravely underscored by dealing with his sexuality, Powers’s story might’ve ended there, but cleaning up brought further projects including Pink Monkey Birds and now this beautifully written, profoundly evocative milestone.