For women who want to make it in the all too male-dominated music industry – and music journalism in particular – writer Carrie Borzillo-Vrenna is an inspiration. Her name has appeared in Billboard, SPIN, RollingStone.com and the Alternative Press, and MTV, VH1, Fuse and E! have all sought her expertise on music and relationships. It’s a good thing for us daring women, then, that Borzillo-Vrenna has written a rock-chick reference, Cherry Bomb: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Better Flirt, a Tougher Chick, and a Hotter Girlfriend, and to Living Life Like a Rock Star.
Cherry Bomb is an A-to-Z menagerie of guidance, whether it be on something as basic as planning an outfit, or as consuming as managing your budget. Borzillo-Vrenna is playfully tongue-in-cheek, but still dishes useful tips on problems like hangovers (hydrate!) and ways to get backstage (note: doesn’t require taking off clothes). She also enlisted some high profile friends – Betsey Johnson, Lisa Loeb, Tori Amos, Anna Sui and more – to embellish her advice with suggestions of their own.
Between planning her next book and her new gig as an advice columnist for Suicide Girls, Borzillo-Vrenna took the time to talk to me about why she likes giving advice, why fashion isn’t superficial, and why everyone should write a book.
TL: So, Cherry Bomb has been out for a while, is there anything about the reaction to it that surprised you or that maybe you didn’t expect?
CBV: Actually, that’s a very good question, because, yeah. It’s only been about – well, it’s been out about two months now, not even two months. When I was writing it I wasn’t totally sure who my audience was. I knew who the girl was, I mean, ‘cause it’s me: you’re edgy, the kind of girl who likes Gwen Stefani more than Jessica Simpson and likes music and is a little tougher and feistier, I knew that. But the one thing I wasn’t totally sure about was the age, the demographic.
I’d be writing and sometimes I felt like I was really writing for like my little sis, and then other times, I’d have my friends over, they’d do little focus groups with me to help with the book, and all my friends are around my age, which is mid to late 30s. So I was getting a little confused, and I actually even asked my editor, “What age do you think it is?” and she said, “Don’t worry about it, just write.” So I just kind of wrote.
I think in the end, what surprised me the most was all of the feedback I got from the younger demographic. It kind of just solidified that I was thinking it was going to be for someone who I’m thinking of as my little sis, and I wasn’t totally sure, but I became completely sure once I got all the feedback, ‘cause I have a lot of–shockingly, some high school students, which it shouldn’t be because it talks about sex and alcohol, so it should be 18 and over—but, lots of those kids just starting college, or, not kids, girls, young ladies, just starting college or in college, e-mailing me, finding me on MySpace or on Facebook, or going to my official website and e-mailing me on my personal account, and asking me for advice and saying, “It’s like my big sister.” So, that was really cool.
It was slightly surprising that I got more of that, but I was really kind of happy with it, and I kind of was thinking of that when I was writing it, anyway, but it was just nice to really get the feedback and see, yeah, okay, I’m like big sis and this is for maybe girls in their early 20s. (more…)
