Kristin Hersh

Theme: GHOSTS + CURSES Starring: Kristin Hersh Jim Shepard Paul Harding Musical guest: Kristin Hersh TICKETS: $12 Host: Amanda Stern

In her memoir "Rat Girl," Kristin Hersh--front woman for seminal indie-rock bands Throwing Muses and 50ft Wave, as well as a breathtaking solo musician--writes brilliantly and truthfully about her band's rise to success as she discovered her own bipolar disorder. In this incredible evening, Hersh will ... (more)discuss with Elizabeth Wurtzel, acclaimed author of illness memoir "Prozac Nation," the intricacies of writing about a topic as subjective and personal as mental illness. Hersh will also perform various selections of songs that inform the time period of her life written about in "Rat Girl."

Join us for a talk and booksigning by Kristin Hersh, founder of the cult rock bank Throwing Muses. as shares her outrageous tale of growing up much faster than planned, in this intensely personal and moving account of the pivotal year of 1985. In 1985, Kristin Hersh was just beginning to find her place ... (more)in the world. After beginning her music career at the age of fourteen, the precocious child of unconventional hippies was enrolled in college while her band, Throwing Muses, was getting off the ground, amid buzzing rumors of a major label deal. Then, everything changed. Her emotional troubles were diagnosed as bipolar disorder, and - just after the band was signed - Hersh was processing news of a very different sort: she was pregnant. Suddenly, she found herself wondering whether antidepressants could be mixed with prenatal vitamins, how to balance a guitar on her swollen stomach, and whether a rock band could tour with an infant. Written in beautifully evocative prose, and filled with unforgettable characters, Rat Girl is the story of one pivotal year in Hersh's extraordinary life. Kristin Hersh has released more than twenty albums over the course of her career which have sold more than one million copies worldwide. She records solo, as well as with her bands Throwing Muses and 50 FOOT WAVE. She lives in New England and New Orleans.