Tom Lynch

It's been quite a year for Joe Meno. Last October the 30-year-old Chicago author snapped up the prestigious Nelson Algren Award. And now, with his third book, "Hairstyles of the Damned," he's been named to the Barnes & Noble "Discover New Writers" program. The book, published by Akashic and Punk Planet, follows the misadventures of Brian and Gretchen, two high-school students living on the South Side of Chicago in 1990, discovering rock music, love, and the world. It sounds awfully similar to Meno's past.

"If I had to put a percentage on how autobiographical it is or something, I would say it's in the high seventies or seventy-five," he says, sipping ice tea in the outside area of Café Avanti, across the street from the Music Box theater. "I just want to use the events and people, and specifically the music and bands who had a profound impact on me and who I became, or who changed the way I thought about the neighborhood I grew up in."

That neighborhood, in the area of Mother McCauley and Brother Rice high schools, is relevant to the story. Haunted Trails, a gaming/adventure park staple in the city, makes a great setting throughout the book, as Meno's characters play Phantom Racer and Galaga while head-bobbing to AC/DC. But the Australian rockers, as well as other rock 'n' roll chiefs like Minor Threat and Dead Kennedys, are most important, as the young punks pass along heart-heavy mix tapes to each other as they dive in and out of different states of emotion.

"The mix tapes are real. Those were the bands that changed the way I thought about music, about myself," says Meno. "Music creates community when you most need it. It's based on `here's this mix tape, I hope you like these songs.' Then you like the songs and you buy a T-shirt, and then you go to show and someone else has that T-shirt. And all of a sudden, it's a community. And that's what the book is all about--how music can save your life."

Joe Meno reads from "Hairstyles of the Damned" on September 8 at Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia, (773)227-4433, at 8pm.

(2004-08-31)

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