But Enough About Me: A Jersey Girl's Unlikely Adventures Among The Absurdly Famous (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
The memoirs of a Rolling Stone reporter and former MTV VJ. A light, enjoyable read.Having no idea who Jancee Dunn was, I didn't really pay much attention in the chapters about her background. The celebrity anecdotes are fantastic, though. It reads a bit like People Magazine without the pictures. One of the best stories involves Dolly Parton's kitchen, which is apparently well-stocked with delightful items such as Velveeta, Spam and bacon grease. Dunn claims to have a chunk of Velveeta still sitting in her freezer, given to her by Dolly so that she would have a snack on the plane ride home. The time Dunn takes her mother on a cruise for gay families arranged by Rosie O'Donnell's partner is a hoot too. (Susan Powter sounds like a real crackerjack.)Great chapter headings: "None for Me, Thanks: Gracefully Refusing Your Host's Kind Offer of Heroin" (re Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots); "Booze: At Least as Important as Your Tape Recorder"; "The Difficult Question: When to Bring Up The Church of Scientology" (actually a chapter about what a bitch Jennifer Beals is); "How to Control the Panic When Your Subject is Absurdly Famous" (re Madonna - funny how Madonna ends up being one of the most interesting characters in other people's autobiographies - see my review of Rupert Everett's).Two favorite passages below:"Interviewing people who came of age in the sixties or seventies is so much more rewarding than talking to today's bland, P.R.-schooled youngsters. During one week, I chatted with Justin Timberlake and Grace Slick. Timberlake, so cautious, so eager not to offend, weighed and measured everything he said. As a former Mouseketeer, he was trained from a young age in how to handle the media. As a result, he was pleasant, but mostly stuck to safe fare such as how it's not about the fame, it's about the work, and his appreciation of his fans, and that being on the cover of Rolling Stone was really cool. Slick, meanwhile, cheerfully talked about how she couldn't fully participate in an orgy that sprang up in Jefferson Airplane's San Francisco office because she wasn't good at multitasking, added unapologetically that her lungs were 'two black bags' from smoking, and mused that her only regret in life was that she never nailed Jimi Hendrix or Peter O'Toole.""I never understood why there was so much animosity towards [Christina Aguilera]. Writers should have been worshipping her. Were we not drowning in a sea of boring, prefab celebrities? Give me a gal who boldly speaks her mind, who isn't afraid of a fight, who wears a giant Afro wig one day and assless chaps the next. Christina Aguilera is the new Cher, if you think about it. Let us be glad."
This book is awesome for many reasons. Jancee Dunn grew up in the early eighties and had a normative nuclear New Jersey suburban family with two sisters and her parents. So how did such a 'normal' girl become a reporter for Rolling Stone? What I like about this book is that Dunn mixes anecdotes from her childhood and teenage years with tips/stories about interviewing celebrities. Dunn takes you on a roller coaster ride and reveals just how she landed her glamorous job. She was at a party and meets a marketing executive named Amy at one of her usual parties with her loser boyfriend, Ritchie. One thing leads to another, and suddenly Dunn finds herself in the glamorous rock n' roll universe. Dunn reveals the worst and best interviews. She makes fudge with Loretta Lynn and eats Velveeta with Dolly Parton. Dunn gets offered heroin by Scott Weiland and tries not to 'show fear' when meeting Madonna. Dunn sprinkles in mundane stories of past boyfriends, friendships gone awry, and other exploits. She has no fear in this memoir of her rock n' roll life. Though working for Rolling Stone, MTV, Us magazine via Good Morning America. She gives tips about how to ask a controversial question, who to ask for celebrity best kept secrets, and the best opportunity to see the 'real' person behind the star. I loved this book and I could not put it down. It is witty, funny, and smart. As someone who loves music and would jump at the chance to have this career, it was a great read. If you love Rob Sheffield, this is very similar though different enough to stand on its own!
What do You think about But Enough About Me: A Jersey Girl's Unlikely Adventures Among The Absurdly Famous (2006)?
"The process of engaging your celebrity is not unlike being a photographer at the Sears portrait studio. You just need a different version of a squeaky toy so their eyes follow you and they smile occasionally."Jancee Dunn grew up in suburban Jersey, with two little sisters, a former Southern beauty queen for a mother and a JC Penney exec for a father. She somehow stumbled into a job writing for Rolling Stone, and ended up traveling around the world as she interviewed celebrity after celebrity. This book is the story of how that happened.But Enough About Me alternates between Dunn's advice for interviewing rock stars and actors (keeping their attention, not pissing them off, getting them to show you the insides of their purses) and her experiences growing up (flipping through JC Penney catalogs, trolling the mall, various loser boyfriends). She walso worked as an MTV2 VJ for about 5 years. There's a constant theme of "Oh my god, I am so unqualified for this", but judging by her excellent writing, that is simply untrue!As much as I loved the little bits of information about the multitude of celebrities that she's met, my favorite parts dealt with her childhood, especially her parents. Her type-A dad and laidback mom cracked me up. I also loved how enamored with it all Dunn remains -- she's not trying to appear jaded or above it all. She about had a panic attack when she met Madonna, and she saved a piece of Velveeta that Dolly Parton gave her. Hysterical.
—Corielle
After reading one of Jancee Dunn's recent books I realized I had an old copy of this on my shelf and had never read it. DEAR GOD, WHY? All I want to do is hang out with Jancee Dunn now. What's not to love about a slightly anxious homebody who somehow became a rock & roll journalist, despite her inner desires to go home and watch Civil War documentaries and make paper turkey decorations? Criminitely. Also, as a person who has the occasional (terrifying) privilege of interviewing musicians, I might've taken a few notes. Though her "how-to" interstitials are broadly comic, there really is some useful information in there. A delight all around. I'd agree with my friend Erica's review in which she says Dunn's later book Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo is superior, but I'll be damned if this one isn't a blast.
—Heather
I debated giving this book 5 stars because I found it so damn entertaining. It's not a deep or important book but not every book has to be, you know? Sometimes I just want to be distracted from my daily life. The topic of the book is right up my alley. I enjoy reading about pop culture so I found the chapters about interviewing famous people to be so interesting. I wish she had given more details about her John Waters interview. It also would have been nice if she had an index in the back of the book that listed all the celebrity interviews she did over the years.I enjoyed the chapters about her life. The author is 2 years older than me so I really got all her cultural references and stories about growing up. I loved her stories about her parents, especially her dad. I am very similar to him - I read my son the bit about how prepared her father's car is in case of an emergency & he laughed & said it sounded like my car. I email/text my kids useful articles though, while her dad sent useful articles via snail mail. I also identified with the author when towards the end of the book Dunn admits to herself that she is not cut out for the rock chick lifestyle and is actually more a mix of a geek & a little old lady. Me too! The rock chick lifestyle gets old and depressing after a certain amount of time. It's fun for a while when you are younger.Glad I picked this up at the library. It was a perfect summer read while out by my pool.
—Julie Barrett
