
Permanent Damage
Memoirs of an Outrageous Girl
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Narrated by:
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Natasha Soudek
About this listen
Mercy Fontenot was a Zelig who grew up in the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury scene, where she crossed paths with Charles Manson, went to the first Acid Test, and was friends with Jimi Hendrix (she was later in his movie Rainbow Bridge). She predicted the Altamont disaster when reading the Rolling Stones' tarot cards at a party and left San Francisco for the climes of Los Angeles in 1967 when the Haight "lost its magic".
Miss Mercy's work in the GTOs, the Frank Zappa-produced all-female band, launched her into the pages of Rolling Stone in 1969. Her adventures saw her jumping out of a cake at Alice Cooper's first record release party, while high on PCP, and had her travel to Memphis where she met Al Green and got a job working for the Bar-Kays. Along the way, she married and then divorced Shuggie Otis, before transitioning to punk rock and working with the Rockats and Gears. This is her story as she lived and saw it.
Written just prior to her death in 2020, Permanent Damage shows us the world of the 1960s and 1970s music scene through Mercy's eyes, as well as the fallout of that era - experiencing homelessness before sobering up and putting her life back together. Miss Mercy's journey is a can't-miss for anyone who was there and can't remember, or just wishes they'd been there.
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What listeners say about Permanent Damage
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- Matt Stoddard
- 04-17-24
Fascinating story
Absolutely fascinating tale of a run away gone mad! Thanks for the story - mercy left her mark for sure
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-19-24
Ms. Mercy's story is long overdue.
I absolutely loved this book and living life through Ms Mercy's eyes. However, the narrator of this book was terrible!! She even mispronounces Mercy's last name wrong the whole book. Whoever read this book audibly practically ruined it for me, not to mention, doing a huge injustice to such a legend.
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- Amanda
- 04-14-23
What a wild ride
I loved this book. Lots of funny stories and heartbreaking ones. I wish I could have met Mercy before she passed on. After reading this, now I have a whole new list of music to research. Thanks, Mercy!
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- Jonathan ward
- 08-01-23
great read!
great look into the life of someone who was on the scene in the 60s and 70s from Haight to Hollywood and everywhere in-between.
thank you Mercy for introducing me to shuggie oatis music also!
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- mendy
- 08-30-23
A shooting star that lasted a lifetime.
Certain people are destined to break on through to the other side. They go there and stay awhile and then come back from there journey to write it all down for us to live vicariously through them. Because we don’t have the nerve to do it ourselves. Throwing caution to the wind, and common sense out the window…. What a tale, what a trip, what a woman.
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