From time to time, we will post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.
Drinking Diaries: When was your first drink?
Laurie Lindeen: If you don’t count the pulls off of my dad’s Budweiser cans as a small child, or the Dixie cups full of daiquiris during my parent’s gourmet parties, I’d say it was on New Year’s Eve in 7th grade in a scene I describe graphically in my memoir, Petal Pusher: A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story. A throng of girls took turns taking swigs from my parent’s dusty liquor bottles stored in a cupboard in the hallway next to my bedroom.
How did your family treat drinking?
I grew up in the ‘70s in Wisconsin, therefore my parents had a very casual attitude toward drinking. Both of my parents were what we call “social” drinkers. I do remember in about middle school making an association between acting like an adult and drinking and smoking.
How do you handle the subject of drinking with your kid?
My son has a thicket of alcoholic branches in his family tree unfortunately, so we started talking to him about drinking and alcoholism when he was in first grade.
Was there a phase in life when you drank more or less?
I drank a lot more in college and when I was in a band. Nowadays, I need to tone down the “sailor on furlough” in me that emerges whenever I’m sprung loose from domestic duty and out on the town.
When was the best time drinking ever?
The best time drinking ever happened when I was a sophomore in high school and Patty Vaughn, a junior, had an unsupervised New Year’s Eve party at her parents’ house and I drank beer, but not too much, and I made out with everybody. Little did I know, I peaked early and should’ve hung it up, or at least toned it down, so I was a more productive young adult.
When was the worst time drinking?
I actually topped my “Mrs. Roper” story that I submitted to Drinking Diaries last spring in New Orleans this past November. Had I gone back to the hotel instead of to the Absinthe House…I lost an entire day in an amazing city nursing my self-inflicted wounds.
Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?
I’m Catholic and I’m from Wisconsin. You do the math.
What is the best movie about drinking?
I love the scene in the ballet movie “A Turning Point” when Shirley MacLaine’s and Ann Bancroft’s characters tie on one and get into a purse bitch slap fight.
I also adore Frank Sinatra and Big Crosby getting hammered while singing “What a Swell Party It Was” in the movie “High Society.”
Laurie Lindeen’s essay, “Uncool, Not Cute,” was posted on Drinking Diaries in July, 2009. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone’s anthology Altarockorama and the online magazine, The Morning News. Find her on the web at www.laurielindeen.com
