Jean Caffeine will perform her memoir piece, “Sadie Saturday Night” at the Sunflower Theatre on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m.
General admission tickets are $12 at sunflowertheatre.org and $15 at the door.
Caffeine says she has lived nine “totally fascinating” lives. Born in New York City, raised in San Fransisco, and now residing in Austin, Caffeine has created a memoir piece about growing up punk in San Fransisco.
Caffeine moved back to New York City in the 1980s and was recruited as a drummer by Ann Magnuson, founder of Pulsallama, which opened shows for the Clash and were featured in Interview Magazine, according to a news release.
When Pulsallama disbanded, Caffeine formed the band Clambake with Holly George Warren, Liz Gall and Cathy Crane. She then moved to Austin, where she began her solo career and ventured into visual art.
According to Caffeine, the show is “lean,” featuring only her and a guitar player. It is a mix between a one-woman show and a gig.
“They are memoir-based stories about what it was like to come of age in this first wave, San Fransisco punk scene,” Caffeine said. “It has me telling stories and going in and out of some songs, and sometimes I have a guitar player who plays electric guitar, and sometimes he has a line or two. Sometimes, he puts rifts under some of the stories I tell.”
At 57, Caffeine has had some time to reflect on her new stage of her life. She found community among the newly emerging punk scene but says a lot of her choices at the time were reckless because she was given the opportunity to be impulsive.
The show will not be family-friendly. She calls it “a grown-up show about not really being quite a grownup.”
“You do stupid stuff, but when you’re doing it, you are young and beautiful and feeling vital, and everything is really exciting, but you are more impulsive,” Caffeine said. “You are trying stuff out, trying on different hats, so to speak.”
The inspiration to debut a memoir piece came from attending writing workshops after finding frustration in the music industry.
“Sometimes I say I did it because it is so hard to be a musician these days, and no one cares,” she said. “And so if no one is going to care, I should give myself a new challenge, and at least it would be interesting for me.”
When she presented her written work at writing workshops, people commented that the stories would make a good show.
The show features stories about being a drummer in an all-girl band and hanging out in the punk scene, which prides itself on its do-it-yourself and rebellious nature.
“There are stories about who I was before punk, and I kind of hate the word “journey,” but the journey through that and whatever the next stage was,” Caffeine said. “I guess a little piece of me will always be punk even at 57, but I am not frozen in that time period.”
The show also is about how the punk scene affected Caffeine emotionally in a time of political awakening.
Despite its apparent niche, Caffeine believes the show can resonate with any audience member.
“Sometimes I say the show is for anyone who loves punk or was part of a scene or always wanted to be part of a scene or has gotten their heart broken,” Caffeine said. “We go from the super-specific to the general, because we have all had our hearts broken.”
Caffeine is touring the country with her memoir piece, which she still relates to the do-it-yourself punk scene.
“I am still doing that DIY thing,” Caffeine said. “I think it is harder than ever. Even though the playing field is democratized, people are just bombarded with so much art and music. And people’s brains hurt because there is so much going on in the world.”
