Donna Gaines is the Margaret Mead of heavy metal, a turnpike intellectual, a walking, talking oxymoron. A Misfit's Manifesto is the story of her wild-in-the-burbs odyssey--from yeshiva girl to street-punk sociologist. The only child of a glamorous big-band vocalist, Donna had three fathers, including the " Kishka King of Brooklyn." Fat, lonely, and depressed, she found truth and beauty in the least likely places. Wandering the craggy terrain of Rockaway Beach, Queens, Donna embarked upon a path to enlightenment: sex, drugs, rock & roll, sociology, cosmetology, True Love, the occult, tattoos, science fiction, pizza, guns, comic books, and surfing--by Web or by sea. " Popular culture, my unholy redeemer, " she proclaims.
It was Donna's consuming love of the " profane world" that gave her the courage to be, buffering her against relentless sorrow and self-loathing. Dignity, joy, and communion came not from family, organized religion, or mandatory schooling, but in the sound of doo-wop, then surf music, hard rock, punk, and grindcore. " For most of my life, " she writes, " music was the only way to connect that wouldn't eventually kill me."
Through all the ripped nights of binge-drinking in rock clubs, Donna Gaines became an acclaimed author and an expert on teen suicide. In an age of conformity and censorship, Dr. Gaines defends popular culture as a powerful spiritual force, a vibrant, valid connection to God. This is an outcast's journey into the black-hole sun, where Divine love and light are found--even in Ramones songs. Donna Gaines has written a work of dazzling originality and iconoclasm, an inspiration for misfits everywhere.