Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star

by Randy Powell

Grady is skateboarding toward a major decision

No longer able to live with his grandmother, fifteen-year-old Grady Grennan has to find a new address. one option is to move in with his mentally disabled half brother, Louie, in Seattle. But that poses a Louie's adoptive mother, Vickie, and Grady are about as compatible as Mozart and heavy metal.

Nevertheless, Grady's testing the waters. He's in Seattle for a concert tribute to his and Louie's mother, a grunge rock icon who died three years ago. Grady has been invited to speak at the tribute, but what is he supposed to say to thousands of adoring fans about a mother who abandoned her sons in favor of a musical career?

Both humorous and deeply moving, Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star poses challenging, provocative questions to all sorts of readers -- cynics, liberals, slackers, and rock stars included.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Music

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

I've lived in Seattle all my life -- since 1956. I live here now with my wife, Judy, and our two sons, Eli and Drew. I like the outdoors, books, fresh crab and raw oysters, and rain.

As a kid, I was crazy about sports. All sports. When I wasn't playing the real thing, I was playing some imaginary form of it. I wasn't a great athlete, just obsessed. I peaked when I was eleven. Our little league football team won the city championship, and the coach gave me the game ball. I lost that ball a few years later. I'm still looking for it.
I had fun reading and writing. When I found a book I liked, I threw myself into it, into the main character's skin. I'd try to write in the author's style. Writing was hard work, but what a rush it gave me, coming up with the right phrase, finishing a piece and feeling it click, reading it to the class and getting some laughs.

In high school, in the early 1970s, my hero was Arthur Ashe, the tennis pro. I concentrated on tennis and worked hard at it, but not hard enough. Today it's still my game of choice, and I still don't work hard enough.

High school is also where I became serious about writing. I became even more so in college, at the University of Washington. I made two trips to Europe, worked summers in Alaska as a deckhand on a fishing boat, and wrote short stories, novels, and even formula romances.

After college, I got a job teaching at an alternative school for junior high and high school dropouts. I taught for four years and loved it, but finally left because it ate up my writing time.

My breakthrough in writing came when I learned to look inside myself and write about the things I cared and felt deeply about. I guess it was only natural that my first published novel, "My Underrated Year", should be about a high school football and tennis player. Yes, there's a lot of myself in that book, although hardly any of the incidents actually happened. That's true of my other books as well.

I enjoy visiting schools and talking to students about writing. I also love hearing from readers. You can write to me in care of my publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. I promise I'll write back!

Reviews

[Eben Vye · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star by Randy Powell takes place in a town called Red Fish, where a 15 year old named Grady Grennan mourns the death of his famed rock star mother named Debbie Grennan, who was a singing sensation to crowds around the world only going up. But she had no one. She was lonely for most of her life and was constantly sloth-like yet on the move. She had a fling with Mitch, Grady and his mentally retarded brother Louie. Debbie was barely ever around, her music was her comfort space. One night she took a long drive out to a parking garage, drove all the way to the top and parked, opened the sunroof and thought, thought away. She was drinking that night, so she already had risk of death through intoxicated driving and crash injury. However, as she closed her eyes looking up at the sky for the last time. She overdosed and ended up choking on her own vomit. Grady, her son, is most of what was left. Grady Is ambitious, thoughtful, and relaxed. He went off to live with his Grandmother Rena and her husband, Shorty who are constantly on the road travelling cross-country for adventure and exploration after retirement. While his brother Louie spends his day with his dad, Mitch, and his overly strict christian mother, Vickie. Of which brought 3 children, baby Dakota, and young Austin and Chantelle. Because of his lifestyle, Vickie doesn't like Grady very much, but deep down respects him for his rebellious attitude towards her, the conflict of the book is how since Grady is the second closest thing to Debbie there his, he has to speak to her thousands of fans on an open stage at her tribute when he has no idea what to say, completely added with the fact he has to stay with Vickie and her family for the week up before the tribute. He deals with it head-on with a laid-back attitude and a go with the flow vibe. He skateboards to calm down and think about things, talk to someone who's actually on his side like his Mom's rich business friend, Mindy, or Mitch, maybe even Louie, and or just listen to music to chill out. I gave this book 4 stars because it was relatable, funny, interesting, and overall just a readable book. But it could've been longer, it didn't have to end there it seemed like the book flew right past March.

[Jordan Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute little book. I was honestly shocked at how much I liked it. A lot of the dialogue was interesting to me and the way the story unfolded and the character development of the main character was laid out was perfect. The ending left me wanting more. I wish there would have been a little blurb about how he was adjusting to life living with his “new” family. Overall a decent little read.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was written for kids, but it looked cute enough. I read it, and it was okay.

[Danny Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fifteen-year old Grady's mother, the rock-star Debbie Grennan, overdosed three years ago alone in a Seattle parking garage. Grady doesn't know his father, has a supportive-though-flakey grandmother, and he faces an uncertain future with little familial support. And the main conflict of the book centers upon Grady as travels to Seattle to attend a Debbie Grennan Tribute concert, staying for the week with Mitch, the father of Grady's younger brother Louie, and his wife Vickie.

This story is subtle, but it has a lot of heart. It follows a pattern that is fairly predictable. But still, the book does does relate characters that are interesting and sympathetic, and it relates an excellent story about family and belonging.

I also think that teens would really enjoy this book--Grady is a relatable character, and the music-scene which centers the book is interesting. Despite some minor-language, it has relatively mild content, and it is a book that teachers could feel safe suggesting to students. Also, it might be interesting to analyze the book as an example of an unreliable-narrator--even while Grady is sympathetic, he can sometimes be a little unfair and mean.

[Maria Rios Brache · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fifteen year old Grady Greenan is the son of the world famous rock star, Debbie Greenan. His life is quite complicated. He was abandoned by his mother at the age of 7 and left to live with his grandmother. His mother died because of chocking after an overdose of drugs and alcohol. His grandmother, who remarried and is going cross country in an SUV with her new husband, Shorty, leaves Grady behind. Grady is left with his stepmother, Vickie. Grady and Vickie mix like oil and water. Vickie is a religious woman who has strict rules in her house and likes things done her way, and Grady is a laidback teenager, who skates and lives for fun. Grady has a smaller stepbrother, Vickie’s son, Louie. Grady loves Louie very much; he thinks the world of Louie because to him his brother is a very special person. Grady is invited to speak at a special concert in memory of his mother.

[Salsabrarian]

Grady Grennan is in town to participate in a third anniversary memorial of his rock-star mother’s death from an overdose on drugs. He stays with his mother’s former boyfriend Mitch and his wife, Vickie, their kids and Grady’s half-brother Louie, who is mentally disabled. Grady feels indifference towards his mother who was never there for him really; his future, which is uncertain--should he attend school in Europe or live with Vickie and Mitch, the born-again Christians; and his relationship with Vickie. In the end, he doesn’t want to be a loner like his mother was.

[TheSaint · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure, Grady's mom is the dead rock star Debbie Grennan, but that reality, grim as it is, doesn't begin to account for all the angst he's currently going through. After all there's his brother Louie, with an IQ of 66 to think about. And then there's the possibility of having to live with his mom's old boyfriend and his wife to really make a guy nervous. Randy Powell's novel, Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star, is a testament to the difficult choices we all must face sooner or later.

[Neill Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grady, 15 years old, is the son of the hard-rocking, hard-living, headbanging rock star, Debbie Grennan. When she died in a parking lot, drowning in her own vomit, she left behind an ex-husband who is involved in a born-again Christian second marriage, Grady, and Grady’s brother who is extremely learning disabled. Against the backdrop of family angst and a tribute concert to his mother by the metal band Tantrum, Grady must figure out w3here he fits and where he’s going.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tribute was a decent look at what it's like to have a famous parent, to feel out of place in a family, and about deciding which path to take in life. A coming of age story for boys. Also has a very sensitive and realistic portrayal of mental disability and deals with topics like religion and morals without being preachy.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It's about a boy who has to go and speak at a tribute for a dead rockstar, Louis's adoptive mother. Louie is Grady, the main character's half-disabled brother. this is very hard for him because Louie's adoptive mother left him for her musical career. So now Grady doesnt know what to say at the tribute in front of all his "mother's" fans.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grady Grennan's mother was a famous rock star who died of a drug overdose. After being invited to speak at a tribute concert for his mother, Grady struggles to come to terms with his conflicted feelings about her.

Meanwhile, he skateboards, spends time with his mentally disabled brother and gets into constant arguments with his ultra-religious step-mother.

[Liz Whittaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another awesome read from the adept Randy Powell. Great story about teenage confusion, the Seattle music scene, and family...without becoming a cliche at any point. Randy Powell remains powerful in his ability to capture the humanity of ordinary moments and help us see them as extraordinary.

[Corey Korth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was very good. I think the cover is very deceiving because it makes it look like a child's book. When in reality it was a very adult-like book. It is very real and has a lot of good meanings in it.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a great book. its about a kid who's mother was a rockstar and she died of OD. so this band called tantrum has a tribute concert called "protect the women"

[npaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but it was so poorly written that I couldn't get past the first 50 pages.

[Cynthia Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun book to read. A very quick read. The plot is good and there are many layers to this material.

[Elisheva Rina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh. The writing is sometimes annoying and the ending (like this author's other book) is abrupt and weird.

[Elizabeth Lund]

Unique conflict; well-crafted antagonist. Well-done and original