B-Sides and Broken Hearts

Lisa Simon, age 37, still loves loud punk rock and hates Dave Matthews with an all-consuming passion.  April 15, 2001 should have been just another Sunday night.  But a news headline landing in Lisa’s email inbox changes everything:  “Joey Ramone is dead.”   The death of one of her teenage heroes serves as an long-overdue wake-up call causing Lisa to examine her life and how she’s lived it, from her youth as a poet on the streets of the East Village to 10 years later, all grown up with a career and a fiance.  Add to the mix Jake McDaniel, lead singer of million-selling, critically-regarded Seattle band Blue Electric, known better to Lisa as the starving renegades who lived next door to her when she first arrived in Seattle.  In the midst of an unexpectedly heated argument with the fiance over the historical relevance (or not) of the Ramones - which forces Lisa to face the truth about her relationship - Jake writes and invites Lisa to LA.  Throwing what seems like half her cd collection in the car, along with a wardrobe consisting of high heels, jeans and t-shirts, Lisa starts driving from Seattle to LA in the middle of the night, accompanied by music, memories, and the ghosts of the past. Arriving in LA, she finds refuge, but also collides with her past, present and future; decisions need to be made, and this time, Lisa stands her ground.