Nancy Barile “I’m Not Holding Your Coat” Book (2021)
Details: Nancy Barile’s early '80s hardcore and punk memories from the Boston and Philadelphia scenes are shared in this fantastic new memoir. “I’m Not Holding Your Coat,” was realeased on Bazillion Points in 2021. New stock.
Short Description: “From disenchanted Catholic schoolgirl and glam maniac to instigator on the 1980s hardcore punk scene, Nancy Barile discovered freedom at a time when punk music was new and dangerous. She made her place behind the boards and right in the front row as insurgents ...”
Grade: M (new stock)
Full Description: “From disenchanted Catholic schoolgirl and glam maniac to instigator on the 1980s hardcore punk scene, Nancy Barile discovered freedom at a time when punk music was new and dangerous. She made her place behind the boards and right in the front row as insurgents such as SSD, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys and Black Flag wrote new rules and made history. She survived punk riots and urban decay, ran the streets with outcasts, and ultimately found true love as she fought for fairness and found her purpose. Thank God we had girls like Nancy back then to keep things in order who had level heads, and who could lead.” - Vinnie Stigma, Agnostic Front
Author: NANCY BARILE has been a public high school English Language Arts teacher working with kids in Massachusetts for over twenty-six years.
In 2007, she was named a member of the USA Today All-Teacher Team, and in 2011 she was awarded the Massachusetts Commonwealth Award in Creative Leadership. She is a 2013 recipient of the Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award; also in 2013 she was named Boston Red Sox Most Valuable Educator. She was a 2015 Top 50 Finalist for the Varkey Global Teacher Prize.
She is also an adjunct professor in the undergraduate and graduate schools of education of a Boston-area college. Her writing has been featured in the Huffington Post, The Guardian, Ozy, Education Week, the College Board, and Hey Teach.
Nancy lives outside Boston with her husband Al Barile and Flippy the Beagle.
Press:
"As a fan, and eventually a critic and a promoter, of hardcore music and the community that rose up around it, Barile depicts the dopamine high of searching grimy record stores for her new favorite singles; she also shows readers the bank-account-emptying despair that came from booking overseas bands for punk festivals at VFW halls. I’m Not Holding Your Coat is a deeply poignant read, not only for its look at an era long passed but also for what we’ve missed from live music and in-person community during the COVID-19 pandemic." - Chelsea Spear, Broad Street Review
"So goes the great circle pit of life. As it turns out, MacKaye helped Nancy establish the framework for her memoir, helping with her intro to punk rock back in her native Philly in the ’70s. It’s all in here, along with her connection to future husband Al Barile of SSD Control, adventures in the Boston scene, several riots and uproarious gigs, a brawl with the KKK, and all sorts of other awesome stories." - Nate Homan, Dig Boston
Barile, with friend, in the audience at a 1980s Black Flag show, below: