“Dive into the world of new kid on the block Trevor, king of the mods Andy, and goth princess Lucy, for a wild ride through the Seattle youth scene on the tip of the grunge explosion.”
Jerry Boak lived it — much of it on Capitol Hill — and wrote about it in his new novel, Laddy Groove.
“I have some great memories of that time and some really incredible friends,” Boak told CHS.
The narrator of the book is the principal character’s younger brother, who shares stories his brother, Trevor, told him.
Readers follow Trevor, who recently moved to North Seattle from Los Angeles with his recently divorced father. He hates the rain and suburbia, but digs a smart, back-talking, goth girl named Lucy. Trevor meets up with Lucy at a party, who takes off with Andy, king of the mod crowd with his suit, scooter, and flock of followers. The coming of age story follows Trevor as he joins Andy and the mods and the escapades that ensue, which include a stolen car and Swedish mobsters.
Andy lives on Capitol Hill, and much of the book is set there. The views from the Hill with clouds rolling across the sky or vistas of the Olympics, provided a “magnificent scene” for the novel, Boak said.
Boak worked on the book off and on throughout the years producing an early version of it as well as a screenplay during his college years at Columbia University in New York. He later brainstormed scenes with his friend Aaron Peterson. After many revisions, and help from his wife, Laddy Groove was published in June.
Boak, who now lives in New York City and works as a writer and media consultant, said the story combines both the general scene at the time and specific events he was a part of on Capitol Hill and around Seattle.
“The parties were certainly parties I was at or heard about,” he said.
Along with going to parties, Boak spent much of his nine years during the ’80s and early ’90s on Capitol Hill playing in a band and riding his scooter. It was the place to be.
Unlike today with its high rent prices, Boak said residents on the Hill lived fairly stress free lives when it financially. People could work a few days a week at a coffee shop, live in a house with a few roommates and play in a band.
Friends who worked at burger joints provided food hookups, pals at espresso shops handed over free coffee, and bartender friends poured free drinks, Boak reminisced.
“It was a great time,” he said.
And it wasn’t just the mod kids with their scooters and suits that found their crowd to hang with. The goths and punks had their scenes too, which dance around the edges of his book, he said.
“We were all in the same boat trying to have a good time and trying to fit in,” he said, about the different groups.
Boak, who still owns his two-tone 1966 Vespa SS 180 that he rode during his mod days in Seattle, hopes the novel will give readers an insight to that time, place and the mod life.
Laddy Groove is Boak’s first novel, and is available on Amazon.com in paperback or for Kindle devices. Boak also hopes to get the novel in Seattle bookstores. Depending how the novel does, Boak said he may continue writing about Trevor, Lucy, and Andy. You can learn more at laddygroove.com.
