Exile In Guyville by Dave White
How a punk rock redneck faggot Texan moved to West Hollywood and refused to be shiny and happy

I remember reading Adam’s review of this book a while back when I first started coming to this site. It looked interesting enough to me, the premise had sure enough peaked my interest. The fact that it was based on true events was just icing on this enticing literary sponge cake. But sadly I never did put much effort in seeking it out.

That was a mistake.

It wasn’t until I happened upon an independent book store in Venice Beach in my native Southern California that I came across it again. I decided to buy the book in my attempts to hit on the hot bearded worker (one who told me his name only for me to forget it like an idiot, and the only reason I bring it up is because I want to romanticize the idea that this site is my own personal missed-connections section of the classifieds). I brought it home and there it sat for a whole two days before I picked it up again.

I spent the next four hours reading it. I’m a slow reader so I only read the first half. It was another two days before I finally found the time in my oh-so-busy schedule to read the last half.

Now, I can use all the cliched terms like awesome, hilarious, slice-of-life, tongue-in-cheek, and brilliant. But those terms are too boring and otherwise just-not-good-enough to describe how I feel about this book. Dave White has such a way of connecting with his readers that you almost feel as if he’s just a good friend telling you about a funny thing that happened to him.

From his initial move from Texas to West Hollywood, signing into domestic partnership with his boyfriend Morocco Mole and the subsequent near-death experiences (plural), you’re taken on a tour of Los Angeles and the film industry with a snarky semi-misanthropic yet all-around-good-guy as your guide.

Being a native Los Angelianite (or whatever the fuck you call us) I recognized a lot of the places and people he was talking about. The Wooo girls, Dressed-All-Shitty fags, and the shitty Fred Segal fashion store among other places listed (By the by Mr. White, Dr. Hogly Wogly’s Texas Bar-B-Q is indeed the best in LA). So this book has an extra-special place in my heart for this.

His stories of finding friendship, chapter-by-chapter celebrity sightings, and small victory over the dressed-all-shitty entitlement queens woven with so many other memorable tales of his first year in West Hollywood make this a fabulous read for any faggot; punk rock redneck or not.

I’m Dave White official page

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