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Rock Reads: Fall to Pieces (Stone Temple Pilots/Velvet Revolver) by Mary Forsberg Weiland with Larkin Warren
Reviewed by Kevin Wierzbicki
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Written by the ex-wife of Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots/Velvet Revolver fame, Fall to Pieces is billed as a "memoir of drugs, rock'n'roll and mental illness" and indeed it is all of those things. But at its heart the book is really a love story as Forsberg-Weiland chronicles how she instantly fell in love with a seemingly disinterested Scott when both were on the brink of fame and fortune; her as a model soon to be making $20,000 a day and he, making a few bucks as her driver while he finished up the first STP album. It took more than a year from that point for the stars to align so the couple could have their first kiss but it wasn't long after that came the first shot of heroin together and the pair were off on a years-long cycle of on-again, off-again addiction and abuse of all sorts of drugs and alcohol, amazingly mostly holding their relationship together through the arrests, overdoses and extra-curricular activities on Scott's part. Ultimately the pair marries and has two children but when Forsberg-Weiland is finally off drugs after seven stints in rehab and it looks like it might be clear sailing for her love life, she's diagnosed with bi-polar disorder after she piles $80,000 worth of Scott's clothing in the couple's driveway and sets it on fire. The marriage wouldn't last much longer after that although by all indications the couple still loves each other and the tone of Forsberg-Weiland's writing hints that she may still be in love. Despite all the despair recalled here, Forsberg-Weiland and Warren present the story in a very endearing way, making for a fun and fast-moving read and a story where you can't help rooting for the couple despite whatever you may have previously thought of them or Scott in particular, due to what you've read in the news. Besides the members of STP and Velvet Revolver, among the other characters that factor into the telling are Forsberg-Weiland's close (but non-lover) friends Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols.
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