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J^2 will make a friend anywhere. Standing in a checkout line, she'll strike up a conversation. Pumping gas, she'll compliment a complete stranger. Her magnanimity betrays the awkward ugly duckling high school years when she was much too tall, much too shy, and far too conspicuous. Her dynamic personality and her profession make her an automatic confidant. Thereby making her a keeper of secrets by default.

J^2 will sometimes retell the secret lives of her clients... but only the very juiciest of tidbits.

The scandals of her clients have become one of my guilty pleasures.

I just finished reading Cat Power: A Good Woman and enjoyed it very much. The author, Elizabeth Goodman does a good job in telling the tale of a shy southern girl turned singer, songwriter/actress, artist, fashionista. From the early years of singing folk songs for her grandma to her breakdown after the release of The Greatest (the album critics named her best work ever), and the period of sobriety that shortly followed, the constant battle of addiction and mental illness.

Cat Power songs are the type of songs that deeply move people. The songs reflect hope, strength and vindication through what seems at face value to be sad. Getting a deeper understanding of the background of these songs was a special treat, as they are stripped down "Naked as the News" for the reader/listener.

I remember reading about the book somewhere, and it being sold as the book Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) doesn't want you to read. True, Chan refused invitations by the author to do interviews, and even took some legal action (but not much) to prevent the book from being published. Goodman found a loophole by interviewing family members, close friends as well as utilizing previously published Cat Power interviews. For the die hard fan, none of this will be brand new info. But it might just make you dust off your old records, as appreciation for the music is rekindled. (The Greatest has been on rotation on the hi-fi at my house for the last couple of days.) Most of all hearing second and third hand accounts gives the read a strange thrill, like shoplifting or sharing secrets.