Long Live Rock (ePub)

Lisette DuPre is a ballet teacher whose life and marriage have become as rigidly prescribed as the positions of her art. Soon to be an empty nester, she feels inauthentic, almost mechanical. Her passions have dimmed. Her husband has a huge secret.

When their teenage daughter calls from the first-aid tent at a rock concert, Lesette comes face-to-face with rock icon, Shane Stewart, singer for the Disgracefuls, a band that was the soundtrack of her youth. He has a wardrobe crisis. She has a sewing kit. The intimacy of the moment evokes a yearning Shane cannot quite name, but personifies in Lisette, a full-grown woman, polar opposite of the models and groupies who spend the night and disappear. Shane is approaching a major milestone of his own and struggles to reconcile being "a man in full" when his work has always been to play and his lore leans toward juvenile delinquency.

A merry band of memorable characters each play a hand in supporting the budding romance as they themselves experience self-discovery, accept change, revisit bad habits, redeem themselves, and dare to love. Baby Boomers striving for meaningful "last chapters" will recognize the tensions this story explores: How can we remain relevant while growing older in the youth-oriented culture we once commanded? How do we accept change, live with authenticity, leave a legacy? What do we hold on to? What do we leave behind? How do we let go? Is it still appropriate to experience rapture at a rock concert? (Answer to the last question: absolutely.)

Long Live Rock is a shot in the arm of romance, friendship, deception, adventure, music, and hope for a live that arrives unexpectedly later in life, conflicting, confusing - and dazzling.