Scene Around: Punk Rocking and Book Talking with RFH Alum Rossi

The punk rockin’ Rumson-raised chef and author known as Rossi came back home again to Jersey talk and joke about her latest memoir The Punk Rock Queen of the Jews.

Of course, when the book was first published, Rossi did a reading right in the heart of home turf at Fair Haven’s River Road Books. But, when an opportunity to come pretty close to home again to have a book talk and signing event calls, Rossi answers — and entertains.

In fact, she is so entertaining that someone even said at the latest event on Sunday at the Asbury Book Cooperative (ABC) in, of course, Asbury Park, that she should be a stand-up comedian.

But, while her memoirs — The Raging Skillet and Punk Rock Queen of The Jews — offer their own brand of comedy, as does Rossi’s delivery in her chats, that career is off the table for her, she said.

If the funny is accidental, it’s fine, she said. But, the idea of stand-up is terrifying, “because you just have to be funny all the time and those audiences can be merciless,” she said with a chuckle. So, the full house took in the accidental authentic comedy in her true-life stories that never seem to get tiresome for many repeat audience members to hear.

OK, so some of them are friends, but Rossi is the real-deal punk rock shock queen of early 1980s Rumson and RFH, longtime friends surrounding her or not. Lest anyone forget her very unique RFH senior yearbook photo style. It’s on the cover of the book and let’s just say she’s not wearing a turtle neck and fair isle sweater, either, like all good Rumson girls of the ’70s and ’80s. Forget the topsiders and those Monet earrings.

You’ve heard all about Chef Rossi and her memoirs before. In case you haven’t, read on … all about The Raging Skillet and Punk Rock Queen of the Jews.

And take a look at the photos below for a glimpse into another Rossi read, hosted by ABC and chat with laughs and reuniting among RFHers and Barn Theatre forever friends and new fans …