Brownstein’s memoir fascinating

There are many sides to Carrie Brownstein, but the most famous two are: the one who shreds onstage with Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss as part of the punk rock band Sleater-Kinney and the one who gets goofy with comedian Fred Armisen on the sketch show “Portlandia.”

Now there’s another variation: Brownstein the writer. Her memoir “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl” is out, and you’d think it would aim to capture her many other sides. Nope. Her acting doesn’t get so much as a shout-out. But it’s still a fascinating read about Brownstein’s upbringing, her introduction to music and her life on the road.

Here are some of the memorable takeaways including Brownstein’s side job, her famous friends and that time she witnessed an orgy and felt totally uncomfortable.

• Carrie Brownstein is just a normal person …

Brownstein is routinely self-effacing. She likes to make jabs at the “business casual” get-ups she wore when performing with Sleater-Kinney, and regales readers with tales of her enduring awkwardness.

She also demystifies the life of a musician. To make sure there’s no question of how unglamorous being in a band is, she reminisces about buying her first guitar — not some magical moment so much as a typical transaction — and being on tour. During shows, the band would ask audience members if they had some floor space where the Sleater-Kinney members could crash on a mattress they nicknamed “P.M.,” which stood for pube magnet.

Brownstein also reveals her contrarian streak, and it’s not always pretty. The first time she met people from Matador Records, for example, she acted like a “raincloud freakshow.” Translation: Her attitude was a lot like an angsty standoffishness teenager.

• … except with way more famous friends

The acknowledgments for “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl” is basically a who’s who of cool chicks: Taylor Schilling from “Orange Is the New Black” (the two may or may not be dating), Ellen Page, Lena Dunham, Amy Poehler, Gaby Hoffman, “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway and musicians Aimee Mann and Kim Gordon. Oh, and some guy named Lorne Michaels.

• She never had groupies …

“I wish we had, just so I instead could have written, ‘Yes, of course we had groupies! Endless, countless numbers of groupies. A cornucopia of groupies, groupies coming out of my ears, groupies for days.’ ” Alas.

• … but she wasn’t hurting for action

There was one Valentine’s Day party that sounds like a drunken mess that all started with a game of spin the bottle and devolved from there into a make-out fest. The morning after, Brownstein went to visit her friend Miranda July (the artist and filmmaker best known recently for her bizarre and delightful New York Times interview with Rihanna) and couldn’t help but notice that her friend’s neck was covered in hickeys.

” ‘Who are those from?’ I asked. ‘You,’ she answered. For days after, everyone walked around with a cold.”

• She never got too wild, though

Brownstein writes about getting a visit from her friends Ian Svenonius and James Canty from Washington, D.C., band the Make-Up while she was touring in Paris. One night she went with them to an apartment party. They were hanging out with a bunch of guys and two women, who might have been prostitutes, when things got “Dionysian.” It was a little uncomfortable.

“I wanted to come across as insouciant. I was in a rock band! I was on tour! I was at a sexy soiree in Paris! But I couldn’t even figure out what to do with my face. I held my expression perfectly still, trying to appear neither overly curious nor mildly shocked. I soon realized the tension in my jaw was forming a grimace. In the end, all I could manage was the kind of shoulder dance moms do when they make shrimp scampi in the kitchen while drinking white wine and listening to Bruce Hornsby.”

She scurried out of there shortly after.

• For every bit of success, there’s always something to bring her back down to earth

Sure, she has famous friends and she writes about hanging out in Marc Jacobs’ apartment with Gordon to work on a video for a Sonic Youth song. But that doesn’t change the fact that when she tried to get into a party after performing in Oberlin, Ohio, she was turned away, because the place was too full, “as if there were a legal capacity to which they were adhering and only so many rubbery vegan hot dogs and red Solo cups to go around.” She wasn’t alone, though. Sleater-Kinney’s opener — a little band called the White Stripes — also got rejected.

“I often think back on those two guys who turned us away, wondering if they know they kicked Jack White out of their party — if they saw him later on TV or in a magazine and thought he looked familiar, if he reminded them of the tall guy who stood helplessly on their front lawn and then walked back to an outdated, beat-up van.”

• She was once a substitute teacher

So if you happened to be a high schooler in the Olympia School District circa 2000, the rocker may have given you a pop quiz or pressed play on a laserdisc.

• She’ll take the fall for Sleater-Kinney’s breakup

Even though the band has since gotten back together, released more music and gone on tour, the group took an extended hiatus around 2006. Brownstein makes the case that it’s all her fault. It’s a very dramatic admission and one you should read for yourself, so go buy the book.