View source for Lisa Crystal Carver

{{short description|American musician}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Lisa Crystal Carver
| awards = 
| image = LisaCarver.jpg
| caption = Carver in 1999
| birth_name = 
| birth_date ={{Birth date and age|1968|11|9}}
| birth_place = [[Dover, New Hampshire]], U.S.
| spouses = [[Jean-Louis Costes]]<br />Dave<ref name="austinchronicle" /> Goolkasian<br />Bruno
| children = 1<ref name="austinchronicle" />
| occupation = Writer, performance artist, musician
| notableworks = ''Rollerderby''<br />''[[Drugs Are Nice]]''
}}

'''Lisa Crystal Carver''' (born November 9, 1968,<ref>[https://theaither.com/2021/07/27/we-chat-with-one-of-the-baddest-women-alive-today-artist-musician-writer-and-performer-lisa-crystal-carver/ Profile], theaither.com. July 27, 2021.</ref><ref>[http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-94-8 Soft Skull Press author biography]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928090412/http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-94-8 |date=2007-09-28 }}</ref> [[Dover, New Hampshire]]),<ref name="austinchronicle" /> also known as '''Lisa Suckdog''', is an American writer known for her writing in ''Rollerderby''. Through her interviews, she introduced the work of [[Vaginal Davis]], [[Dame Darcy]], [[Cindy Dall]], [[Boyd Rice]], [[Jean-Louis Costes|Costes]] (her ex-husband with whom she performed as [[Suckdog]]), [[Nick Zedd]], [[GG Allin]], and [[Liz Armstrong]] to the public. A collection of notable articles from the zine was published as ''Rollerderby: The Book''.

She started touring with the performance art band Psycodrama when she was 18 years old.<ref name="austinchronicle">{{cite news 
  | last = Calhoun
  | first = Ada
  | title = Prophet for Our Times: Suckdog's Sex Priestess Lisa Crystal Carver
  | publisher = Austin Chronicle
  | date = 2000-08-11
  | url = http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A78153
  | access-date = 2007-06-19 }}</ref> It was also at this time that she began doing sex work, which has been a major theme in her writings over the years.<ref>Carver, Lisa. ''Drugs Are Nice'' (Soft Skull Press, Brooklyn, NY, 2005) pp. 89, 91, 92, 93, 117, 162.</ref><ref>Carver, Lisa. ''Lisa Diaries'' (Black Books, 1999).</ref><ref>''Rollerderby''. Published by Lisa Crystal Carver.</ref> She began touring with Costes a year later, and would also tour without him when he was in France. She toured the U.S. and Europe six times, the last time in 1998. The [[noise music]] soap operas included audience interaction including dancing and mock-rape of audience members.<ref name="austinchronicle"/>

Carver is also the author of ''Dancing Queen: a Lusty Look at the American Dream'', in which she expounds upon various relics of pop culture past, including [[Lawrence Welk]], [[Roller disco|roller rink]]s, and [[Olivia Newton-John]]. In 2005, [[Soft Skull Press]] released ''[[Drugs Are Nice]]'', detailing her early childhood and later romantic relationships with [[Jean-Louis Costes|Costes]], [[Boyd Rice]] (with whom she has a son)<ref name="austinchronicle" /> and [[Bill Callahan (musician)|Smog]]'s [[Bill Callahan (musician)|Bill Callahan]]. In addition to writing her own zines and books, Carver has also written for various magazines (including [[Peter Bagge]]'s comic book ''[[Hate (comics)|Hate]]'') and kept a fictionalized journal about her sex life for the website [[Nerve (website)|Nerve]]. Although Carver no longer writes her journal for the site, she is still a semi-regular contributor. The online journal at Nerve was subsequently published in book form as ''The Lisa Diaries: Four Years in the Sex Life of Lisa Carver and Company.''

2012 saw the release of Carver's treatise on the artistic career of [[Yoko Ono]] titled ''Reaching Out with No Hands: Reconsidering Yoko Ono'' (Backbeat Books). As of 2015, Carver has written a handful of pieces for website The Recoup. Her book, ''The Jaywalker'', is a short story collection illustrated by long-time friend and collaborator [[Dame Darcy]]. Lisa, Dame Darcy, Maddie Kuzak, and Genevieve Kuzak toured parts of the world in 2016 to promote the book—a performance art show reminiscent of the early 1990s Suckdog.

She also interviewed [[mixed martial arts]] fighter Brent Bergeron for an article that appeared in ''[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]'' magazine.

In 2017, Carver released ''Suckdog: A Ruckus'' (self published). This book, including 80+ photos and illustrations, looks back at Carver's wild past onstage and behind-the-scenes.

In 2023, she published an essay in [[The Paris Review]] contrasting French and American culture and discussing her relationship with her husband Bruno.<ref name="parisreview">{{cite web |last1=Carver |first1=Lisa |title=Two Strip Clubs, Paris and New Hampshire |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2023/09/13/two-strip-clubs-paris-and-new-hampshire/ |website=The Paris Review |date=13 September 2023 |access-date=16 September 2023}}</ref>

In her personal life, she has "been married four times and divorced three",<ref>{{cite web |last1=Garvey |first1=Megan |title=Scary Cool Goodbye 27 |url=https://scarycoolsadgoodbye.substack.com/p/scary-cool-goodbye-27 |access-date=16 September 2023 |date=23 August 2022}}</ref> and lived in [[Montmorency, Val-d'Oise|Montmorency, France]],<ref name="parisreview"/> from 2021 until 2025.

Carver currently lives in [[Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Free falling and it feels so good {{!}} Lisa Carver |url=https://www.patreon.com/posts/free-falling-and-125330070 |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Patreon}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
* ''Rollerderby: The Book'' (Feral House, 1996)
* ''Dancing Queen: a Lusty Look at the American Dream'' (Owlet, 1996)
* ''The Lisa Diaries: Four Years in the Sex Life of Lisa Carver and Company'' (Black Books, 2002)
*  ''[[Drugs Are Nice]]'' (Soft Skull Press, 2005)
* ''no title'' (2011)
* ''Reaching Out with No Hands: Reconsidering Yoko Ono'' (Backbeat Books, 2012)
* ''How Not To Write'' (2015)
* ''Money's Nothing'' (2015)
* ''25 Lives'' (2015)
* ''Sadie, Wolf, and Friends'' (2015)
* ''The Jaywalker'' (2016)
* ''Suckdog: A Ruckus'' (2017)
* ''I Love Art'' (Tiger Bee Press, 2019)
* ''The Pahrump Report'' (Pig Roast Publishing, 2021)
* ''No Land's Man'' (Pig Roast Publishing, 2023)
* ''Lover of Leaving'' (Pig Roast Publishing, 2025)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website|http://suckdog.net}}
*[http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2006/mar/interview_lisa_carver.shtml 3 AM Magazine Interview]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090813213841/http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/08/10/carver_pills/index.html My Life in Xanax] - [[Salon.com]]

{{Prostitution in the United States|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carver, Lisa Crystal}}
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American female prostitutes]]
[[Category:American women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American women punk rock singers]]
[[Category:American punk rock singers]]
[[Category:People from Dover, New Hampshire]]
[[Category:Punk writers]]