Punk Turns 30

This is the weekend that Goner Fest 3 is taking place. Things move at a completely different pace in Memphis. I caught some band practice when I arrived... Here are the Brand New Love Affairs, the new Scott Rogers project featuring (as pictured) Jack Yarber (Oblivians, Compulsive Gamblers, Tearjerkers, etc), Roman Aul (Redondo Beat), Scott Rogers himself and Tyler Keith (Neckbones, Preachers Kids, etc). They sure did rock... so if you find yourself in Memphis this weekend, drop by the Buccaneer on Saturday afternoon to catch this brand new band. Later that evening at the Hi Tone, you can catch Jack's solo band and many more bands such as Final Solutions, Cheveux (from France!), Cococomas, Live Fast Die, and the amazing Viva L'American Death Ray (pictured individally below)

Tomorrow morning, I'm flying to Memphis for Goner Fest 3. These guys pictured here will all be playing in multiple combinations. From left to right - Harlan T. Bobo, playing bass for Viva L'American Death Ray, Jack Oblivian and doing a solo thing as well; Jack Oblivian, headlining the event, and King Louie, playing as a one man band - opening the festivities, and then playing with The Royal Pendletons and fronting his own Black Rose Band. it might be a little tough to update this site this week... but watch out next week! New photos galore...

Pictured here with other Los Angeles "it girls," Belinda and Wyline, Pleasant Gehman (center) has never stopped being the center of attention nor has she stopped being the fountain of knowledge from which all cool things spring. You laugh? Seriously......back in the day, if you wanted to know where to go, what do to and who to know - you asked Pleasant, or you asked Iris Berry, whose beautiful face I did not photograph (that I know of...) These two ladies have edited yet another edition of the Underground Guide to Los Angeles and if you are in LA this Sunday, make a bee-line for their reading! You will hear stories of LA Punk Rock that you never dreamed of.... MANIC D PRESS IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE PUBLICATION OF: THE UNDERGROUND GUIDE TO LOS ANGELES (THIRD EDITION- ALL NEW) EDITED BY PLEASANT GEHMAN & IRIS BERRY READING AND BOOK SIGNING SUNDAY, SEPT. 24, 2006 5:00PM SKYLIGHT BOOKS 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz (323)660-1175 THE UNDERGROUND GUIDE TO LOS ANGE...

Like em or not, some people get into the music biz and never leave. Like him or not, Kim Fowley is one of those people and he has added "filmmaker" to his resume, that includes birthing the Runaways, writing songs for KISS and producing Helen Reddy (!?!?!?!) This weekend in Los Angeles, I will be shooting some experimental film with him and some local personalities. Actually, three bands in Detroit that I really like - The Witches, Slumber Party and The Gore Gore Girls are currently doing Fowley tunes.... On Halloween, there will be a new Witches record featuring a Fowley-Witches co-write entitled "Down on Ugly Street." Head Witch Troy Gregory producing his record Witches John Nash and Eugene Machine, MVP's of Detroit music Kim's also been a champion of Detroit, way before any of its talented musicians became superstars or started their cults... You really can't beat experience...

I think he just might be 30.... King Louie, a one-man-band, a bad ass New Orleans guy who has rocked the world with his ferocity, tenacity, crazy sense of humor and pure love of rock n roll....this is a guy who grew up during a time when punk rock ALWAYS existed. Its in his blood... just like the gator... Next week at this time, Memphis will be overloaded with visitors from the world over, coming into town to enjoy what punk rock has become today... King Louie One Man Band will kick it off in his now-traditional in-store at The Goner Records Store. Read the Goner Blog for more details on the line-up and activities. Louie is doing triple duty this year.... doing his one man band, playing with his new Black Rose Band, as well as with the Royal Pendletons alongside Mike Hurtt and Matt Pendleton Mike Hurtt Matt Pendleton Can there be too much rock ?

September 18, 1952 - June 5, 2002 RIP

I have been to Memphis a few times...but nothing compares to the week+ I spent there last Fall during Goner Fest 2. In ten days, I'm getting on a plane bound for Memphis and Goner Fest 3! Last year, Goner Store owners Eric and Zac hosted an exhibit of Punk Turns 30, complete with a hot dog cook out. It was a great way to usher in the Autumn. Every face in this montage represents a band that's playing. From top left, Scott Rogers will showcase his Brand New Love Affairs... will they wear ruffled shirts? Goner owners Zac and Eric are pictured... you know Zac fronts Final Solutions and Eric is a Dutch Master, a True Son of Thunder, and he will never be able to live down his Oblivians moniker and history. And why should he! Look at the culture they spawned. Royal Pendletons Matt on the left, and Mike Hurtt on the right flank Viva L'American Death Ray's Nicholas Ray (not the guy who directed Rebel Without a Cause, although this Nick Ray has dabbled in the ...

Some people say that the punk rock music explosion was bound to happen... that rock n roll was bloated and boring... I think there was a corporate rock that grew more bloated as punk got itself on the radar...punk really just kicked disco out of the headlines... even though the Bee Gees form of dance music continued to bring them much success. So - now that punk rock is pretty much accepted by the mainstream...what is gonna kick our ass in the future? Seriously.... I want to know. Do you have any ideas? Even though my pictures capture something that some people consider a scene, its really like I was Forrest Gump. This was the stuff that was happening amongst my friends. Did I like it? Yes! Did I think it was great? Lots of it was great and still holds up! A great big chapter in punk rock is closing. The only words that bear any relevance to the closing of CBGB to me are those of Lenny Kaye, guitarist for Patti Smith, a scribe, a very kind man and a human encyclopedia of all...

King Khan is a bad ass, even dressed up in lady drag. Together with Mark Sultan/BBQ he will have a new record out sometime this fall, on In The Red, a most reliable label based in LA. By reliable I mean... just pick ANY record in their catalog and chances are, you will love it. The King Khan and BBQ Show are two one-man-bands coming together to make a noise far greater than the sum of their parts. If that sounds nasty... well... just check out their live show, will ya? Sometime in October, on the other way cool California label, Sympathy for the Record Industry releases my favorite.... Jack Oblivian's new one is called The Flipside Kid. I've heard many of the songs, and have the 7" single versions of a few of the songs that are on this record (and collectors, take note: the 7" versions are indeed different - in one case, WAY different, than the CD version)... you can't miss this! Here's Jack with our pal, Billy Miller of Norton Records, which will...

Dee Dee Ramone and Stiv Bators have always been the popular favorite images in my archive... put these two guys in one photo and wow! Of all the pix I showed at last night's "Its Only Rock n Roll" photo exhibit at Root Division in San Francisco, people responded most to this one. I guess I won't retire it just yet. But fair warning.... its stock has just skyrocketed.... You can get this one in the punk rock gift shop Now if you will excuse me, I'm very tired from my 24-hour day of yesterday....

San Francisco - this is what you are doing on Saturday night. The event celebrates 40 years of rock n roll...yeah - rock has been rolling for longer than that... but the event is hugging the last 40 years.... I met show curator/organizer and featured photographer Danny Nolan last winter while I was shooting a movie for Kim Fowley. A couple months later, we were in touch again, and Danny figured out I was one and the same person whose photos he recognized for years, and whom he had recently met. So he invited me to the party. I'm a bit amazed to have my work hanging within the same four walls as Jim Marshall. When I was growing up, my idols in the rock n roll world were the photographers way more than the musicians. To this day, I'd take Linda McCartney over Beatle Paul! It was people like Jim Marshall, Linda McCartney and Annie Liebovitz who made rock n roll memorable for me! They're about 10-15 years my senior, and captured the 60s, the British Invasion, the bir...

Who knew back in 1977 or 78, when this photo was taken, that Kid Congo Powers would be such a respected guitar player? Back when we were paryting at the Famous Lobotomy Apartment, Kid didn't even know how to play! Jeffrey Lee Pierce was the agitator/instigator and stage mother to both Kid and Pleasant, here. Thanks Jeff! Kid and his band, The Pink Monkey Birds embark on their US tour today! You can always keep up to date with Kid by visiting his website or his myspace page. Kitty Kowalski took some great pictures of Kid in Sweden... like this one here! Tonight the band is in Arlington, VA, near Kid's latest home in Washington, DC. Tour dates are on Kid's myspace page. Jack Martin, Pink Monkey Bird See Kid’s own photos right here!

One of my favorite bands, The Plimsouls are still at it, and so is frontman, and solo-artist-longer-than-the-Plimsouls-existed, Peter Case are hitting the road - because that's what musicians do. Tonight in LA, Plimsouls guitarist, Eddie Munoz kicks out the jams with local musicians, all of them notable...at the Vine Street Lounge, as they do every Wednesday night. Its a treat. Do go. And if you want to know where to catch the Plimsouls the rest of this year... as well as read the latest writings by Peter Case, see the blog at www.petercase.com Here are a couple near future dates Sep 16 2006 8:00 PM The Blue Cafe Long Beach, CA w/The Plimsouls Sep 21 2006 Coffee Gallery Backstage Altadena, CA This Saturday, if you are in San Francisco, or nearby, you need to check out the Its Only Rock n Roll celebration of all things punk rock. There will be live music, DJs and vintage punk photos from yours truly and many other people. I look forward to seeing you there!

The Germs circa 1977 Twenty years later, in 1997, after performing during the MTV Video Music Awards pre-show in New York, Pat Smear publicly announces that he will no longer be the guitarist for the Foo Fighters, and introduces Franz Stahl as his replacement. Stahl exits the band in late 1998. Of course, Pat had found his way into the Foo Fighters after his stint with the much more punk rock band influenced by his own Germs: Nirvana. In 1781, Los Angeles, California, is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Little Portion) by a group of 44 Spanish settlers. Of course, at the time, Spain pretty much owned Mexico (and Florida), giving new meaning to this thing I see underfoot whenever I am in Los Angeles: But most importantly for me, on a strictly personal level, in 1888 George Eastman received a patent for his roll-film camera and registered his trademark: Kodak.

Labor Day Weekend is the sort of sentimental end of summer, even though the actual first day of Autumn isn't until September 22 of this year. But kids are already back in school and vacations have come to an end and people are beginning to get back on the work track rather than the leisure track. So, I will leave you with photos of punk rock "it girls" in their best swim wear. These are images you know well - The Pandoras and L.A. Punk Rock's leading lady, Pleasant Gehman, as she appeared on the double-picture sleeved single by surf music's leading purveyors, The Ventures - who are doing a Go Go's cover, "Surfin & Spyin'." Have a terrific weekend. Drive safely and have some fun at the beach!