We have always had TONS of fun doing these shows. I forget sometimes, since this was my daily life during the 70s, that these sneak peeks at the secret life of rock stars is fascinating to look at in grainy black & white photographs... when I knew these folks and hung out with them, they weren't quite the rock stars they are today.
Sure - they were performing and had audiences, but they were earning their stripes. My friends and I believed that Blondie and the Runaways were superstars. The Ramones were like the Beatles to us (face it, they ARE punk's Beatles... just accept it: yeah yeah yeah).
Friend and neighbor, Joan Jett has made all us punk rock girls proud with a lifelong career of loving and playing rock n roll. I'm proud to have been asked to contribute photos to the two books about her that have recently been published. On October 1,
Backbeat Books published Bad Reputation by Dave Thompson. Here's what they want you to know about it:
Bad Reputation is the unexpurgated story of Joan Jett, the single most exciting rocker of the American 1980s, one of the biggest-selling acts of the age, and one of punk rock's most valued elder statespeeps.I have to agree with the praise for Joan! I read the book in one fell swoop and was almost late to work this morning because of it! So many memories... On Thursday October 6, I celebrate the publication and my former neighbor, Joan Jett by showcasing the images Backbeat included plus many other behind the scenes photos from her Sunset Strip abode. The celebratory exhibit takes place at
Southland Books, 801 E. Broadway in Maryville, TN.
I'm actually quoted in Bad Reputation, talking about Joan's "do drop in" apartment across the street from me and from the Whisky A Go Go... Dave was writing about the birth of the Los Angeles punk scene, referencing The Germs (who Joan would produce).
The Germs' front man Darby Crash is an anchor of the Punk Rock Day of the Dead show taking place on
Friday, October 7 at Disc Exchange in Knoxville, TN. The punk rock mariachi party that we started in Memphis at Goner Records is an annual thing for me and sad to say, each year, I add more pictures and names to the poster. But this is what Mexico's Halloween - Dia De Los Muertos is all about - remembering and honoring those who have passed... as Jim Carroll put it: "they were my friends, and they died." Jim's face is included in this year's collection, alongside Stiv Bators. The Slits Ari Up is also in the line up. Celebrate them at the record store by buying their music!
Come see me in East Tennessee this week. Take a look at the grainy black & white punk life style in living color. It's all for sale too!
