Punk Turns 30

Really famous photographer Bob Gruen and I were standing right next to each other that night and we have similar shots... Bob's photo is in color and you can see on it Bill's website. Today - Thursday, February 26 - at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Brooklyn Heights, my pal Bill German will be signing copies of his book Under Their Thumb, his memoir of being the guy who made his teenage dream of working with the Rolling Stones come true. Read more on his website.

Dave Alvin That's right, yes.... while Nashville and Texas and other points in the South claim "country & western music" as their own... some of county music's most influential founders are native Californians... and the punk'd version of country, whether you call it alt.country or punk country or country punk was born in California too. Picture above is native Californian Dave Alvin, a founding member of the Blasters and member in good standing of The Knitters which is comprised mainly of members of X, with whom Alvin also played. X - Billy Zoom, DJ Bonebrake, Exene Cervenka and John Doe But it goes way farther back than that... on this date, April 6 in 1937, Merle Haggard was born in Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield was known for its own "sound" - a kind of country western music that was rough around the edges, unlike Nashville's smooth, polished and tidily produced fare. Bakersfield, if you will, was the punk version of country musi...

And I'd like to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following fantastic rock n roll people: Nick from the Grave Blankets of Columbus, OH, whose picture I don't think I have to post... and then this bunch of hooligans: King Louie! Mick Collins! And the greatest reindeer of them all: Keith Richards!

Anyone in the rock n roll era who ever picked up a guitar and tried to come up with a good riff was undoubtedly influenced by these two guitar heroes for all genres... Chuck Berry and Keith Richards. For me, it was Keith Richards and the Beach Boys that led me to Chuck Berry. That lick - the intro to "Johnny B. Goode" was the basis of the Beach Boys surf era stuff ("Fun Fun Fun" for starters) that was huge in my native Southern California beach town childhood. And the Rolling Stones covers of actual Chuck Berry songs were one degree of separation away from the source. While Johnny Rotten exclaimed in one of his notorious sound bites that in 1977 there'd be no more Rolling Stones, as the punk revolution would render them irrelevant...the Sex Pistols not only covered "Johnny B. Goode" - its on the soundtrack to the movie, "The Great Rock n Roll Swindle" which stands as a major part of the Sex Pistols legacy. Chuck Berry wins again! Wh...

Every time I need to verify a concert or event date, I consult the lovingly archived and researched information on the Flipside Fanzine Memorial Site maintained by Michele Flipside. I vividly remember not only this ad from the newspapers, but also the concert.... The Clash headlining over the historic, seminal singer/songwriter/beatmaker for a generation, the great Bo Diddley. Even back in 1979, the absurdity of the billing was clear - and not at all lost on the members of the Clash, I'm sure. They were probably beside themselves that they could do something for rock n roll's very Originator . It was Bo after all, who penned the song, "Pills" that the New York Dolls covered in a such a way that we can call it "punk." And the Dolls were in no way the first white rockers to embrace the works of rock's black originators. Remember a little band called the Rolling Stones? I remember the first time I ever saw (and met) a member of the Clash, Mick ...

And good riddance to 2006 already.... Actually, 2006 had its ups and its downs, just like any other year. Before we go any further, let's wish a Happy Birthday to David Quinton Steinberg the young man on the right, flipping you off. He's 18 in that photo, taken for the Stiv Bators solo album, "Disconnected." At 18, he was already a punk rock veteran before joining Stiv, having been playing punk rock since 1976... And 1976 is when I really felt the active punk rock era began for me...the first time I saw Patti Smith in January 76, touring in support of her debut album, "Horses" which was released in November 1975. Its also Patti Smith's birthday this weekend, and Lenny Kaye's too! But by most counts, people credit 1977 being the year punk broke (despite the fact there's a documentary/tour film called "1991: The Year Punk Broke" - which is a movie about grunge bands and includes the Ramones). And what all that means is that 2007 is...

Everything I know about punk rock, garage rock, touring guerilla style, living large in London with no money and the musical history of Cleveland, I learned from Stiv Bators... by osmosis. I met Stiv in 1977 when he was in the Dead Boys, and we became fast friends. Michael Sticca was involved in our introduction, but I'm not entirely sure of the why's and wherefores... Sticca was the premier roadie for NYC punk bands and also provided the world's best hand claps on record. Seriously... that's in print on either a Dead Boys or Blondie album.... if not both. Stiv, though eight years older than me, was in many ways like a son. A son you sent off to war. In many other ways, he was like a brother, with his matchmaking attempts, and his bonafide guidance and help/advice that I can say completely straight-faced, did indeed advance my career. In fact, I credit Stiv, Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Pleasant, the Kessel Brothers and The Germs right alongside the likes of three s...