Punk Turns 30

This is the cover of Lobotomy, the brainless magazine , issue #1. Lobotomy enjoyed about a 2-year run. We published it whenever something was worth writing about, or when we felt like it. Because teenagers and 20-somethings have a whole different concept of time than older adults, we often published as often as the bands in England during the 60s released singles --- that is --- all the time! Doing the 'zine was about a natural and organic an activity as breathing for us. Thirty-plus years later, the phenomenon of the fanzine is being recognized by the Ivory Tower. I read the following on BBC's website: They were invented by fans of trashy science fiction novels in the 1930s before their hand-written Xeroxed pages chronicled the birth of punk. But as the internet threatens to condemn them to history's shredder, traditional music fanzines - amateur magazines written, edited and produced by fans - have found an unlikely saviour. You can read more about it by clicking on ...

Randy Kaye, my dear friend, would have been 50 today. Together with Pleasant, Randy was a founder of our youthful venture into the world of media... Lobotomy, The Brainless Magazine. The myriad and memorable road trips we made were based on our avid interest in Blondie, Mumps, The Cramps and other bands from New York, as well as our friends in Los Angeles who just happened to form bands that you've heard of... Joan Jett, The Go Gos, The Germs to name a few. Randy is the person on the far left of the frame, you can see the end of his nose - he's next to the body who is next to be-spectacled Brad Dunning... Joan Jett is on Billy Idol's right and Pleasant is on his left. Lorna Doom is in the frame, on the right, Darby is at her side, blocking most of her face from your view This photo reflects just a small slice of our life in punk rock's heyday. Randy's life is so much more than the fun times that we had in our teens and twenties.. Randy went on to the world of...

The Summer of 1978 was a pretty spectacular one for LA Punk, and by extension for "our thing," Lobotomy. We had had Lobotomy Night Benefits at the Whisky earlier in the year. But in the middle of the summer, we had Lobotomy Magazine Weekend with all our friends playing, naturally. Pleasant really knew how to work a phone, write a column and convince people to do the right thing. In one of his earliest performances ever, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and his band the Red Lights took the Whisky stage, as did the Middle Class, Germs, and Marbles. This thing of ours -- Lobotomy, the Brainless Magazine -- was something completely fun and for a lark and at the same time, something we all took pretty seriously. It was one of the first entries into Pleasant's long, steady and successful career as a writer and go-to girl for things LA Punk. Our fabulous (and of course, unpaid but never uncompensated) Art Director was Brad Dunning, who has since become an interior designer of g...

Bruce Foxton of the Jam looks up at the Starwood marquee as photographers David Arnoff and Judy Lesta look on. I remember this show vividly, and I always will - because its my birthdate, and who doesn't remember when one of their fave bands plays a show on your birthday AND sings a chorus of "Happy Birthday" to you at their record-company-sponsored party? Unforgettable stuff. This was me in 1978. Photo taken with my camera by my dear departed friend, Randy Kaye, who together with Pleasant created Lobotomy. On this date, we were covering the Jam on their second visit to America and were outrageously delighted that our friends, The Dickies and The Eyes were also on the bill. I'm still surprised that I had the wherewithall to take these photos of the Dickies and of Charlotte Caffey from The Eyes backstage before they went on...because the Jam threw a fantastic party before the show! The Jam let me shoot their soundcheck. They gave everyone a photo opportu...