Punk Turns 30

I learned today at 6 AM that my friend, the influential Detroit rock n roll pioneer, Michael Davis , best remembered as the bassist for the MC5 , passed away on Friday. I was at work, and people were beginning to arrive, so I wasn't able to grab my MC5 cd from my car and blast "Kick Out the Jams, motherfucker" in his honor... so I did it all the way on my drive home, and I'm doing it now. All day long, I've been remembering Michael and the wonderful times I spent with him and his wife, Angela and their sons at their California home, all the times he rocked me... because once the surviving MC5 members re-formed and started touring, there was nothing that would stop me from seeing them play - starting from their opening night in Detroit, to Central Park in my at-the-time home town of NYC, and any and everywhere in between. Michael Davis believed in the power of music and his love and belief were inspiring. As a young man, he was at the forefront of turbulent ti...

Michael Davis puts his money where his mouth is! Literally! Michael Davis was once a trouble maker together with the rest of the MC5. Now he's taking the purity of the ethics that were always the foundation of the proto-punk rock mayhem born in the 1960s rock n roll culture and channeling it for something everyone can truly get behind. Its still about Revolution. Music Is Revolution. Here's the message, straight from Michael Davis, one of the Godfathers of Punk Rock who remains a standard bearer nearly 40 years after first kicking out the jams. Dear Friends of the Revolution, THE TIME HAS COME. Its been an exciting summer here at Music Is Revolution. We have some major events in the works so please stay tuned. We also have been receiving grant applications on a daily basis from teachers all across the country. Now we need your help. We are in desperate need of the funds to fill these grants. Were asking you to please go to our website www.musicisrevolution.org and donat...

Scott "Top Ten" Kempner and Ross the Boss in 2004 Yes, on this date in 1977, New York's Dictators were holding court at the Whisky A Go Go on a 4-day run that featured opening bands The Nuns from San Francisco, and LA's own punk rock It Girl, my constant partner in crime, Pleasant. Jennifer Miro and the Nuns Pleasant I didn't really get it back then. The Dictators seemed to be such dudes and on a completely different page than me, but I'm glad now that I did bother to see them back then. I've seen them a few dozen times in recent years, and its like time stood still for Handsome Dick Manitoba. The Most Handsome Man in Rock n Roll was complemented on the 1977 Whisky stage by the blonde and brunette beauties of California punk. There was indeed something to "Go Girl Crazy." Handsome Dick Manitoba, 2005 The Dictators "Go Girl Crazy" was released in 1975, just as punk was about to make itself known. The Dics, as they are affectio...

It all started with Wayne Kramer and Fred Sonic Smith of the MC5. Then, the only guys who could hold the rock n roll fort down behind Iggy --- the Stooges. Ron Asheton still kicks out the jams with The Stooges. Iggy (he's for sale!) These Detroit (and Ann Arbor) guys who inadvertently gave birth to punk rock launched a thousand ships. They would influence so many, and give Detroit a special leg up on punk rock guitar heroism. All these Detroit rockers are loathe to associate with a label or genre beyond "rock n roll." They just rock hard- period. In the past few years, the surviving members of the MC5 have been touring and the young Turks who've been invited to join them onstage are actually the ones given a run for the money. The godfathers of punk rock - Wayne Kramer, Michael Davis and Dennis Thompson have not only years of experience at the rock, but facility across so many genres that they can keep all the youngsters guessing. The MC5's Wayne Kra...