Punk Turns 30

  I've been inspired by so many punk-era photo books. Mine's in the pipeline.  If I were writing for a magazine, this is how I'd preview it: The attraction of this project is that it is a photographic memoir.   In addition to its potential of being an elegant coffee table picture book, Adventures of an Unchaperoned Teenaged Girl charts the explosive living history of the birth and growth of the original Los Angeles punk scene. Along with the photographer-author’s iconic images in their full glory and as featured on album covers and editorial pages, Adventures will also share images from the time, ranging from tour posters, backstage passes, zines, news clippings, and ads to complete the presentation of an era in rapid transformation.   Adventures ’ visual wonderland punctuates punk’s as well as the author’s many milestones.

So - to help me bring this fab art show to Get Hip Get Art, I created an Indiegogo fundraising campaign , to help me frame the scores of photos I'm showing and to make some souvenirs for you to take home. Visit my Indiegogo campaign here: http://igg.me/at/punkrock-theresak/x/4354335 Its a short-duration fund raising campaign and I'm trying to raise $1,500, all of which will go to framing and book-producing. If you can't donate, can you help spread the word? If you DO donate, the perks are photos worth well more than the amount of contribution you give. Here's a slide show of some of the images that will be hanging and that can be your perk! Just because we are celebrating the Day of the Dead, it doesn't mean we aren't celebrating the living as well...I am always reminded of James Joyce's "The Dead," and its last line...one could substitute "music" for "snow" in the passage. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow...

It was in the middle of the summer that Stiv Bators and I took these photos in Malibu. Why is it that only rock n roll guys can wear full cold-weather gear in summer and not break a sweat? I need to go jump in a pool right now...

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...