Punk Turns 30

Every musician I know is bound for Austin, Texas right about now. The annual SXSW music conference is taking place and while I quit going after 2003... there's no reason you shouldn't attend. If you ARE there, or you live in Austin, let me draw your attention to these fine bands... Frank Secich, 1979 Frank Secich is a member of The Deadbeat Poets, and a lifelong friend of mine. We met when he was playing bass in the Latter Day Dead Boys which morphed into the Stiv Bators Band which resulted in the recording of Stiv's only solo album, the pop gem Disconnected . Frank was also a member of the power pop legends Blue Ash . From the Blue Ashes and the fertile musical playground of Northeastern Ohio come The Deadbeat Poets. The Deadbeat Poets were formed in Youngstown, Ohio in the summer of 2006. The band consists of veteran Ohio musicians with eclectic credentials: Frank Secich (Blue Ash, Club Wow, Stiv Bators Band), Terry Hartman (Backdoor Men, Napoleon In Rags, Terry & ...

On December 1, in Toronto, Canada... The Mods will reunite once again to play at the Horseshoe Tavern, celebrating the 29th Anniversary of The Last Pogo, when the Horseshoe claimed to be stopping the Punk Rock... But can you ever stop the punk rock? I don't think so... I would never have known about the Mods if not for Stiv Bators' hijacking of their young drummer, David Quinton way back in 1979. Well, I can't be there because the logistics of The Mods specific show date totally conflicts with my filming on the West Coast and my own tour dates which are still in the South... (if you're in the ATL - come see me!) David Quinton - behind Stiv, and the Disconnected Band featuring Frank Secich and George Cabaniss What I've already missed out on over this Thanksgiving weekend --- both the Reigning Sound and Jack Oblivian played the same venue on the same night the week after I left Memphis... although I really can't complain, since I did have the utmost special...

Peter Case, one of my longest-standing friends, loves Memphis. I tried to bribe him to eschew his Americana Conference appearance in Nashville to come hang with us for Punk Rock Day of the Dead... not to worry... Peter honors his obligations... but it did bring us back to that conversation we've had on more than a few occasions about just how great Memphis is and how much we both love it and the musicians who make music here. Peter and I have frequently been neighbors in LA, but in the last few years, we seem to have the great pleasant surprise of running into each other while we're both on tour. In 2006, Peter and I ran into each other in Memphis during the Ponderosa Stomp. I saw him in the crowd checking out a band that featured one of my Memphis pals.... and in 2007, Peter helped another of my Memphis pals get a foothold on gigging in LA, and since my suggestion that they meet, Peter has invited Ron Franklin to open a few acoustic gigs... and its like they were meant to...

Here I am on a bright, sunny day in Memphis, TN with the one and only Monsieur Jeffrey Evans, he the great musician, mentor, and all around great guy - the one beyond 68 Comeback, Gibson Bros., and the sound that launched a thousand garage bands. We were at the cool record store, Shangri La waiting to see a band play, but I had to leave before they even arrived... the photo was taken by John Paul Keith, the fella you see below in the picture with Jeff. JP is a guitar player too. He just completed a tour of Europe with Jack Oblivian and Harlan T. Bobo. He also fronts his own band, The One Four Fives. If you play music or know music theory, you will recognize 1,4,5 as the basic chord progression of any rock n roll song structure. Memphis breathes, eats and sleeps music. Perhaps that's why I always have a great time here. We did the Punk Rock Day of the Dead here in Memphis at Goner. If you came to the show, or even if you didn't and you thought it was a cool idea, the...