Punk Turns 30

Punk Rock Royalty: Dave Treganna, Dave Parsons, Jim Carroll and Stiv Bators, 1981, NYC It was on this date in 1981, July 29 - that Lady Diana Spencer married the world's most eligible bachelor, Prince Charles, to become the Princess Diana. Their wedding was televised. This was a huge gigantic deal in the world theatre - not just for Royals watchers, but Anglophiles and people in general... after all, how often do fairy tales come true? This wedding was such a big deal that you could watch it on airplanes if you were flying at the time of the wedding, for back in 1981, there was that technology. I know, because I watched the wedding on the television sets in JFK Airport in NY while I waited for a stand-by flight with Dave Parsons, of Sham 69 and The Wanderers. I don't believe Dave caught this wedding. He was snoozing. Dave Parsons at the airport July 29 was the day that we departed a sojourn in NYC after a brief US tour with The Wanderers that began in LA with the ini...

Dave Treganna, Dave Parsons, Jim Carroll and Stiv Bators, NYC, 1981 Before I write another word: a hundred thousand thanks to Sham 69 and Wanderers guitarist, Dave Parsons for not only keeping a copy of that photo above for the 27 years that have elapsed since we took it, but for sending me a very nice scan so I can share it with you. It was 1981, and Stiv Bators basically joined Sham 69 when Jimmy Pursey left and that band became The Wanderers. Their most excellent and only album, Only Lovers Left Alive is a paean to conspiracy theories and one Peter Beder, with whom Stiv was fascinated. Stiv Rehearses in LA with The Wanderers Stiv often showed up on my doorstep in LA with musicians in tow. And 1981 was no different. Disconnected photo session The previous year, he was in LA with the band who recorded Disconnected with him, and now it was The Wanderers. Business as usual for Stiv meant putting together an incredible live band, working out some crazy shit to stun audienc...

Stiv Bators and Kent Smythe in a friendly game of basketball People who know me in real life know that I have no time for sports, except tennis, which I can play (I even have the Lateral Epicondylitis to prove it; that's "tennis elbow" in lay terms, by the way) and it is a game I understand, and mostly, it is all about your individual performance (just like golf, but I don't have the patience to play golf, even though I know how. I'm equally bad at both tennis and golf; little kids have bettered me at both of these sissy country club sporting activities) because I am totally not about the team sport and the gang mind-set that goes with it... but here we are in the middle of the Summer Olympics. George Cabaniss gets ready to shoot This Summer, the Olympics are hosted by China. Hmmm and there's already controversy brewing (not to mention that there's political unrest in nearby Russia at the same time). In 1976, the first Summer of Punk Rock, the Summer O...

A member of Sham 69 and in between the original and current Sham, of The Wanderers (with Stiv Bators and then-Sham members, Dave Treganna and Rick Rock ), Dave Parsons celebrates a birthday today. Long may you rock my friend! Dave on stage with Sham 69, 2007 Wanderers rehearse for their only US tour, 1981. Stiv, Dave Treganna and Dave Parsons In an airport lounge, somewhere in the USA, 1981 And finally... let me wish a happy birthday to John Hoppe of Michigan who has transplanted himself to Memphis... Happy birthday gentleman...

Sham 69, Live in 2007 On August 30 in Los Angeles, it must have been 92 degrees in the shade, and no telling how hot (perhaps it hit the 100 mark?) it was under the direct sunlight - but I walked in this weather through Sunset Plaza's pseudo-Euro al fresco cafes on my way to the House of Blues. The high temperatures generated by not only the evil ball of fire in the sky some 93 million miles away, but the cumulative car exhaust of rush hour traffic and the residual heat emanating up from the asphalt made me work up such a sweat that I doused myself with Chanel No. 5 (how UNpunk is that?) when I finally arrived at the House of Blues. Although they were scheduled to arrive at 4 PM for their sound check, Sham 69 did not arrive until about 5:30. That gave me time to cool off in the marvelous shade thrown by the House of Blues's massive structure and hang out and chat with Dickies roadie Ames and merch guy for the day, former DI member Steve Guevara. Steve and Ames, holding d...

Dave Parsons, right after "> Sham 69 did their part in the month-long CBGB benefit shows. I hadn't seen Dave in nearly 25 years...not since we were on the road together with Stiv Bators and the Wanderers. The Wanderers were basically Stiv fronting Sham 69. Above are Dave Parsons and Dave Tregunna rehearsing for the Wanderers brief and only tour of the USA back in 1981. Tregunna, the bass player whom we all called Kermit, went on to play with Stiv in the Lords of the New Church. I took an immediate liking to Dave Parsons when I learned we were born just two days apart! But that superficiality aside, the guy played a Les Paul! He was the musical sound, fury and power in Sham 69 that stood up to all of Jimmy Pursey's magnetic force field. Dave just made it look all so easy. And what an easy-going chap! Dave seemed unruffled while Stiv led us through all manner of hijinx in the summer of 1981. Let's see...well, first there was the haphazard travel plans....