Punk Turns 30

Stiv Bators, Whisky a Go Go, 1979 It's 2009, but it feels like 30 years ago, and Punk Turns 30 had nothing to do with that, but we're happy just the same... The gig advertised here, "Escape From New York" at Don Hill's in NYC this Thursday celebrates the gone-but-not-forgotten NYC punk rockers we love. Also, at this gig, making their NYC debut, no stranger to the NYC scene or stage, B Girl Cynthia Ross and her new band, New York Junk will perform. Other punk rock legends will perform - my favorite living guitarist, Dead Boy/Rocket From the Crypt-er Cheetah Chrome, with the Blackhearts, Walter Lure and the Waldos, Electric Frankenstein and The Martinets . Each of these bands can boast a no-degrees-of-separation from the scene from the Golden Age... they're survivors! Cynthia and Cheetah are respectively a former girlfriend and former bandmate of Stiv Bators , and it is because of Stiv that I know both Cynthia and Cheetah, and Stiv's memory is kept ali...

I was considering taking a print of this image on my next tour...and to check the integrity of both the negative and the scan, and to consider the best printing method...I got a work print made digitally. Its an 8x10, so I can't do much with it. I framed it and now its on ebay and it can be yours! Auction ends on August 22 around 11:30 PM Pacific Time!

Whenever I think of John Cale, as I did yesterday when posting those pictures of him... I think of the Stooges and their amazing eponymous album he produced... the one with "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and other songs that became anthems and favorites and punk influences...and still continue to thrill audiences that hear them almost 40 years later. The underground zeitgeist that midwife'd punk rock started with John Cale, but it was Iggy who broke the water and the conventions. Sometimes all you need to do is look at him and its all perfectly clear. Just a word to remind you - you can buy just about any photo from Punk Turns 30. Click here! Thanks, as always, for your support.