Punk Turns 30

I gratefully acknowledge GoGo Notes, a blog about the GoGo's past and present, for the title of and inspiration for today's post. I stumbled upon them a few weeks ago, seeing that they featured a few images from Punk Turns 30 to illustrate their thorough research and loving take on the tradition and rite of passage that is hanging out. Click their link and check them out. The photo above is one of the end results of the "parking lot social," an ad hoc party that went where ever the revelers did. When they first started coming to see rock n roll shows in LA from their native Newbury Park, Belinda Carlisle and Lorna Doom would spend a big chunk of their night time in the parking lot of the Rainbow Bar & Grill, which was and remains next door to the Roxy Theatre, just up the street from the Whisky A Go Go - all on the Sunset Strip. Back in those days, the mid/late 70s, there was also a club called Gazzari's, named after its owner Bill Gazzari. Gazzari's...

It takes quite a formidable, no-nonsense lady to be the mother of Cheetah Chrome's child. The Cheetah Chromes, above, Anna, little Rogan (now 3 years old) and Cheetah. People always used to ask me, back in my 20s, if I wanted to have kids. My response was always but always, "Why do I need kids when I have the Dead Boys ?" Those guys were definitely a handful! me & big bro Stiv, 1979 Stiv specifically - while mostly like a big brother to me, was also like a child... Stiv had a few "moms" - two in LA - me and Chris Marlowe, who would always have a spare room for him and a hiding place for him when he was dating more than one girl at a time. There is of course, a real Mrs. Bator - Marion. Nice nice lady. I'm not going to call her long-suffering. No - Stiv would only act like a big baby around his age peers. He had nothing but the utmost respect for his real parents. Because today is Mothers Day - a "holiday" created by greeting card comp...

a blonde whispers in Levi Dexter's ear In May of 1978, a young Englishman made his way across the Atlantic, like so many others before him - to check out America and its music and start to forge a career in music in the land that gave the world Elvis. Levi Dexter's first stop was Los Angeles, and then he made his way around the country, including stops at Willie Nelson's annual picnic in Texas, and of course, Memphis - home of all things Elvis - Graceland, Sun Studios and all that... just shortly after Elvis's 1977 death. Levi wasn't the first young musician or the first Englishman fascinated with American roots rock culture. Luckily for him, Los Angeles was already rich in roots music culture. The local king and queen of the scene - John Doe and Exene Cervenka fronted X which featured Billy Zoom on guitar. Zoom had quite the rockabilly pedigree, having played with Gene Vincent. X, with Billy Zoom on guitar, on the left John Doe's commitment to American...

Punk rock is music. Punk is art, too. Music is an art form and the punk ethos launched a whole new way to perform and make art. The piece above consists of a stat counter report saved as a text file (from columns), with Lorna Doom 's name highlighted and enlarged. The image of her was "solarized" in Photoshop - but if I had a darkroom, I could do that too. Solarization is a fun thing to do - turn the lights on while your print is in the developer... now there's a digital way to emulate it... but I think it all started with Man Ray. One of my favorite purveyors of punk rock art is Target Video. They staged events and captured an otherwise, fleeting fugitive moment. They're in museums now! Currently they are at the venerable Getty in Los Angeles, and soon, they'll be on home turn (for them, that's San Francisco.) Here's the info - mark your calendar: Target Video is showing at the http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN17017">Berkeley Ar...