Punk Conference Weekend!

So - Pleasant Gehman and I are participating in the UCLA Punk Conference taking place on February 9 and 10.

And, this is what we are presenting:

LOBOTOMY MAGAZINE: A Teenage Historical Record of Punk Rock

In the mid-1970s, bored and unmoved by mainstream rock n roll, teens and young adults started to make rock n roll rebellious again. No one covered PUNK ROCK in the mainstream media, and if it was covered, it wasn’t understood.

For UCLA’s Punk Conference 2018, Pleasant Gehman and Theresa Kereakes will discuss the path they took that made their fanzine, Lobotomy, the written and visual foundation of the birth and growth of punk rock in Los Angeles as well as a presenter and commentator of the worldwide punk movement.  A projected slide show of Lobotomy Magazine pages and photos from the 1970s will illustrate the talk.

Pleasant explains, “I always knew punk was going to be a cultural moment that was as important as Paris in the 1920’s, The Beats in North Beach in the 1950’s, or the Warhol scene in New York. Punk rock created a space for our own community, and I documented it all. Lobotomy Magazine gave a voice to women, disenfranchised youth, groundbreaking artists and writers and other cultural misfits.”

Theresa continues, “if you’ve ever texted anyone ‘pictures or it didn’t happen LOL,’ you will understand why I started taking pictures at concerts. For us, pop culture and especially our own subculture is an important component of history.”

We saved the very best for last though -- On Sunday night, at the historic El Cid on Sunset Blvd., we gathered as few of our friends to regale the public with War Stories, Tales of Punk Mayhem by the Perpetrators Themselves

 ALL of the advance tickets are sold out.  There will be severely limited tickets at the door.  I say, maybe come have dinner here and buy a ticket and stay for the show....

Anyway - that's all we got and we hope to see you, Los Angeles!

Black Friday 2017

I AM Black Friday 2017!

I will be in Pittsburgh at the Get Hip Record Store, telling the stories behind the photos, signing photos and enjoying the live music.

The 20% discount applies to the photos and photo souvenirs, so think of all your rock n roll friends and collectors.  If you're not in Pittsburgh, Get Hip Mail Order and I can make your gift giving easy.  Just reach out to us:  Get Hip Mail Order . You can also contact Punk Turns 30 for a list of images or inquiries about specific images.

Among the musical artists performing this weekend is my lifelong friend, Frank Secich.  I first met Frank in 1979 when he toured with Stiv Bators in what I call the Latter Day Dead Boys.  Both Jeff Magnum and Cheetah Chrome weren't in the band, and their parts were played by Frank (on bass) and George Cabaniss, of Akron's Hammer Damage on guitar.  Back then, we were calling him Georgie Harrison, though.  Just to be sure, though, Jimmy Zero was and always will be the pop king of the Dead Boys.  This Dead Boys line up morphed into the Disconnected Band.  Johnny Blitz did play these early 1979 dates with Stiv, but later that year, he left the band and David Quinton, a teenager from Toronto, and drummer for The Mods was in.  Frank will be reading from his memoir, Circumstantial Evidence and playing the songs he wrote with Stiv, and also from his Blue Ash days and from his current project, Deadbeat Poets.

Frank Secich / 1979

Zack Keim, who performs on Sunday, fronts the Nox Boys from PGH suburb, Blawnox.  I'm proud to say I shot many photos that are included on their debut album on Get Hip.  Zack is, like me, a Woody Guthrie-inspired punk and he'll be doing his folk-agit prop thing. 

Zack Keim / 2014

Here are some images you'll see if you celebrate Black Friday with us:

Bryan Ferry / 1976

Iggy Pop / 1977

Debbie Harry /1978 - we never do an exhibit with her!

It Was 40 Years Ago Today

Forty years ago today, Elvis Costello & the Attractions were in the middle of their first tour of the USA.  It began in San Francisco on November 15, 1977 and on the 18 and 19th landed at the Whisky A GoGo. On the 20th, the lads were guests on KROQ's Rodney on the ROQ with Mayor of the Sunset Strip, DJ Rodney Bingenheimer.

I've been taking a long, long time to read Elvis's memoir, and I highly recommend it.  He writes thoroughly about his songwriting and band-crafting, as well as his experiences in the studio and on the road.  I don't want the story to end, so I read a couple pages a day.

My roommate, the famous Joanna Spock Dean was in a band called Backstage Pass back then.  They opened for Elvis at The Whisky.  She has kept in touch with the whole Attractions crew over the years, and we still have the great good fortune to see Elvis play whenever he tours the US and has a Nashville date.  A couple years ago, Elvis & the Imposters opened for Steely Dan at the Ascend Amphitheatre in Nashville, where we both now live.  His closing song, the Nick Lowe-penned "Peace, Love & Understanding" was most poignant, as it was the beginning of when the current occupant of the White House was making noise about running for that office.  Nick and Elvis's message still sings in my head and heart as the anthem keeping me alive in these scary times.

In case you didn't know, Pleasant Gehman and I are in the midst of putting together the compendium of Lobotomy, the fanzine she created with Randy Kaye in the glory days of 1970s punk rock.  We worked on Lobotomy with the future Kid Congo Powers and the fabulous Brad Dunning, among other Los Angeles punk rock forebears.

Our sporadic appearances or disappearances from the blog-o-sphere means that we've got our noses to the grindstone.

Join Me Next Weekend, March 5 in Los Angeles

Here's a photo of me, taken in April 1978 in San Francisco, CA.  It was another of the now-notorious Lobotomy road trips.

Pleasant, Randy Detroit, Kid Congo, Nancy and I piled into my little Honda and drove to San Francisco from Los Angeles, as we did for any show we wanted to see.  With so many of us traveling, it was more cost effective to drive, plus there was that four hours of crazy conversation and radio roulette to enjoy on the way.

This particular road trip was to see Blondie play at the Greek Theatre on campus at UC Berkeley.  We didn't know it at the time, but the record they were working on, Parallel Lines (which was released five months later), would break them through to levels of international fame that none of us ever considered.

If you're in Southern California, come see Pleasant and me at the Lethal Amounts Gallery for our show (Teenage) Lobotomy: Fanzine Art & Photos from the 1970s LA Punk Scene

Sarturday March 5th 2016
Lethal Amounts Gallery
1226 west 7th st
DTLA 90017

I promise it will be a great party with stunning, authentic bits of pop culture history dripping from the walls.