This is the man to blame for me moving to New York City: Lance Loud. I was inspired when this other Santa Barbara teenager found himself on television and kick-started my generation's "cult of personality." Together with Kristian Hoffman, Lance got out of Dodge right after high school. My heroes made their way to the Big Apple and instantly became celebrated. Not exactly celebrities however, Andy Warhol and Patti Smith understood what was going on here. Patti stole Mumps drummer Jay Dee Daugherty for her own band before Lance and Kristian could make a dent with him. Warhol and Lance, famous simply for being themselves and for being "reporters" as well as artists, were photographed together and Lance made the most of that photo opportunity. I don't remember who was interviewing whom. Scores of outrageous shows later, Mumps returned to the Left Coast to do some recording. Los Angeles and LA punk would never be the same after the Mumps invasion. ...
Posts
Debbie Harry - X-Offender , originally uploaded by Theresa K . That's right - I now have an online store where you can buy some Vintage Punk Pictures. I have made available ten images plus my poster from the Horizontal Action Blackout through Dot Photo and you can click on this link to view the photos for sale. This photo of Debbie Harry is one of the ten available. You can also purchase prints of: Jeffrey Lee Pierce Belinda Carlisle (backstage) Patricia Morrison / The Bags Darby Crash The Germs Stiv Bators & Dee Dee Ramone Stiv Bators & Disconnected Band All this info will also be permanently linked from my Buy Photos page. Hope you are enjoying the long weekend. Summer is here already in NYC! If you are inside or even outside with your wireless connection, make sure you catch up on your summer music news and listen to some great tunes, all downloadable at Kingblind. It's my source for record news!
Its Memorial Day Weekend all over the USA. Are you heading to the beach? Are you at least taking the weekend off? Good. I am trying to do the same. BUT.... I will leave you with some good visuals for the beach. You can also consider it a "summer season rerun." Except I think you will enjoy watching it anyway. The Pandoras "Hot Generation" indeed.
It wasn't always chaotic catharthis, safety pins and a brand new British Invasion. A typical night out in Los Angeles meant one or more of a few options: the Sunset Strip - where there was Tower Records, Licorice Pizza, the Whisky, the Roxy, and the Rainbow parking lot West Hollywood, with the Starwood Hollywood - with the Masque and some dank dive bars like the Frolic Room and Firefly Chinatown - Hong Kong Cafe and Madame Wongs West LA - Madame Wong's West, Club 88 and the Rhino Records store There were other venues, to be sure - the Troubadour on Santa Monica Blvd., which now is the place for rock, was still a folkie and mostly non-punk place. In the Valley, there was the Country Club, the Palomino, which had mostly country acts until the Pretenders played their first club date there in 1980. There was Gazzari's on the Strip, which was home to metal. Van Halen got their break there. Hanging out backstage also wasn't always rubbing elbows with England's newest ...
Stiv Icon , originally uploaded by Theresa K . "There's a fine line between clever and stupid." That's a line from one of my favorite movies, This is Spinal Tap, and it is uttered between "Nigel Tufnel" and "David St. Hubbins" in a memorable moment when Spinal Tap's publicist "Bobbi Fleckman" admonishes them for having "a woman naked up to there... forced to smell the glove." You know the scene. Its priceless. So, yesterday, as I was perusing my statistics, I noticed that a few people who found my website did so via a search engine when they searched the topic "largest penis ever photographed." It made me laugh in the same way that Spinal Tap did. I found this so hysterical that I told hundreds of people about it. The search led my reader to a post about Stiv Bators. Stiv's legend is enormous. Jimmy Zero proudly talked about it in an interview he did with the Cleveland Scene when they were cov...
Just a note that on this Blogger template, the posts and photos get archived pretty quickly. Recent vintage photos that have appeared above the fold include: The Germs, Darby Crash, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Black Randy, Dickies' Stan Lee, Belinda Carlisle, backstage with Dave Alvin, Pleasant and Connie Clarksville, and Pat Bag. These are still easy to find if you scroll down, but for older posts and more photos of your favorite punks, please click on the Archives link on your right. You may also want to investigate The Female Gaze link, which is a photoblog of portraits of rock n roll men, or the Got Bass? site where bass players pose with money. If you're a musician or a musician's friend, you know these are special moments!
Back when this photo was taken - April 1978 - Blondie had just broken through one hurdle on their way to pop stardom. Chrysalis had picked up their debut album and their second one, "Plastic Letters." On this tour, they were headling small theatres, such as the one where this photo was taken at UC Berkeley in California. What fans didn't know was that the band would break wide open in less than six months. In September 1978, "Parallel Lines" was released, and changed everything. However, as early as September 1977, there was a personnel change, and by this April 1978 tour, Nigel Harrison, a Brit from the glam band Silverhead had replaced original bass player Gary Valentine. Frank Infante augmented the band as lead guitarist. This would be the line-up that played on "Parallel Lines" and would have the hits, starting with Nerve Jack Lee's "Hanging on the Telephone," Blondie's own "disco song," the huge cross -over h...
Patricia Morrison - The Bags , originally uploaded by Theresa K . This is Patricia Morrison also known as Pat Bag. I'm sorry to say that of all the times I saw the Bags, this is the only photo I have of any of them. If you want to see an image of the other beautiful Bag lady, please visit Alice Bag's website, which has many photos and other interesting artifacts from back in the day - gig flyers and such that you will truly enjoy. This year, I've been lucky to have been able to connect with Alice Bag, who just by being herself has nearly single-handedly kept the spirit of LA '77 alive, but more importantly, she has promoted the contributions of WOMEN in the LA punk scene on her thorough website. I don't know if anyone remembers this or will back me up - but the first couple times The Bags played, I remember them wearing bags over their heads. They did it before that "Unknown Comic" guy - but gave it up pretty quickly. Maybe a show or two wit...
Just a quick note to let you know about my Portraits photoblog, which now boasts big images of Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Darby Crash, along with many other men from the rock n roll world. Its a site called The Female Gaze, and its also in my links over on the right side of this page. Also a BIG THANKS to the readers of Billy Idol dot com for making so many visits to Punk Turns 30. I enlarged a whole lot of vintage 1978 pix of Billy, which I gave to him the other night. You may see them on his website eventually, but I promise that next time I'm in the darkroom, I will make more, scan them and post them here, along with my memories of his first visit to LA, when he was promoting the Generation X album. THANKS to the readers of the Garage Punk Forums and the Goner Records Bulletin Board for dropping in to look at photos, too! It was nice to meet so many of you in Chicago last week. Finally, you can Buy Photos directly from me -- you don't have to wait til I'm display...
Black Randy and Stan Lee , originally uploaded by Theresa K . The Year Punk Broke is the name of a rock documentary... but its more like a thought to me. Punk is bigger than ever, and it is why we can ask right now in 2005, "What Year Is It?" This photo is from 1977. Its Black Randy and Dickies guitar player, Stan Lee, hanging out in the parking lot of the Licorice Pizza record store across the street from the Whisky A Go Go. We all used to park there for shows at the Whisky. Now, that location is an Aahs greeting card store. This photo was one that I exhibited in Chicago last week, when I was hyping the Horizontal Action Blackout like mad. The Blackout was such a fun time, and I only attended two days. What is proves is that punk attitude is alive and well in the garage. All the bands that played kicked out the jams with all the fervor and fury of the Class of 1977. Seems like wherever I go in this big country, I run into a band from home. As I walked i...
Jeffrey Lee Pierce, 1980 , originally uploaded by Theresa K . Here's Jeffrey Lee Pierce backstage at the Whisky A Go Go around 1979 or 80. We were all at the B Girls show. This picture represents better days for Jeffrey - he's so young here - 21 or 22, and looks kinda happy to be there. Jeffrey Lee Pierce was a complex man who kick started a lot of positive things in music. He was not afraid to go to the dark side, either. And often that leads to an early death. Someone in LA is making a movie about Jeffrey.... that's a story that needs to be told. There's so much to say, and this blog isn't the right place. But I hope you enjoy this picture of Jeffrey from better days. I am now off to Chicago for the Blackout, and will return with more photos! So see you there, or see you at the Saints gig at the Ding Dong Lounge in NYC on Saturday. No new posts til Monday... delve into the archives!
GERMS , originally uploaded by Theresa K . The Germs practice in Pat Smear's garage, just for the camera. Back when this was taken, Darby Crash was just starting to call himself Bobby Pyn, for you see, the Germs had just formed. Later, a photo from this session would become the cover of their 7" single, "Forming." I met Paul who you know as Darby, camping out for tickets to see David Bowie at the Forum in Los Angeles. I had my parents' credit card on me, and he didn't have quite enough money to buy a ticket and get himself a snack. I offered to front him the difference - a couple dollars - and luckily for us, an additional show went on sale just as we arrived at the ticket window, so we had much better seats than we anticipated. We repeated this experience to see Queen as well. Lorna Doom laughing here at the festivities of this "band practice," was a girl I knew from high school days. Actually, I knew her as Belinda Kurczeski...
Dave Alvin & his ladies , originally uploaded by Theresa K . Pleasant, Belinda Carlisle, Dave Alvin and Connie Clarksville. Such was a typical night backstage at the Whisky A Go Go. Can't remember what show this was at - but normally, people went out and saw each other's bands, so anyone could have been playing. I'm guessing from Dave's duds that it was a Blasters show. Hope you are rested up. This week is a great week for live music. In Chicago, there's the Horizontal Action Blackout which will be three nights of mayhem and great rock n roll at the Empty Bottle. Click on the links for a run-down of bands. I'll be showing and selling some photos, too. See my flyer down below. All those images are available! I just printed them. In NYC, there's The Saints, who are headlining the Joey Ramone Birthday show at Irving plaza on Thursday, and then headline their own gigs on Friday and Saturday. Saturday is super special. Their only s...
And on Thursday night, they will be rocking like crazy in Chicago at the Horizontal Action Blackout Click on the title above and check out the band list for each night. The images on this small version of my flyer are only some that you will be able to see in full (and buy) at the shows. Pictured here are: Patricia Morrison (The Bags), The Germs, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Blondie, Lux Interior (The Cramps), Stiv Bators, and Joey Ramone. While the photos are mine, the poster was designed by Jahna Rain of The Demands, a NY-NJ band specializing in Lust, Mayhem and Really Loud Guitars. Visit their website and look at their great album cover! Another collaboration between Jahna and me. Jahna is a great graphic artist, if you need one. Which brings me to the topic of punk-inspired graphics. Where would visual arts be today if not for the pioneering done by fanzines and DIY publications. Brad Dunning whose name some people may know as an in-demand interior designer, designed the logo f...
bass29 , originally uploaded by Cool Auntie . There's a lot going on this week in punk rock. Unfortunately for me, the shows I want to see all conflict with each other! May 19 is Joey Ramone's birthday and there is the annual Joey Ramone birthday tribute show at Irving Plaza in NYC. The show is sold out, and on the bill are The Saints, the seminal punk band from Australia, led by Chris Bailey. If you want to see The Saints and don't have a ticket to the Joey Ramone Birthday Tribute show, you're in luck! You can see them at Maxwell's on Friday the 20th or you can see them at the Ding Dong Lounge in Manhattan on Saturday, May 21. I'm partial to the May 21 gig at the Ding Dong because I am one of the people promoting it! This will be the show of 2005. Don't miss it! For people in Chicago, there's the annual Horizontal Action Blackout at the Empty Bottle that is also pretty much sold out. I will be exhibiting some vintage punk photos a...
Buy records like its going out of style. Buy them from indie record stores - the mom & pop shops, the stores run by guys like John Cusak's character in "High Fidelity," the stores run by guys like Dave Buick and Dion Fischer of Young Soul Rebels in Detroit. To make life easier for you, I've included a new section over on the right. LINKS to BUY RECORDS. Some of these stores do business online, and the ones that don't have online shopping will do mail order. Most regions of the US are represented. Alas, the record store where I held my very first job is not listed here because they're not online! Dorks. It's Morning Glory Music in Santa Barbara, California. I worked in the Isla Vista branch. Historical trivia: Isla Vista is where the University of California at Santa Barbara is. It's where the very first Kinko's ever was! It's the town where the first Bank of America was held hostage by student protesting something in the 60...
It may be 2005, but they've got their punk on at Horizontal Action. There's no question what this magazine is about, but there is "rock n roll" at the end of that famous phrase... and next week, Horizontal Action is throwing down its annual Blackout, featuring the best of today's bad-ass, mostly underground bands that you might call punk. Thanks to the kind folks at Horizontal Action and The Empty Bottle, namely, Todd Killings, Matt Williams and Pete Toalson, those of you who attend this wild weekend of music will get to see some of my vintage punk photos, as well as some photos of contemporary musicians who fit nicely into the mix. There's no question that sex sells, and here's an image full of sex appeal. Mr. Airplane Man are Margaret Garrett and Tara McManus. Their reverb-heavy blues is some of the sexiest stuff I've ever heard...a moanin' at midnight urgency that they've managed to capture on to record. Their C'Mon DJ was ...
The Saints never really went away. Sure band members left, and new people joined. But Saints front man, Chris Bailey has been making music non-stop since you first heard him. A brief history and updates about the Saints and Chris Bailey can be found on their website, Saintsmusic.com . I am proud to be part of the crew that's bringing the Saints to those of you out there in NYC. Here's what we've told the press (oh, yeah, we borrowed freely from the band's website... in fact, all the good stuff is theirs!): This seminal punk rock band from Brisbane, Australia actually pre-dated the much more famous Sex Pistols. That the Saints were ever thought of as a punk group was an accident of timing. They had been sitting at home in Brisbane listening to the Stooges for years, but just happened to release their first records when buzzsaw guitars had become fashionable on the other side of the world. Lead by Chris Bailey, The Saints were all the rage when they lan...