Punk Turns 30

Last night in Los Angeles, at the premier and kick-off of the third annual Don't Knock the Rock Film Festival, attendees were treated to an amazing Gun Club reunion of sorts... of course, since Jeffrey Lee Pierce passed away ten years ago, its not ever really the Gun Club, but the essential members - Kid Congo, Terry Graham and Ward Dotson were all there...Kid and Ward playing Gun Club songs together for the first time ever (obviously). Vocals were masterfully handled by Thalia Zedek, of Boston's Come. Mumps co-founder and musical mastermind Kristian Hoffman sang a couple songs for the encore, opening his bit with a "pretentious" in his own words - reading injecting Jeffrey's name into a literary passage in a way that I know Jeff would have approved of. Congratulations to director Kurt Voss on his labor of love and congratulations and thanks to Festival Founder, ace filmmaker herself, Allison Anders for making this all possible.... including my own 15...

Tonight in Los Angeles, at the Don't Knock the Rock Film Festival, a theatre-full of people will witness the premier of "Ghost on the Highway," the long-awaited documentary about the Gun Club and its founder, the late, Jeffrey Lee Pierce. After the screening of the film, Terry Graham, Ward Dotson, and Kid Congo Powers, will reunite as the Gun Club with various guest vocalists performing the songs Jeffrey wrote. If that's not enough...There will be an on-going Photo Exhibit of the works of pioneering LA Punk Photographers (all women, including yours truly!) Theresa Kereakes, Jenny Lens & Dawn Wirth starting tonight at 7pm, and running each night of the film/music Festival which takes place at the Red Cat Theatre 631 W. 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA The Red Cat is next to The Disney Hall... The Festival runs Thurs.,June 29th to Monday July 3rd, 2006 Don't Knock the Rock website Then if that wasn't enough, on Monday, July 3, we three photographers will part ...

That was a quote - or damn close to the actual words spoken by Tom Petty around the time he and the Heartbreakers started really playing around the country, supporting their phenomenal eponymous debut album. You see, they came around at the same time as all the punk bands... and TP was wearing a leather jacket on the cover... instead of punk rock studs, he had a bullet belt... he was cool... super cool. To top it off, if you were in Los Angeles, chances are you saw TP & the HB play a double bill with Blondie at the Whisky a Go Go that week in February 1977 before Blondie opened for the Ramones. I knew at the time it was a great week for music, and in retrospect, it was a foreshadowing of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inductees of recent years. (They're all in!) It would have been easy and natural to lump them all in.... besides, Johnny Thunders had a band called the Heartbreakers as well... pretty good name for a band. But let me say this about Tom Petty --- he ...

Herb Wrede was one of the people taking pictures in the LA punk scene early on. He lived in Ontario, California - out in the Inland Empire, and he would drive into Hollywood on a regular basis with his friend and fellow photographer, Diane Grove. They were loyal fans of the Screamers. They published a Screamers newsletter that served as a fan club zine and it gives me great comfort to know that Trudie Arguelles, Mrs. KK Barrett to some of you, is the keeper of the Herb Wrede photo archive and flame. Recently during a correspondence, Trudie mentioned that she had Herb's photos and I asked her to send me a copy of the photo she mentioned seeing - one of Pleasant and me with Mumps front man, Lance Loud in the studio recording the "Muscle Boys" single. That's the picture you see here, circa 1978. (I'm in the black shirt) Herb was incredibly dedicated to his photographic craft as well as to his favorite bands. That drive from Ontario to Hollywood is at leas...

If you live in LA, or if you are visiting during the upcoming long holiday weekend, you're in for a treat! On June 29, Don't Knock the Rock opens - this is a film and music festival being held in downtown LA at the Redcat Theatre. "Ghost on the Highway," the much-anticipated documentary about Jeffrey Lee Pierce and the Gun Club opens the Festival on the 29th, followed by a performance of Gun Club members, Terry Graham, Ward Dotson, and my life-long friend, Kid Congo Powers. Before the movie, there will be a slide show culled from the work of yours truly, Dawn Wirth and Jenny Lens. We were all there when this stuff called LA Punk blew up in front of us. Then, on Monday, July 3 at 2:30 PM at the same Redcat Theatre, Festival founder and filmmaker extraordinaire Allison Anders together with actor/musician Michael Des Barres will lead a panel discussion of we three punk rock chicks with cameras. This panel is free! And its open to the general public, no...

This goofy photo of original Blondie member and keyboard player, Jimmy Destri was taken backstage at a gig they did, opening for the Kinks in 1978. This particular show was in San Diego - in July, though I'm no longer certain of the exact date. Pleasant, Kid Congo, Randy Detroit and I drove down to Tijuana earlier in the day for some fun and games and returned for the Blondie/Kinks show. Although it was 1978, Blondie were still promoting their first two albums, as Parallel Lines had yet to be released. They were working hard, always on the road. Opening shows for the Kinks was not just a great break - but lots of fun for those of who admire the Kinks. Davies brothers Ray and Dave had separate sides of backstage for themselves... it was one of those periods... but they put on a great show regardless of their signature sibling spats. Maybe we should have given this prop rope to the Davies...who knows what kind of photo opportunities could have become of that?

They're doing a few dates in the midwest and then one in Southern California next month. The craziest live show ever. Visit their official website for dates and info. Chicago tomorrow... catch it if you can!

I stumbled upon this shot in the series of Tropicana pix I did with the Cramps during their first trip to Los Angeles with this line-up. I thought you would enjoy it.... I'm going cross-eyed and the old carpal tunnel needs a rest... so this post is short... If you're in Southern California - make sure you don't get shut out of the Don't Knock the Rock Film Festival. The music is amazing and the films are too. This photo will be there...

Two events at Don't Knock The Rock Film And Music Festival are already close to selling -out and they've only been on sale since this afternoon! This is where you can go to buy them! redcat.org or call 213-237-2800 Music Schedule is clickable here. Don't miss my life-long friend Kid Congo perform! Don't miss this at all.

This disheveled young man, Jeff of Montreal's Demons Claws is the 00's face of punk. Demons Claws and their associate, BBQ, with whom some of Demons Claws join to perform as Mind Controls have been rolling through America and Europe like a ball of fire for the past year. At the Blackout in Chicago just a couple weeks ago, Mind Controls conjured up both the Dils and Sid Vicious ! Pat Meteor/Demons Claws and BBQ Ysael Pepin of Demons Claws/Mind Controls There will be a new Demons Claws album on In the Red later this year. Until I get all my Demons Claws photos developed, I recommend checking out those of my friend, Chicago-based punk rocker and photographer, canderson -- his work from the Blackout is superb. We stood next to each other on a couple of nights. I love watching him work! Finally.... just making sure that you in LA mark your calendars for June 29 - July 3, when the Don't Knock the Rock Film Festival takes place. The bands are amazing, the films are...

The other day, I emailed Dead Boys bass player Jeff Magnum this photo as I don't think he had ever seen it. When I took the photo, on November 3, 1977 at the Starwood in LA, there were certainly a lot of people in the crowd. They were, as people usually are, much taller than me, and it was packed like a sardine can near the front of the stage. I found it difficult to get any good shots from a front-of-stage vantage point and it seemed a bit chaotic to me...so I stepped back, got a couple full stage shots and just enjoyed the show. Jeff remembers this show as being one of the Dead Boys more calm performances. There's a video from that night that supports Jeff's memory... Stiv Bators Los Angeles debut was NOT his usual NYC stage act. Jeff remembered Stiv's performance as "statuesque." Doubly funny as Stiv was about 5'3" in heels. This is how a lot of people remember Stiv, deeply into his performance - his shirt has been ripped off him by a frenzi...

It was the Summer of 1981... Stiv Bators had already gone solo, found "New Romanticism" and now was cranking his conspiracy theory thing extra large by combining it with the punk rock fury of Sham 69 and creating The Wanderers, a one-album, one-US-tour band consisting of ex- Sham 69 members Dave Parsons, Dave Tregunna and Rick Rock Goldstein, and added a keyboard twist with Dean Klevatt, an American like Stiv and Rick, and who was earning his living as a musician in London playing with the likes of Joan Armatrading. Dave Tregunna aka "Kermit" would follow Stiv into the Lords of the New Church which featured another punk rock hero, ex- Damned guitarist, Brian James. But here, in the Summer of 1981, in the hallways of the Gramercy Park Hotel we met 60s surf music idol, Jan Berry, the member of Jan & Dean who met his own Dead Man's Curve and lived to tell. I don't really think that Jan Berry knew who Stiv or Dave Parsons were. But he...

This fabulous photo was taken by the one and only canderson during the Horizontal Action Blackout in Chicago Memorial Day Weekend. Please click on his name and see all his wonderful photos! The lady on the left is Windy, also an up and coming photographer from Memphis. You can check out her Blackout stuff here. The Blackout was not the only thing on my agenda during the Chicago part of my road trip. There was the Big Fat Greek Family, and there was Blondie. Actually, I had no idea Blondie was on tour, but a friend who works in a record store spotted my friend, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, whom I promptly called. He invited me to the show and I took in the 2006 Road Rage Tour (with The New Cars) when it made its appearance in the Chicago area at Ravinia. Clem looks as youthful today as ever, and was youthfully excited about having recently been inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. The Rock Hall puts inductees on display alphabetically, so Blondie are next to the Beatles! ...

Jeffrey Lee Pierce Save the Date - Mark Your Calendars! The 3rd annual Don't Knock the Rock film festival kicks off in Los Angeles on June 29 and runs through July 3rd 2006 at THE REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles!!! Don't Knock the Rock is a film and music festival in Los Angeles dedicated to the love, lust and mania of all pop, rock, and roots films and music. FILMS THIS YEAR INCLUDE: GHOST ON THE HIGHWAY: A Portrait Of Jeffrey Lee Pierce And The Gun Club DANIELSON: a Family movie (or Make a Joyful Noise HERE) YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME: The Roky Erikson Story special preview screening: THE MONKS: Transatlantic Feedback THE TREASURES OF LONG GONE JOHN WE JAM ECONO (The Story Of The Minutemen) HIGH AND DRY (Where The Desert Meets Rock 'n' Roll) LET THEM EAT ROCK and MORE! BANDS! A rare preformance of original GUN CLUB members Terry Graham, Ward Dotson and Kid Congo Powers and special guests! REDD KROSS! The long awaited reunion of the 1987 Neurotica line up! THE FUCKING...

For years, people have been telling me "You have to do a book." I listened. Currently, I'm putting together a collection of photos taken backstage, as well as those taken of various unguarded moments - primarily of punk rock people. The photo here of Debbie Harry, B-Girls, Sabel Starr, Nigel Harrison, and Rodney Bingenheimer was taken backstage at the Whisky A Go Go when the B Girls headlined a show there. Earlier, Stiv Bators had brought then-girlfriend, B-Girl bass player Cynthia Ross to LA where he introduced her to everyone and provided some great photo opportunities. And as usual, Stiv was providing photo opportunities for other cute blondes... Yes, the B Girls boasted a who's who in punk rock at that show - and as a result of absolutely loving their performance and them being in town, Debbie Harry invited the Girls to Ocean Way Recording Studio, where they recorded the backing vocals to "The Tide is High" during the recording sessions for ...