Punk Turns 30

Yes - its that time again... to take down the pix and move on to the next stop on the never-ending tour of photos from the Golden Age of Punk Rock... On Saturday, February 2, in Brooklyn, NY at Magnetic Field we will be having a Closing Party during Happy Hour (6 PM - 8 PM) - a Punk Rock Happy Hour. Read more about the party on the tour site: unguardedmoments.info There are still some pix hanging up just wanting to go home with you.... like this one: And don't forget about this week's Blondie Special ... This is an image that has been retired, and is being exhibited just for 2 shows in the Detroit area in March/April... but since I'm printing it... you can get in on the deal... just order your print by next monday!

Out of all the photos of Blondie that I have taken, this image of Debbie Harry from 1978 is the one most people seem to like the best. In a couple months, I'll be doing a couple of special exhibits featuring images of Punk Ladies Only, with this picture as the centerpiece. More on that later... I just wanted to let you know that for ONE WEEK ONLY, you can take advantage of me being in printing mode - and you can buy this image, which has otherwise been retired from sales. Its a very limited edition - available only until February 4, 2008... I just got through executing a loving restoration/cleaning of this. The new prints will be pretty fabulous. Visit the punkrockgiftshop.com for more details!!!

If you are a New Yorker, tonight is your last chance to catch the legendary and influential guitarist, Richard Lloyd play at the funky but chic tiki room in the East Village - Otto's Shrunken Head. As in this 30-year-old photo, Richard's band boasts the fine time-keeping of Bill Ficca. On another "time is running out" note - its not your last chance... but as the month of January draws to a close... so will the Punk Turns 30 exhibit of our Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond collection at Magnetic Field. We're gonna have a closing party this coming Saturday - February 2nd (which is also the anniversary of the birth of my favorite writer of the English language after Shakespeare, James Joyce ) - so you will have that chance to come by, say HI, have some Irish drinks (Guinness, Jameson's, etc) in honor of it all, and yes... have one more chance to buy those pix off the wall. One such image is this one of the beautiful Bags, Gun Club, Fur Bible, Sister...

Animal and Josh Styles, The Stalkers Last Saturday at Pass Out Record Shop in Brooklyn, my Punk Rock Dead of Winter exhibit opened and I have to say, I was moved by the response from the people who came to the show... totally awed by the bands... so much so that I am spending another Saturday afternoon at Pass Out later today (January 26) and refreshing the stock of pictures that have been flying off the walls. The punk rock Memento Mori are framed 4x6 prints for just $10... so if you're in the general NY area... come on down and take advantage. For those outside NYC, there will soon be an option for this on the punkrockgiftshop.com In the photo above are singer Animal and drummer Josh Styles of The Stalkers who were a last minute but quite welcomed addition to the bill. ICU played afterwards (photos posted soon), followed by a young duo that blew me away --- The Judith Light. No soap opera divas they... isn't The Judith Light the best name for a band???? Anyway - I hi...

The Plimsouls Back in 1979 or so, The Plimsouls playfully posed with all these 6-packs of beer... they also posed under some bubble helmet hairdryers... goofy fun young band stuff... which they countered with their solid live performance and their music. Three decades later, the band's frontman, Peter Case has been nominated for a Grammy in the Traditional Folk category... OK - its not punk rock, but he's right there continuing to make music in a genre that also boasts other seminal punk rock heroes such as X's John Doe and Dave Alvin of the Blasters. If you're in Los Angeles, you can catch Peter playing a free show at the esteemed Getty... Peter will be making two concert appearances in Los Angeles in the next few weeks and both are likely to sell out pretty quickly so get your tickets asap! His free show at The Getty (Harold Williams Auditorium) on Friday, Feb.1st at 7:30pm requires reservations which will start being taken today! , Tuesday, Jan.22nd at 9am PST. C...

Jack Oblivian and Mike Hurtt February will be here before long...eleven days, in fact. The Punk Turns 30 traveling photo exhibit will be landing at Louie Fest - which takes places in King Louie's home town of New Orleans from February 21 - 24. Be sure to click the link to Louie Fest... the musical line-up is tremendous... King Louie King Louie's own Black Rose Band will be playing... Jack Oblivian, Jimbo Mathus, Royal Pendletons, Mr Quintron & Miss Pussycat, Alicja Trout... Jello Biafra doing spoken word and so many more bands that will make your head spin. Royal Pendletons - Matt & Mike In addition to the vintage punk pix from the 70s... I will be unveiling a sneak peak of the 2008/2009 show I'll be touring of rock n roll portraits during Louie Fest... because so many of those faces are in it... such as: Mike Hurtt Matt Uhlman And I've been waiting for the opportunity the trot out a great big blow up of my favorite portrait of King Khan, an image you...

Saturday, January 19 is the day PUNK ROCK DEAD OF WINTER opens at Pass Out Record Shop in Williamsburg. I just hung up most of the work... there's a BIG WALL OF STIV ! so come on down and look at vintage images of your favorite old skool punks! Rodney Bingenheimer and Stiv at KROQ Stiv, Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny Thunders, Darby Crash, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Lance Loud, Black Randy, Greg Shaw and even big time musicians with Top 10 hits who loved the punk rock: Phil Lynott and Bruce Gary (The Knack) Phil Lynott rocks with The Plimsouls in Los Angeles Dee Dee Ramone Saturday Jan 19 @ 4 PM at Pass Out Record Shop - music from Judith Light and ICU with special guest Josh from the Carbonas !!! Punk Rock Memento Mori at take-home prices! Pass Out Record Shop is at 131 Grand Street between Bedford and Berry in Williamsburg.

Although Blondie is associated with New York City and the CBGB and Max's scenes, the two most photogenic members... Debbie Harry and Clem Burke grew up in New Jersey... Since I have been staying in Jersey City since the beginning of the year, as I have driven back and forth between Newark Airport and Jersey City, I've passed Bayonne more than a few times and always think of Clem. I think of Clem as one of the most valuable players, not just of punk rock, but of the last 30 years of pop music. This image of Clem during a 1978 sound check at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA is a favorite on my Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond Tour. If you're in NY, you can see the print in person - the exhibit at Magnetic Field is hanging throughout January! All of these photos were taken in April, 1978 when Blondie were touring the USA relentlessly in support of their second album, Plastic Letters , which had been released six months earlier, in 1977. The album was a smash ...

That's Pass Out Record Shop proprietor Pee Wee 's punk rock van and some Pass Out regulars enjoying a summer's day on the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Although it is the Dead of Winter, this Saturday, we're still gonna party like its hot outside... this is a sneak peak of what you can expect to find.... Pass Out is hosting my Punk Rock Dead of Winter photo show with a punk rock party on Saturday January 19 in the late afternoon - you know that rock n roll doesn't have to keep time except for the music... Judith Light are among the few bands who will be playing... could be a lot of surprises on hand. In the shot above, you can see Pee Wee and Memphis Mike as well as Aaron and Ethan of Live Fast Die ... a typical in-store at Pass Out looks a lot like that... I plan on covering a wall with Memento Mori of your favorite punk rock heroes and anti heroes who have passed on... lots of keepsakes that you can afford to take home if you want... Come on down and ...

On this day in 1559, The Elizabethan Era began... as Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey. The Elizabethan period is my favorite period of literature - the one that yielded the works that would go on to inspire so much great writing in the future. It was the period of Shakespeare and Marlowe. Elizabeth ruled for 45 years and lay the foundation of the England we know today... from the punk rock to the pomp and circumstance and another Monarch called Elizabeth. The Sex Pistols sang about her in God Save the Queen. When Stiv Bators, Michael Monroe and I were roommates, they used to try to promulgate a rumor that Princess Diana, who liked her pop music (a fan of Duran Duran, she was), and Michael Monroe were something to talk about... funny, but that rumor never ever took off. Still... ...we had a ritual - we'd have our taxi always but always pass Buckingham Palace en route to where ever we were going. London taxis are required to take their passengers ...

January 14, 1978 - Winterland in San Francisco was the site of the last Sex Pistols concert... that is until they reunited twenty plus years later with original bass player Glen Matlock to rake in some filthy lucre and claim the spotlight again. It was a rainy day and a rainy night. Nearly all my friends and I attended this concert and did it in the same manner: we drove up for the show and then turned around and drove right back home to LA afterwards. Thirty years hence, I continue to have mixed feelings about this show. It was great to have the Sex Pistols in the States and see them play... but this show at Winterland was odd... there was tension in the band, there was chaos in the crowd. I remember that some of it seemed pretty bad... and it was definitely a short concert... but years later, seeing clips on Youtube, I find that it wasn't bad at all. There was certainly a lot of camaraderie amongst friends at the show. We, like most people we knew, chose to drive...

This is just a reminder to New York area people that seminal NY punk rock guitar legend, Richard Lloyd and his bandmate from Television days, Bill Ficca will be performing in an intimate setting at the kitschy and always fun Otto's Shrunken Head in the East Village (which is at 538 E.14th St, NYC 10009, between avenues A and B on the south side of the street). They are part of the Sufi Monkey Trio that includes bassist Keith Harshtel. They'll be there every Sunday in January and will start promptly at 9 PM. Don't miss it! I will be there for sure each Sunday that I am in NYC. Also for New Yorkers who missed the opening party for my Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond exhibition at Magnetic Field this past Thursday - you will be able to see the photos almost all month! They will for sure be up until at least January 21. Each and every framed photo on the wall is for sale, and there's a box of unframed small prints (8x10's and 5x7's) behind the ba...

Dave Parsons, Jan Berry, Stiv Bators This photo, taken in the hallway of the Gramercy Park Hotel in NYC in 1981, is the only photo in the Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond collection that's hanging up at Magnetic Field right now (and through the end of January) that was NOT shot in Los Angeles. New York is my second home town - the one I adopted in the mid 80s when I moved from LA via London/Paris and my last stint as Stiv Bators' roommate. So as an LA Native with New York I decided to represent West Coast punk and Stiv both in this particular installation. Imagine my surprise when friendly ghosts of punk rock days/LA and Stiv past came to celebrate the opening last night! The man hidden behind Sex Pistol Paul Cook and Slit Viv Albertine is Rory Johnston, back in those days known as the Pistols man in the USA... he's also worked in a managerial capacity with The Avengers, Blondie and others. Late last year, when my tour started, I spoke with Rory on our resp...