Punk Turns 30

This is the cover of Lobotomy, the brainless magazine , issue #1. Lobotomy enjoyed about a 2-year run. We published it whenever something was worth writing about, or when we felt like it. Because teenagers and 20-somethings have a whole different concept of time than older adults, we often published as often as the bands in England during the 60s released singles --- that is --- all the time! Doing the 'zine was about a natural and organic an activity as breathing for us. Thirty-plus years later, the phenomenon of the fanzine is being recognized by the Ivory Tower. I read the following on BBC's website: They were invented by fans of trashy science fiction novels in the 1930s before their hand-written Xeroxed pages chronicled the birth of punk. But as the internet threatens to condemn them to history's shredder, traditional music fanzines - amateur magazines written, edited and produced by fans - have found an unlikely saviour. You can read more about it by clicking on ...

Really famous photographer Bob Gruen and I were standing right next to each other that night and we have similar shots... Bob's photo is in color and you can see on it Bill's website. Today - Thursday, February 26 - at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in Brooklyn Heights, my pal Bill German will be signing copies of his book Under Their Thumb, his memoir of being the guy who made his teenage dream of working with the Rolling Stones come true. Read more on his website.

Darby Crash / The Germs A full year before the notorious and legendary Elks Lodge Riot, there were indeed completely successful punk rock gigs held at downtown LA's Elk Lodge -- and by successful, I mean no police interruptions. One such set of gigs include the February 24 and 25 benefits for The Masque at the Elks Lodge. Many of the artists who performed are featured in today's photos (none of these pix are from the Elks Lodge show, however). F-Word's Rik L Rik and Darby Crash The Dils Black Randy and Dickies guitarist Stan Lee (both bands performed) Dianne Chai of the Alley Cats Patricia Morrison aka Pat Bag, of The Bags John Doe and Exene of X The success of 1978's Elks Lodge shows compared to the bloody battle between punk rockers and cops a year later is a hint at why I think that 1979 was a bad year for punk rock, despite everything cool that was happening... getting on the radar definitely had its down side...

I don't watch a lot of TV... mostly the same shows [Law and Order reruns, CSI reruns... get my drift?] but I DO watch a lot of movies and last night, I caught the last hour of TAXI DRIVER which was released in 1976. I first saw it upon its release in a theatre when I was a college student. Impressionable as all 18 years olds can be, "Taxi Driver" confirmed my desire to move to NYC. It was alive with danger. Robert DeNiro was 33 years of age in that film and looked even younger - fresh and almost innocent and naive as the complicated "Travis Bickle." In his impressive body of work, the elder statesman version of DeNiro wears a more knowing face, full of experience,understanding and just plain life. Travis Bickle, at the end of "Taxi Driver" is called a hero for saving Jodie Foster's teenage hooker character "Iris." The start of DeNiro as anti-hero character, perhaps... although he's a brilliant villain [check the remake of "Cape ...

If there is such a thing as Punk Rock Royalty, then Cheetah Chrome is one of the Knights of the Round Table. From the ashes of Rocket From the Tombs and Frankenstein, Cheetah emerged as one of The Dead Boys alongside Stiv Bators, Jimmy Zero, Jeff Magnum and Johnny Blitz. They were the "rock" in punk rock and they lived up to their debut album title Young, Loud and Snotty. All in good fun, of course. Ultimate showmen, they were, setting the benchmarks that would lay the foundation for what made great punk rock shows. First photo I took with Cheetah in it - he's the blur behind Stiv, and note there's a photographer standing in front of me -- from The Starwood, November 1977 I'm proud to say that Cheetah Chrome is still my punk rock friend, and we both live in Nashville, Tennessee, where the contemporary photos you see here were taken. Young Rogan, Cheetah and Anna's son will be four this year! He's already playing guitar... a young Cheetah in ...

It was 32 years ago yesterday and today, that The Ramones made their sophomore appearance on LA's Sunset Strip. They debuted at the Roxy in August of 1976, and in February 77, they headlined a New York's finest set of days at the Whisky a Go Go down the street with Blondie opening. Blondie headlined the previous two days, sharing the stage with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Coincidentally, all three of those seminal 70s bands are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame! These gigs showed me what Beatlemania might possibly have been like. My friends and I were excited and had been anticipating the double-header of these CBGB all stars for weeks, if not months. Not sure if it is "fun" being a superstar... but it seems that the blonde faction of that week in February 1977 at the Whisky a Go Go made it all the way to the top of the charts and made grand careers out of chart topping.

Sixteen months ago, I started the doubled-headed tours Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond and Punk Rock Day of the Dead in Oxford, Mississippi (One Night Stand at the Ole Miss Motel - part of the Motel Art Show series created by the brilliant Erin Abbott) and in my favorite cultural corner of the South - Memphis, Tennessee at Goner Records. Images involving members of The Cramps as individuals and as a group figured prominently in both exhibits. The eerily prescient image above, so funereal, was installed in its old wooden black frame perched atop a stack of Gideon's Bibles placed on the nightstand next to the bed at the Ole Miss. I wanted to invoke the "Songs the Lord Taught Us" theme and spin off the concept of "style the Cramps gave us." Featuring The Cramps so prominently in the Motel Art Show was a no-brainer. My most cherished punk rock photo session ever was the one that took place in 1978 at the erstwhile Tropicana Motel with The Cramps. To ...

I remember back around 1980 or so, The Go Go's were nominated for a Grammy Award. None of my punk rock friends nor I really cared about this dubious mainstream honor, but at the same time, it was an indication that lots of people out there noticed what you were doing. Belinda Carlisle is pictured above standing next to a cardboard cut out of Elvis Costello, one of two punk rock era artists to actually win a Grammy Award. EC however won his Grammy in 1998, a good 20 years after the punk rock fact and he won it for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for a recording he did with classic pop master Burt Bacharach. Needless to say, although I believed that perhaps the Go Gos were one of punk's Grammy winners, a search of the Grammy website for past winners turns up ZERO for notable punk rockers, many of whom are in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and museum of discarded leather pants. I remember the Go Gos Grammy thing pretty vividly because a few weeks later, at one of my annual...

While the world mourns the beloved Lux Interior , tonight, Detroit will be fighting along side Jim Shaw in his battle against cancer. That benefit concert is TONIGHT, February 7 at the Magic Stick in the Motor City. As you can see from the flyer, there's no shortage of talent to entertain and uplift Jim & Sandy's spirits. Following is info from their Facebook page, peppered of course, with photos of related persons... As many of you have likely heard, Jim Shaw was recently diagnosed with cancer. What at first seemed like a semi-manageable diagnosis has, unfortunately, become considerably more dire. That being said, both he and his wife Sandy Kramer Shaw are staying positive and they are going to FIGHT. We should too. On Saturday, Feb. 7 Jim's brothers will host a fundraiser at the Magic Stick (4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-833-9700) There will great bands and an art auction. Please come and support one of the kindest, most generous souls Detroit has ever known. E...

On June 13, 1978, The Cramps performed at Napa State Mental Hospital. That performance was legendary before it even began! Today, that performance is a piece of pop culture history that every music fan who has ever felt like an outsider has cleaved to their soul with a bit of ownership... who knew that Lux & crew would strike such a chord so early in the punk era? In the wake of Lux's sudden and untimely passing, clips of the performance have been circulating on the social networking sites... an homage to the band and their ingenuity. Videotaped memories are a result of more than the band in any scenario. It was Target Video , the collective from San Francisco, California - that documented the performance and released it on DVD for all to share and re-live. For those who don't know Target Video, it can best be described as the punk rock / indie art version of Andy Warhol's Factory . It was indeed the hotspot of the West Coast in the very same way the Factory was ...

Let me just preface this with the thought that I know many people out there who have their own blogs come here looking for photos to illustrate them. I do not mind if you use my images of Lux or the Cramps or anyone pictured here BUT... please notify me/ask and give credit where credit is due and acknowledge that the photos came from punkturns30.com thank you, Theresa K.