Punk Turns 30

Mimi's in the Marigny, a great bar in the 9th Ward, New Orleans... they hosted a Punk Turns 30 art show earlier this year. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina's storm surge caused 53 different levee breaches in greater New Orleans submerging eighty percent of the city.... The United States has never been the same. Today's post is a pictoral tribute to my New Orleans-based musician friends, punk or not, who braved the storm. Some are still in New Orleans... others have moved to other cities. Quintron and Greg Cartwright - the made a great garage/gospel record together during Greg's Oblivians days. Quintron is still in New Orleans... his Spellcaster bar is still going strong and his live show with Miss Pussy Cat gets better and better every time I see it. Mike Hurtt - Royal Pendletons, Haunted Hearts Matt Uhlman - Royal Pendletons, and a fantastic DJ! Rockin Enocky (from Japan) and Big Daddy Jay of the Royal Pendletons. Jay is a Memphian now... and lives a sto...

Everyone's a critic and everyone has their Top Ten best records list... I'm no different... but - I'm gonna drag it out give em to you 3 at a time because I kind of have a Baker's Dozen favorite bunch of records.... so to start: Mr Quintron and Greg Cartwright, Chicago, 2006 - Oblivians and Mr Quintron played the last ever Horizontal Action Blackout! Two of my favorite records from this past year, 2007, are Jam Skate by New Orleans' own Mr Quintron and Dangerous Game by lead singer of the legendary girl group, The Shangri-La's, Mary Weiss. Quintron is pictured above with Greg Cartwright who wrote several of the songs on Mary's album, lent her a backing group, his own Reigning Sound, and co-produced the album together with Norton Records co-honcho, Billy Miller. Quintron's drum buddy musical instrument/contraption is one of life's marvels. I am not at all sure how he creates these things or manages to get the crazy sounds from them that he ...

I'll be in Memphis soon! Save the date, Memphians and other locals - we'll celebrate Halloween together and rock your Halloween Hangover with tamales as part of the Punk Rock Day of the Dead Celebration, which is a special edition of the 2007/2008 Punk Turns 30 UNGUARDED MOMENTS: Backstage and Beyond traveling photo exhibit. Thanks to the magic of the internet, I was able to enjoy many aspects of Goner Fest 4 on the blog (click it and see for yourself), and on the blogs by Andria Lisle (for Mojo via Yahoo - see this ) and The Memphis Scene in the Commercial Appeal online, thank you Mark Richens for the name-check and the link! Of course, the The Goner Board was a play-by-play bonanza and included links to everyone's photos... it seems a good time was had by all. I was so sorry to have missed seeing Mr Airplane Man. I've had some great times with both Margaret and Tara, and their shows are amazing. Just two ladies, two instruments brewing up a sexy, steamy...

Mr Airplane Man are Margaret Garrett and Tara McManus. They haven't played as Mr Airplane Man for a while, but they are making a splashy return to the big stage at Goner Fest 4 in Memphis, TN. The festival party hoedown thrown by Goner Records starts NOW - Wednesday, September 26. They get bigger and badder with every go-round. Goner Fest hosted Punk Turns 30's Memphis photo show in 2005. They even immortalized me on the Goner Fest 2 DVD... This year, the Festival seems like its going to out-do the previous three. I can't be there because I have a punk rock fire blazing in California, but I'll be walking into the Goner Store in a month's time... In addition to Mr Airplane Man, Goner Fest is serving up the very best of the current garage and punk rock artists. Opening the festivities is Greg Cartwright. Here's Greg and Margaret from 2005. For those who don't know - Greg used to own a record store called Legba Records, located in the very spot as ...