Punk Turns 30

It is with great sadness that I report about the death of Monks banjo player, Dave Day. Dave brought a whole new meaning to the instrument most often associated with bluegrass (or Bugs Bunny, depending upon whom you ask...) - he played it with a ferocity that helped pave the road for the punk rock we get to play today. This photo of Dave was taken outside the RedCat Theatre in downtown Los Angeles during the Don't Knock the Rock Film Festival where the Monks documentary was being screened. Dave and the filmmakers were there to meet and greet the audience and answer questions in a post-screening Q&A. You could not meet a more friendly person, someone who was happy for the opportunity to play music and someone who was truly grateful when he met an adoring fan. Dave Day embodied the best of both worlds - adult and youth; mortal and immortal. Rest In Peace, Dave. The world is greater for your time spent here.

Tomorrow - Thursday January 10, we will be having a party for these vintage punk rock pictures from the Punk Turns 30 Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond tour at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn! We'll probably start the party at 8 PM and go til about 12 Midnight. Punk Rock music will be the theme of the night and DJ Phast Phreddie - the Boogaloo Omnibus will be on the decks spinning your favorite punk rock records. Phast and I were LA kids who saw the first wave of punk rock as it happened... The people you see pictured, we not only saw play live - but a good many of them were our friends and neighbors! Take some time to say HI to Phreddie and ask him about some of the Unguarded Moments he experienced in LA Punk Rock! What can you expect at the Magnetic Field? Some of these photos - all of which are for sale.... prices range from $25 to $100. I will have a couple sets of Complete Classic Cramps Portraits! if you're in the New York Metropolitan area - come on down! The tun...

The Sex Pistols set the music world on fire with their antics and their music, and the punk rock movement seemed to consolidate itself with the Pistols as its avatar. Thirty years ago in November, their album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was released, and that occasion brought a whole new set of eyes and appreciation on its recent anniversary. Now we are upon the 30th Anniversary of the Sex Pistols First American Tour. Sid Vicious, in a blur... and Rotten and McLaren, walking the streets of LA right after the tour completed in January 1978 This weekend, my favorite rock n roll city in the USA, Memphis, will be recognizing the 30th Anniversary of the Sex Pistols tour date at the Taliesyn Ballroom, which is no longer there... a Taco Bell stands in its place. Andria Lisle, one of my dear pals and a great writer, especially of music stories, touched upon this in a recent blog post for her regular Commercial Appeal column. If I were you, I'd bookmark And...

Lloyd & Ficca, 1979 Richard Lloyd , who came on to the public's radar as a member of Television , and in so doing, helped to usher in the punk rock DIY work ethic of the 70s... and who has continued to make solo records and play with Rocket From the Tombs and Matthew Sweet among others, will be playing a regular gig with his own Sufimonkey Trio, featuring Television's Bill Ficca on drums and Keith Harshtel on bass and guest starring Jamie Neverts as Jimi Hendrix on Sunday nights in January at 9 PM at Otto's Shrunken Head , which is at 538 E. 14th St, NYC 10009, between avenues A and B on the south side of the street. Its not often one gets to see this much laudable talent in such an intimate setting! The Sufimonkey Trio will be playing songs from Richard's solo album, The Radiant Monkey. I am lifting brazenly from Richard's email announcement: That's January 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th at 9 p.m.. The Sufimonkey trio will perform for 45 minutes. Beca...