Punk Turns 30

Stiv Bators (October 22, 1949 - June 4, 1990) Must be something about Ohio... it spawned so much wonderful music and birthed or was home to so many talented music makers. It just hit me yesterday - that Stiv Bators and Lux Interior were born three years and a day apart (making them age peers with Alice Cooper... riding on the underground/outsider zeitgeist rather than copying their fellow Midwesterner's fascination with creepy things) and shared other punk rock parallels - Stiv from Youngstown, Lux from Akron - both ended up in NYC as frontrunners of the nascent punk rock. They both shuffled off this mortal coil too soon.

born on this date, 1946

Tweet We have always had TONS of fun doing these shows. I forget sometimes, since this was my daily life during the 70s, that these sneak peeks at the secret life of rock stars is fascinating to look at in grainy black & white photographs... when I knew these folks and hung out with them, they weren't quite the rock stars they are today. Sure - they were performing and had audiences, but they were earning their stripes. My friends and I believed that Blondie and the Runaways were superstars. The Ramones were like the Beatles to us (face it, they ARE punk's Beatles... just accept it: yeah yeah yeah). Friend and neighbor, Joan Jett has made all us punk rock girls proud with a lifelong career of loving and playing rock n roll. I'm proud to have been asked to contribute photos to the two books about her that have recently been published. On October 1, Backbeat Books published Bad Reputation by Dave Thompson . Here's what they want you to know about it: Bad Reputa...

San Vicente's most popular party girl has a birthday today. Happy Birthday Joan Jett. She loves rock n roll, and rock n rollers love her. Goodwill ambassador for LA punk rock... Joan united the UK and NYC punks with Los Angeles via Cleveland through her personal and professional friendships with musicians like Sid Vicious, Billy Idol, Stiv Bators and the Dead Boys, the Ramones and each and every member of Blondie, past and present. Joan Jett - what's not to love? Hey Joan from San Vicente - many happy returns! Joan's life has been celebrated extra large these past couple years, decades after she founded The Runaways. There was that movie The Runaways, that beautiful coffee table book with Todd Oldham, Joan Jett , and this month, Bad Reputation by Dave Thompson. She don't give a damn about her bad reputation. You shouldn't either. In a couple weeks, I will be extending the shelf life on Joan's birthday celebration by featuring big beautiful prints of her fro...