On Tour Since 2007
We did our first Unguarded Moments show in October 2007 at Erin Austen-Abbott's One Night Stand at the Ole Miss Motel, a pioneering gallery concept. Its been a never ending tour since then.... there are a couple people without whom this tour would not have grown the wings it did... Gregg Kostelich & Barbara Garcia-Bernardo of Get Hip, and Angelo & Lisa Madrigale who owned Metropolis Gallery in Harrisburg, PA. THANK YOU
Unguarded Moments, Backstage and Beyond
To many people, Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, Joan Jett, Belinda Carlisle and Billy Idol were always pop superstars with gold and platinum albums, Grammy nominations and inductions to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.
Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders, 1980
first published by UK zine Zig Zag
The truth is, in 1977, they were all gritty punk rockers hanging out in night club backrooms with their friends. They wore vintage or home-made clothes and did their own hair and make-up. They partied with each other and punk rockers from other cities, as inadvertent good-will ambassadors for the new music. Those parties, backstage rooms and unguarded moments are presented here, in the UNGUARDED MOMENTS: BACKSTAGE AND BEYOND touring exhibit of photos from the Golden Age of Punk Rock.
Debbie Harry of Blondie and Pleasant Gehman, 1978
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE
The velvet rope, the locked door, the secret password – it is human nature to want to sneak a peak into the hidden world of the “beautiful people” – celebrities, rock stars and their companions living the life reported in gossip columns and on tabloid television shows. Unguarded Moments give you that glimpse.
Joan Jett and Billy Idol, 1978
Unguarded Moments satisfies our human curiosity about “the other” – “the renown” - celebrities and the infamous.
While this collection showcases a most famous and enigmatic superstar at his peak, Bob Dylan in an Unguarded Moment, some of the then-unknown punk rockers have become bonafide international stars in the 30 years that have elapsed since their ground-breaking punk days. Deborah Harry of Blondie, Joan Jett of the Runaways, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go’s, Billy Idol, then of Generation X and three of the original members of the Ramones – Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee are all bold-faced names. Others, like Stiv Bators (also deceased) of the Dead Boys have influenced legions of musicians who became more well-known than their idol.
Dee Dee Ramone and Stiv Bators, 1979
While most of the celebrities and rock stars seen Backstage and Beyond reign supreme in the underground world of punk rock in the 70s, a few more highly recognizable mainstream and iconographic stars are featured in this exhibit (e.g.: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, James Garner, TV's "Maverick" and "Rockford").
Photographer Theresa K., Keith Richards and Punk Magazine mascot, the late John Spacely
Punk rock has been embraced by the mainstream. All media is once again responding to the Sex Pistols marketing genius on the 30th Anniversary of the release of their only album. More venerable institutions such as the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, and colleges and universities are offering courses of study, seminars and lectures on the topic! More and more consumers, ranging from fans to the simply curious are joining alongside cultural scholars to dig deep for evidence from the early days of this movement looking for a story behind how and why rock n roll’s rebellious nature continues to be a dominant force in contemporary culture. This exhibit is a MUST-SEE EVENT!
Unguarded Moments is a visual record of the life, times and trajectory of punk rock pioneers, their friends, fans and the celebrities, who like the beautiful people of Andy Warhol’s ‘60s, came to revitalize their “street cred” by slumming with the “stars of tomorrow” in the gritty backstage environs of the Sunset Strip. The images provide a taste of punk rock history as it was being made, and as seen from the inside.
Every picture does indeed tell a story.
Belinda Carlisle, 1977
Punk rock music, style and fashion brewed up as a zeitgeist around the world. It grew up in the public eye in New York City. It exploded in London, and the kids in San Francisco, Los Angeles and the world over heartily embraced it.
While punk rock developed as a simultaneous culture clash everywhere, it was in Theresa K's native California where she captured the ultimate in punk rock's most identifying character trait - nihilism, and at the same time, its exact opposite: promise and exaltation.
The Germs play with toy guns in their first ever rehearsal, 1977
California punks were anti-hippie – a movement born in their own San Francisco; they were definitely anti-disco and like most kids, they were also anti-parent and anti-social. West Coast punk attitude was powerful and shocking in comparison to the laid-back, easy-going California style that gave to pop culture rock n roll's biggest selling band of all time (The Eagles).
Patricia Morrison of The Bags, 1978
defining style for future Goth chicks everywhere
Many of Theresa's photos taken in various Unguarded Moments, Backstage and Beyond have already laid the visual foundation of our collective punk rock memory. In addition to shooting the photos that adorned some of LA's seminal punk singles picture sleeves such as The Germs Forming, scores of Theresa's photos have been seen in magazines such as Creem, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Trouser Press and Music Life, in various fanzines from LA's Lobotomy, of which she was part, to the UK's Zig Zag.
Cynthia Ross (The B-Girls), Stiv Bators and Joan Jett, 1979
First seen in Creem Magazine, now featured in two books on Joan Jett!
Her vintage work is currently featured in various recently published books, including PUNK365 by Holly George Warren and BOMP! by Suzy Shaw and Mick Farren. She was also one of the many punk rock veterans who contributed to Amy Wallace and Handsome Dick Manitoba's The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists.
(October 07 publication dates for all three titles.)
Two books on Joan Jett also feature her works (Joan Jett by Todd Oldham and Joan herself, and Bad Reputation, by Dave Thompson).
Before he was Darby Crash, the Germs singer called himself Bobby Pyn, 1977
The photo above, of an introspective pre-Darby Crash Bobby Pyn is one of the earliest photographs taken of him. None of the band members had their punk hair cuts and punk clothes yet! They were playing together as a band for the first time in this ad-hoc rehearsal room fashioned from Pat Smear's mother's West Los Angeles garage. The images gathered on this early 1977 day represent the tone and calibre of the Unguarded Moments collection.
This moment of introspection reveals neither Bobby Pyn nor Darby Crash, but the inner Paul Beahm, the young man who would take his own life on December 7, 1980, just a little more than three years after he decided he would take music and the world by storm. Ironically, Darby's punk rock suicide was overshadowed even in the local news by the international tragedy of Beatle John Lennon's murder on December 8, 1980.
The Germs "forming" outtake, 1977
This image, renown to the punk rock and record collecting communities since early 1977, is an alternate frame from the first ever photo sessions the Germs did. That day's shoot yielded the cover of their single "Forming." It was a session they asked for; a favor from their friend, photographer Theresa K., then a student at UCLA, living in the dormitory Hedrick Hall. Paul Beahm, the man who would become Darby Crash often sought refuge in the Hedrick 3rd Floor North Lounge from a school and home life that didn't understand him.
The Unguarded Moments collection within the Punk Turns 30 archive is the only one anywhere that truly shows The Germs as they were Forming.
Mostly, Unguarded Moments joyfully illustrates a phenomenon unique to the bi-coastal Los Angeles/New York culture: the intersection of punk rock with the Rock Elite and other boldface names.
Blondie, Sabel Starr and Rodney Bingenheimer visit The B-Girls Backstage, 1979
In her travels to San Francisco, New York and London from her native Los Angeles, photographer Theresa Kereakes gained the trust and confidence of many interesting punk rock personalities who willingly submitted to her camera. Kereakes captured intimate and unguarded moments of punk legends Debbie Harry, super groupie Sabel Starr, Mayor of the Sunset Strip Rodney Bingenheimer, Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Darby Crash, Dee Dee Ramone, Stiv Bators, Belinda Carlisle, “It Girl” Pleasant Gehman, members of the Sex Pistols, The Cramps, The Avengers, and many more.
Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, 1978
In addition to the Germs Forming photo, many other Theresa K images have achieved icon status and wide exposure, such as the “Joan Jett and Billy Idol party at Joan’s Place” which has been published in 47 rock magazines around the world since 1978. Other images such as a “Rockford Files”-era James Garner posing with a scion of rock n roll roots, Billy Burnette, will be seen for the first time in this exhibit (and you'll have to go to a show to see it!)
Joan Jett and Billy Idol party at Joan's Place, 1978
published worldwide
Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond is nothing short of an illustrated history lesson about a time where music evolved from predictable pop to chaotic experimentation. Full of dates and times and places, Unguarded Moments presents the people who, intentionally or not, revolutionized the popular culture of the late 20th Century.
Rodney Bingenheimer and Go Go's guitarist, Charlotte Caffey, 1980
During summers off from college, and after graduation, while working as tour manager and publicist for mainstream, “alternative” and punk bands, Kereakes took her camera on the road to clubs and recording studios and returned with images of all the emotional, spiritual and cultural shifts that changed the course of popular music.
Billy Idol, 1978
Ultimately, Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond is that rare backstage-pass, an elite VIP invite to the after-show party and every rock 'n' roll fan's dream. Layered beneath the gloss and the grit is the truth behind fame: everybody has an unguarded moment where their innate humanity is revealed.
Dave Parsons of Sham 69, JFK Airport Lounge, 1981
Theresa has been exhibiting her Vintage Punk Pictures since September 2004 on a never-ending tour of United States rock festivals, night clubs, art galleries and indie record stores. The exhibit, Punk Turns 30 has met with rave reviews, celebrity endorsements and has landed in Cleveland, Chicago, Nashville, New York City, Memphis, Tampa, Tallahassee, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The associated website of photos and behind the scenes stories, www.punkturns30.com has logged over 940,000 unique visitors, with more taking a peek every day .
Tour graphics, poster/handbills by faggotybackpack design
Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders, 1980
first published by UK zine Zig Zag
The truth is, in 1977, they were all gritty punk rockers hanging out in night club backrooms with their friends. They wore vintage or home-made clothes and did their own hair and make-up. They partied with each other and punk rockers from other cities, as inadvertent good-will ambassadors for the new music. Those parties, backstage rooms and unguarded moments are presented here, in the UNGUARDED MOMENTS: BACKSTAGE AND BEYOND touring exhibit of photos from the Golden Age of Punk Rock.
Debbie Harry of Blondie and Pleasant Gehman, 1978
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE
The velvet rope, the locked door, the secret password – it is human nature to want to sneak a peak into the hidden world of the “beautiful people” – celebrities, rock stars and their companions living the life reported in gossip columns and on tabloid television shows. Unguarded Moments give you that glimpse.
Joan Jett and Billy Idol, 1978
Unguarded Moments satisfies our human curiosity about “the other” – “the renown” - celebrities and the infamous.
While this collection showcases a most famous and enigmatic superstar at his peak, Bob Dylan in an Unguarded Moment, some of the then-unknown punk rockers have become bonafide international stars in the 30 years that have elapsed since their ground-breaking punk days. Deborah Harry of Blondie, Joan Jett of the Runaways, Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go’s, Billy Idol, then of Generation X and three of the original members of the Ramones – Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee are all bold-faced names. Others, like Stiv Bators (also deceased) of the Dead Boys have influenced legions of musicians who became more well-known than their idol.
Dee Dee Ramone and Stiv Bators, 1979
While most of the celebrities and rock stars seen Backstage and Beyond reign supreme in the underground world of punk rock in the 70s, a few more highly recognizable mainstream and iconographic stars are featured in this exhibit (e.g.: Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, James Garner, TV's "Maverick" and "Rockford").
Photographer Theresa K., Keith Richards and Punk Magazine mascot, the late John Spacely
Punk rock has been embraced by the mainstream. All media is once again responding to the Sex Pistols marketing genius on the 30th Anniversary of the release of their only album. More venerable institutions such as the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, and colleges and universities are offering courses of study, seminars and lectures on the topic! More and more consumers, ranging from fans to the simply curious are joining alongside cultural scholars to dig deep for evidence from the early days of this movement looking for a story behind how and why rock n roll’s rebellious nature continues to be a dominant force in contemporary culture. This exhibit is a MUST-SEE EVENT!
Unguarded Moments is a visual record of the life, times and trajectory of punk rock pioneers, their friends, fans and the celebrities, who like the beautiful people of Andy Warhol’s ‘60s, came to revitalize their “street cred” by slumming with the “stars of tomorrow” in the gritty backstage environs of the Sunset Strip. The images provide a taste of punk rock history as it was being made, and as seen from the inside.
Every picture does indeed tell a story.
Belinda Carlisle, 1977
Punk rock music, style and fashion brewed up as a zeitgeist around the world. It grew up in the public eye in New York City. It exploded in London, and the kids in San Francisco, Los Angeles and the world over heartily embraced it.
While punk rock developed as a simultaneous culture clash everywhere, it was in Theresa K's native California where she captured the ultimate in punk rock's most identifying character trait - nihilism, and at the same time, its exact opposite: promise and exaltation.
The Germs play with toy guns in their first ever rehearsal, 1977
California punks were anti-hippie – a movement born in their own San Francisco; they were definitely anti-disco and like most kids, they were also anti-parent and anti-social. West Coast punk attitude was powerful and shocking in comparison to the laid-back, easy-going California style that gave to pop culture rock n roll's biggest selling band of all time (The Eagles).
Patricia Morrison of The Bags, 1978
defining style for future Goth chicks everywhere
Many of Theresa's photos taken in various Unguarded Moments, Backstage and Beyond have already laid the visual foundation of our collective punk rock memory. In addition to shooting the photos that adorned some of LA's seminal punk singles picture sleeves such as The Germs Forming, scores of Theresa's photos have been seen in magazines such as Creem, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Trouser Press and Music Life, in various fanzines from LA's Lobotomy, of which she was part, to the UK's Zig Zag.
Cynthia Ross (The B-Girls), Stiv Bators and Joan Jett, 1979
First seen in Creem Magazine, now featured in two books on Joan Jett!
Her vintage work is currently featured in various recently published books, including PUNK365 by Holly George Warren and BOMP! by Suzy Shaw and Mick Farren. She was also one of the many punk rock veterans who contributed to Amy Wallace and Handsome Dick Manitoba's The Official Punk Rock Book of Lists.
(October 07 publication dates for all three titles.)
Two books on Joan Jett also feature her works (Joan Jett by Todd Oldham and Joan herself, and Bad Reputation, by Dave Thompson).
Before he was Darby Crash, the Germs singer called himself Bobby Pyn, 1977
The photo above, of an introspective pre-Darby Crash Bobby Pyn is one of the earliest photographs taken of him. None of the band members had their punk hair cuts and punk clothes yet! They were playing together as a band for the first time in this ad-hoc rehearsal room fashioned from Pat Smear's mother's West Los Angeles garage. The images gathered on this early 1977 day represent the tone and calibre of the Unguarded Moments collection.
This moment of introspection reveals neither Bobby Pyn nor Darby Crash, but the inner Paul Beahm, the young man who would take his own life on December 7, 1980, just a little more than three years after he decided he would take music and the world by storm. Ironically, Darby's punk rock suicide was overshadowed even in the local news by the international tragedy of Beatle John Lennon's murder on December 8, 1980.
The Germs "forming" outtake, 1977
This image, renown to the punk rock and record collecting communities since early 1977, is an alternate frame from the first ever photo sessions the Germs did. That day's shoot yielded the cover of their single "Forming." It was a session they asked for; a favor from their friend, photographer Theresa K., then a student at UCLA, living in the dormitory Hedrick Hall. Paul Beahm, the man who would become Darby Crash often sought refuge in the Hedrick 3rd Floor North Lounge from a school and home life that didn't understand him.
The Unguarded Moments collection within the Punk Turns 30 archive is the only one anywhere that truly shows The Germs as they were Forming.
Mostly, Unguarded Moments joyfully illustrates a phenomenon unique to the bi-coastal Los Angeles/New York culture: the intersection of punk rock with the Rock Elite and other boldface names.
Blondie, Sabel Starr and Rodney Bingenheimer visit The B-Girls Backstage, 1979
In her travels to San Francisco, New York and London from her native Los Angeles, photographer Theresa Kereakes gained the trust and confidence of many interesting punk rock personalities who willingly submitted to her camera. Kereakes captured intimate and unguarded moments of punk legends Debbie Harry, super groupie Sabel Starr, Mayor of the Sunset Strip Rodney Bingenheimer, Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Darby Crash, Dee Dee Ramone, Stiv Bators, Belinda Carlisle, “It Girl” Pleasant Gehman, members of the Sex Pistols, The Cramps, The Avengers, and many more.
Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, 1978
In addition to the Germs Forming photo, many other Theresa K images have achieved icon status and wide exposure, such as the “Joan Jett and Billy Idol party at Joan’s Place” which has been published in 47 rock magazines around the world since 1978. Other images such as a “Rockford Files”-era James Garner posing with a scion of rock n roll roots, Billy Burnette, will be seen for the first time in this exhibit (and you'll have to go to a show to see it!)
Joan Jett and Billy Idol party at Joan's Place, 1978
published worldwide
Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond is nothing short of an illustrated history lesson about a time where music evolved from predictable pop to chaotic experimentation. Full of dates and times and places, Unguarded Moments presents the people who, intentionally or not, revolutionized the popular culture of the late 20th Century.
Rodney Bingenheimer and Go Go's guitarist, Charlotte Caffey, 1980
During summers off from college, and after graduation, while working as tour manager and publicist for mainstream, “alternative” and punk bands, Kereakes took her camera on the road to clubs and recording studios and returned with images of all the emotional, spiritual and cultural shifts that changed the course of popular music.
Billy Idol, 1978
Ultimately, Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond is that rare backstage-pass, an elite VIP invite to the after-show party and every rock 'n' roll fan's dream. Layered beneath the gloss and the grit is the truth behind fame: everybody has an unguarded moment where their innate humanity is revealed.
Dave Parsons of Sham 69, JFK Airport Lounge, 1981
Theresa has been exhibiting her Vintage Punk Pictures since September 2004 on a never-ending tour of United States rock festivals, night clubs, art galleries and indie record stores. The exhibit, Punk Turns 30 has met with rave reviews, celebrity endorsements and has landed in Cleveland, Chicago, Nashville, New York City, Memphis, Tampa, Tallahassee, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The associated website of photos and behind the scenes stories, www.punkturns30.com has logged over 940,000 unique visitors, with more taking a peek every day .
Tour graphics, poster/handbills by faggotybackpack design
We Want To Be A Book When We Grow Up
Sadly, all the handmade, hand-bound collector edition books of the handbills and Tropicana Motel images have sold out and are out of print.
I am, however, putting together the comprehensive coffee table version of this exhibit, plus my tour diaries and photos I took on the road with this show.
Right now, I'm scanning more material, and working with the publisher to put this in your hands hopefully in 2023.
Unguarded Moments IN THE NEWS!
Several images from the Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond collection are part of the Christie's Pop Culture Auction, to be held on June 23, 2009.
You can view the eCatalog RIGHT HERE or simply visit Christies.com and peruse their site. The Unguarded Moments images of The Germs and Belinda Carlisle comprise lots 49 and 50 in Christies Pop Culture Auction - check them out!
In 2008, Christie's, the venerable auction house, held two wildly successful, highly regarded and heralded auctions of Pop Culture artifacts. The November 2008 auction focused largely on memorabilia from the punk rock era. (Visit the NYTimes for pictoral coverage! or read their comprehensive coverage)
Now, in June 2009, punk rock once again comprises a healthy chunk of the items on the auction block.
The Germs - this image is one of the prints in Lot 49
We at Punk Turns 30 (which would be me, speaking as the Royal "We," god save the queen...) are both proud and perplexed about this phenomena.
On the one hand, we think, HELL YEAH! at the thought of being deemed collectible by an institution such as Christie's. It helps to bolster the notion we have held for our lifetime that photography IS fine art.
On the other hand, we simply feel like "Forrest Gump." Who'da thunk that our misspent youth would become noteworthy rather than notorious? Maybe it is notoriously noteworthy.
At the end of the day, we have YOU to thank: the fans, the followers, the collectors, friends, family and supporters.
Now... please tell your rich friends about this auction!
Tour Diary - Lancaster, December 5, 2009
A Good Hair Day, among other things...
On the morning of December 5, my second morning in Lancaster, I went to the adorable and highly recommended Chestnut Street Cafe to get some coffee (and a red velvet cupcake) for breakfast... I brought with me some flyers for the exhibit's opening night, which coincided with the town's monthly First Friday art crawl.I had a nice chat with the barista about which particular coffee they were serving that morning was the darkest, smokiest brew, and casually asked what that nice young man was doing after work. I handed him a couple of flyers and asked him to share with his co-workers, when one of them asked me "Are you the photographer?" And she said that she had read about me in the morning paper. At that time, I had yet to see the morning paper, which would be waiting for me at Metropolis. I knew I was going to be in it, but to what extent remained a mystery. The previous day, both a photographer and reporter spent time with me and overnight WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA'AM... a photo of me "in action" was not just above the fold - it was under the banner!!! This is as noticeable a placement as the headlines... only better... because its a color picture. Move over Kennedy's... my publicist can kick your publicist's butt.
Punk Rock as a headline in Amish country. Whoo Hoo! Hey Stiv - we did it. I sorta feel like Obama... yes we can; yes WE DID.
All day long, when I was finally doing my little site-seeing in Lancaster, and handing people flyers, they were saying "I read about you in the paper." Wow. Almost famous. Infamous, I know. Celebrated? Who knew?
Lancaster is an interesting town. Its a college town and it is the heart of Amish country. A great and wonderful thing about Lancaster's downtown -- there are almost NO CHAIN retailers! Yes, yes, Goodyear is a chain, but this is on the outside perimeter of the renovated downtown. There is a Dunkin Donuts, but their storefront fits in perfectly with the rest of the storefronts, and of course, there are banks such as Wachovia, Bank of America... but there's no landscape of garish neon making this town look like any other. I applaud that!Additionally, it is fair and accurate to say that the revitalization of Lancaster's downtown scene can be attributed to Gallery Row. We know it is true, when the economy cannot support industry, both service and culture become the revenue stream. I'm hoping that the economy rebounds, but gets steered more by culture and service than say.... the war industry.
President James Buchanan is from Pennsylvania and died in Lancaster and the Masonic Lodge (#43 to be exact) where he and his fellow cabal of Masons did their thing is basically behind Metropolis Gallery. Fourteen US Presidents have admitted to being Masons - even the Skull & Bones men. Then I hear that ALL the Presidents have been Masons. Makes me wonder about Obama.
Can we get a punk rock secret society going? I'm not talking about the cult of the Germs burn... I'm talking about wielding power at "leader of the free world" level. Kind of. Really.
Another olde time tradition I experienced in Lancaster was their Farmers Market - the oldest continually running Farmers Market in the nation. Those of you who know me know that I'm all about buying directly from growers and supporting local farmers and businesses. This market obviously has a lot of Amish and Mennonite vendors, and I bought a $2 Amish cookbook. Then there's the Pennsylvania Dutch thing (they're Germans... Dutch for "Deutschland")-- if you saw the movie "Witness" (Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis), you'll know I really can't explain it - you have to be there. Suffice it to say, its a lifestyle that's the polar opposite of all I know.
But that's what is so wonderful about being able to travel - to experience lifestyles and places different from what you know and are familiar with.
The opening itself was amazing. Throughout the day, there was a steady stream of people stopping into the Gallery... it was about as cold as cold gets, and windy too... yet people were getting their culture on! I met a group of people who were not just punk fans but bonafide record collecting aficionados. Its pretty exciting to learn that all the trials and tribulations of your attempts to get on the map actually put you there.
At the opening, I autographed copies of The Germs "Forming" single and also a couple copies of Stiv Bators solo album "Disconnected." Someone even had a Pandoras "Hot Generation" single with autographs of all the band members. A completist, this man now has even the photographer's signature!
Frank Secich, Stiv Bators, Greg Shaw
Of the three men pictured above, two are from these parts (Frank, from PA and Stiv from Ohio) and one is from liberal, artsy, hipper than thou San Francisco (Greg). They are, however, three of the most important men in my punk rock life and career. Greg Shaw threw a lot of work my way, and Stiv the big brother I never had was the best photo subject you could dream of. Frank was then and continues to be the voice of reason.
In closing, there are many people to thank for this wonderful time... it all starts with Gregg Kostelich of Get Hip and The Cynics (Pittsburgh) who introduced me to the Gallery - Angelo and Lisa Madrigale. Fabulous people... and Angelo's brother Mike, who owns the record store (all vinyl!!) around the corner, Mr Suit, and Angelo & Mike's dad, Jerry, who lent me his apartment during my stay. Then there's the Jeffs - Breil and Royer. Without them... and without Debra Anderson, I'd be anonymous. Mike's girlfriend Amy pulled a favor and got me into the salon where she gets her hair cut so I could look good for my opening. She saved the day!
Next Tour Date - December 5, 2008 - LANCASTER, PA
We open for a 2-month stint at Metropolis Gallery and Store in Lancaster, PA.
The opening night party is Friday, December 5. I hope to see some 717 punk rock fans that night!
Yes, that is indeed the heart of Amish country. I love the juxtaposition.
Metropolis Gallery
154 N. Prince St. Lancaster, PA 17603
Phone: 717 572 9961
Mon-Thur:11-6, Fri-Sat:10-6
www.metropolis-store.com
www.myspace.com/metropolis_gallery
The opening night party is Friday, December 5. I hope to see some 717 punk rock fans that night!
Yes, that is indeed the heart of Amish country. I love the juxtaposition.
Metropolis Gallery
154 N. Prince St. Lancaster, PA 17603
Phone: 717 572 9961
Mon-Thur:11-6, Fri-Sat:10-6
www.metropolis-store.com
www.myspace.com/metropolis_gallery
Tour Diary - Halloween in Harrisburg
I have wanted to do a party with husband & wife DJ's, The Thing With Two Heads for quite a while. Back in 2005 or so, the moment I walked into Magnetic Field, where he was spinning, Bazooka Joe's very next record to play was by the Oblivians, called No Reason To Live. That was my favorite punk rock song of the 90s, and most of my friends know that. So, I gotta give props to a DJ who knows my fave song and plays it when I walk in the room. That sealed the deal for me and TTWTH...we'd do a party together sometime somewhere.
I have written at length about how I believe the Oblivians restored my faith in a post punk rock kind of punk rock, devoid of new wave stupidity and the fashion applications of grunge. No Reason To Live was a song that also hearkened back to real 1970s punk rock - all nihilistic and noisy. No Reason To Live completely connected the dots between Bob Dylan's Queen Jane Approximately and punk rock. Weird to you, but a completely and perfectly normal association and correspondence for me. If you are still confused, I suggest you pick up a copy of EMW Tillyard's slim volume entitled, The Elizabethan World Picture and many things will become clear to you, Shakespeare included. Would I steer your wrongly?
Pictured here are Bazooka Joe Diddley, Billy Synth, Christine Sixteene and Sarah Bellum - not any of their real last names, of course... as is the punk rock / underground hipster way. On my first night in Harrisburg, October 30, Joe, Christine, Sarah and I paid a visit to Billy Synth, an 80s punk rock underground icon from Harrisburg. He lives in a tiny record-and-CD-filled apartment near the Susquehanna River. The neighborhood is a quaint collection of colonial style row houses and blocks, probably there since the Colonial days. The scale of the rooms is small, as is the scale of the buildings and their narrow entry ways. I just don't see a bigger than life size flat screen TV fitting in here... but I digress.
Seeing that I started with this tale in mid-point progress, let me re-digress and take you to the beginning of the journey.
My journey began at 6 AM Thursday morning, October 30. The taxi I called was coming to get me at 7 am for my 8:30 AM flight. As usual, I worked on all number of things til about 3 in the morning, as I do every day. Basically, I took a nap and then jumped in a cab. I brought only a carry on bag, filled with smaller size prints. In a separate art box, I had a 20x24 poster and a framed 16x20 print. You know these art boxes - they're basically flat and measure what your print measures - this was a 21 x 25 x 2 inch box - not heavy, but completely unwieldy, so, I used a luggage trolley to cart the art box and my carry on bag in one simple space/time continuum. However, the airport and the airlines saw things differently.
I am not a morning person to begin with and the alternatingly chipper and cranky airport personnel, from greeters to Transportation Safety Association people pretty much made sure that I continue to be not a morning person. I learn in ways both nice and nasty that my little trolley is considered a whole piece of luggage! WTF? Who made up that rule? Its wrong, I tell ya! One airlines "customer service" lady snappped that I had 4 carry on items - the trolley (give me a f***ing break!), my art box, my carry-on and my purse. Well, I shoved my purse into the carry on, taking out just my money and iPod. I had to ditch the trolley and this was the most difficult task of the morning. Airport people suggested a wild goose chase path... but I took that trolley all the way up to the boarding gate. A nice gate agent offered to tag the trolley and take it to the luggage office and I could reclaim it on my return trip. That was the nicest thing to happen to me all morning.
You see, prior to my getting to the gate, I was turned inside out at security, where my carry on bag was unpacked by a bitchy white trash lady and well groomed Black man. Yes, yours truly was singled out and given the full-on terrorist screening. The rivets on the corners of the pockets of my jeans made the metal detecting wand go off, and that prompted the bitchy white trash lady to have to pat me down. Just to enhance the level of discomfort, I said "good thing I'm not wearing my regular bra. The underwire always made the metal detector at the IRS go off." I don't know why, but that statement just unnerves people. Its just an undergarment with metal in it!
I think that bitchy white trash lady saw it as a form of assholery on my part, and well, it was. But what's a gal to do when she's getting electronically frisked and then felt up by a TSA bitch? When the TSA lady and man started rifling through the carry-on bag, I got concerned that they'd manhandle my photos to the point of damaging them. Luckily, I've been singled out as a potential terrorist before! I brought with me the copy of the MODE, Harrisburg's version of the Village Voice / LA Weekly / Nashville Scene / Memphis Flyer / Chicago Reader... you get the point --- there was a big full page article about me and my show and one of the photos in the paper was a photo I was carting around with me. I was able to prove to them that some people like and even buy my pictures and they should take care not to fuck my shit up.
I do believe I have "Troublemaker" invisibly tattoo'd on my head - either that or there's a neon sign over my head that I can't see. This happened to me in 1978 when I was returning to the States from Tijuana in my very own car with Pleasant, who had switchblades, fireworks, valium and who knows what else. The border patrol disconnected the horn in my car when they turned it inside out. Pleasant and I tried our best to make the border patrol matrons uncomfortable with us. Just because I was a smart ass punk, I opted to speak French to the border patrol. You know - because I could... and because it was illegally crossing Mexicans they were concerned with - not French school girls.
Thirty years later, and I'm still getting stopped by security people. Since I'm on the soapbox, I do want to say that I'm fairly certain that none of the people who get pulled aside and searched with full terrorist treatment is anything near a terrorist. In fact, one of the hallmarks of a successful terrorist is that they can evade detection. I think the TSA is going about it all wrong. Just because I look like a deadbeat doesn't mean I'm going to blow up a plane or hijack it. I also don't see how taking away my bottle of Clarins moisturizer and my Chanel lipstick are going to make the world safer. The TSA at Nashville airport made me $80 poorer before I event left town. For the record - the moisturizer came in a bottle that was 0.6 ounces more than the limit - but since it was half-empty, I really really don't see why it was even an issue. And I think the white trash TSA bitch just wanted my lipstick. Its Chanel - even the white trash knows that is a fashion name of some renown.
Eventually, I get out of there and on the plane for the first leg of the journey which takes me to Detroit. I know the airport very well. Its got a Taco Bell! Also, because its a hub for Northwest, there's a lot of Japanese influence - two sushi places to eat, announcements in Japanese and this fabulous disco walkway through a tunnel in between the concourses.
The plane from Detroit to Harrisburg is a tiny tiny plane. I'm 5'2" and conked my head twice on the overhead bins. Other than that, it was an uneventful flight. I manage to find a poorly marked bus stop at Harrisburg's airport, board a bus, and for $2.05, ride to the center of town where Joe and Christine Almeida - aka The Thing With Two Heads - pick me up.
Joe's prepared machaca for our dinner. And the city of Harrisburg has declared that Thursday night - October 30 is the night that children will go trick or treating. Weird, but the Almeida's are prepared. And when trick or treating and our dinner of machaca tacos is over, we go off to visit Billy Synth with our friend Sarah.
Billy Synth is a local legend and mostly unsung hero, but not to Bazooka Joe. Joe pointed out that in the early 80s, no punk bands were covering the kind of neo-garage obscurities that Billy was... and that Billy, as a collector and expert was responsible for suggesting many chestnuts that ended up on many of the garage compilation records you love so much (on the Norton or Get Hip labels, to name but two... I think Billy worked with Bomp a bit as well).
Joe, an avid record collector himself, pretty much makes Billy show us everything he owns, and plays a lot of it too. We girls are all extremely tired and ready to go to bed, but Joe could stay up all night... eventually we leave.
Halloween Night itself is a blast. Spent the morning scouring Good Will and Salvation Army stores for funky picture frames, then we installed the exhibit and before we knew it, the party began. People showed up in costume, Joe & Christine were throwing down an eclectic set of jams ranging from punk to garage and a little bit of soul and roots rock. People who came to the party left with The Ramones and Stiv Bators....
And then began the return home...
For all my own airport hassle getting to Harrisburg, going home was flawless, except that I had a 3-hour layover in Detroit, and that's just too much time to be waiting for a plane. I was surprised in Harrisburg that the people in the security x-ray checkpoint ahead of me had BULLETS (a big ole box of em) in their carry-on and were allowed to keep them.
Needless to say, had I attempted something like that, I'd be in jail.....
If you haven't already done so, GO VOTE TOMORROW
I have written at length about how I believe the Oblivians restored my faith in a post punk rock kind of punk rock, devoid of new wave stupidity and the fashion applications of grunge. No Reason To Live was a song that also hearkened back to real 1970s punk rock - all nihilistic and noisy. No Reason To Live completely connected the dots between Bob Dylan's Queen Jane Approximately and punk rock. Weird to you, but a completely and perfectly normal association and correspondence for me. If you are still confused, I suggest you pick up a copy of EMW Tillyard's slim volume entitled, The Elizabethan World Picture and many things will become clear to you, Shakespeare included. Would I steer your wrongly?
Pictured here are Bazooka Joe Diddley, Billy Synth, Christine Sixteene and Sarah Bellum - not any of their real last names, of course... as is the punk rock / underground hipster way. On my first night in Harrisburg, October 30, Joe, Christine, Sarah and I paid a visit to Billy Synth, an 80s punk rock underground icon from Harrisburg. He lives in a tiny record-and-CD-filled apartment near the Susquehanna River. The neighborhood is a quaint collection of colonial style row houses and blocks, probably there since the Colonial days. The scale of the rooms is small, as is the scale of the buildings and their narrow entry ways. I just don't see a bigger than life size flat screen TV fitting in here... but I digress.Seeing that I started with this tale in mid-point progress, let me re-digress and take you to the beginning of the journey.
My journey began at 6 AM Thursday morning, October 30. The taxi I called was coming to get me at 7 am for my 8:30 AM flight. As usual, I worked on all number of things til about 3 in the morning, as I do every day. Basically, I took a nap and then jumped in a cab. I brought only a carry on bag, filled with smaller size prints. In a separate art box, I had a 20x24 poster and a framed 16x20 print. You know these art boxes - they're basically flat and measure what your print measures - this was a 21 x 25 x 2 inch box - not heavy, but completely unwieldy, so, I used a luggage trolley to cart the art box and my carry on bag in one simple space/time continuum. However, the airport and the airlines saw things differently.
I am not a morning person to begin with and the alternatingly chipper and cranky airport personnel, from greeters to Transportation Safety Association people pretty much made sure that I continue to be not a morning person. I learn in ways both nice and nasty that my little trolley is considered a whole piece of luggage! WTF? Who made up that rule? Its wrong, I tell ya! One airlines "customer service" lady snappped that I had 4 carry on items - the trolley (give me a f***ing break!), my art box, my carry-on and my purse. Well, I shoved my purse into the carry on, taking out just my money and iPod. I had to ditch the trolley and this was the most difficult task of the morning. Airport people suggested a wild goose chase path... but I took that trolley all the way up to the boarding gate. A nice gate agent offered to tag the trolley and take it to the luggage office and I could reclaim it on my return trip. That was the nicest thing to happen to me all morning.
You see, prior to my getting to the gate, I was turned inside out at security, where my carry on bag was unpacked by a bitchy white trash lady and well groomed Black man. Yes, yours truly was singled out and given the full-on terrorist screening. The rivets on the corners of the pockets of my jeans made the metal detecting wand go off, and that prompted the bitchy white trash lady to have to pat me down. Just to enhance the level of discomfort, I said "good thing I'm not wearing my regular bra. The underwire always made the metal detector at the IRS go off." I don't know why, but that statement just unnerves people. Its just an undergarment with metal in it!
I think that bitchy white trash lady saw it as a form of assholery on my part, and well, it was. But what's a gal to do when she's getting electronically frisked and then felt up by a TSA bitch? When the TSA lady and man started rifling through the carry-on bag, I got concerned that they'd manhandle my photos to the point of damaging them. Luckily, I've been singled out as a potential terrorist before! I brought with me the copy of the MODE, Harrisburg's version of the Village Voice / LA Weekly / Nashville Scene / Memphis Flyer / Chicago Reader... you get the point --- there was a big full page article about me and my show and one of the photos in the paper was a photo I was carting around with me. I was able to prove to them that some people like and even buy my pictures and they should take care not to fuck my shit up.
I do believe I have "Troublemaker" invisibly tattoo'd on my head - either that or there's a neon sign over my head that I can't see. This happened to me in 1978 when I was returning to the States from Tijuana in my very own car with Pleasant, who had switchblades, fireworks, valium and who knows what else. The border patrol disconnected the horn in my car when they turned it inside out. Pleasant and I tried our best to make the border patrol matrons uncomfortable with us. Just because I was a smart ass punk, I opted to speak French to the border patrol. You know - because I could... and because it was illegally crossing Mexicans they were concerned with - not French school girls.
Thirty years later, and I'm still getting stopped by security people. Since I'm on the soapbox, I do want to say that I'm fairly certain that none of the people who get pulled aside and searched with full terrorist treatment is anything near a terrorist. In fact, one of the hallmarks of a successful terrorist is that they can evade detection. I think the TSA is going about it all wrong. Just because I look like a deadbeat doesn't mean I'm going to blow up a plane or hijack it. I also don't see how taking away my bottle of Clarins moisturizer and my Chanel lipstick are going to make the world safer. The TSA at Nashville airport made me $80 poorer before I event left town. For the record - the moisturizer came in a bottle that was 0.6 ounces more than the limit - but since it was half-empty, I really really don't see why it was even an issue. And I think the white trash TSA bitch just wanted my lipstick. Its Chanel - even the white trash knows that is a fashion name of some renown.
Eventually, I get out of there and on the plane for the first leg of the journey which takes me to Detroit. I know the airport very well. Its got a Taco Bell! Also, because its a hub for Northwest, there's a lot of Japanese influence - two sushi places to eat, announcements in Japanese and this fabulous disco walkway through a tunnel in between the concourses.The plane from Detroit to Harrisburg is a tiny tiny plane. I'm 5'2" and conked my head twice on the overhead bins. Other than that, it was an uneventful flight. I manage to find a poorly marked bus stop at Harrisburg's airport, board a bus, and for $2.05, ride to the center of town where Joe and Christine Almeida - aka The Thing With Two Heads - pick me up.
Joe's prepared machaca for our dinner. And the city of Harrisburg has declared that Thursday night - October 30 is the night that children will go trick or treating. Weird, but the Almeida's are prepared. And when trick or treating and our dinner of machaca tacos is over, we go off to visit Billy Synth with our friend Sarah.
Billy Synth is a local legend and mostly unsung hero, but not to Bazooka Joe. Joe pointed out that in the early 80s, no punk bands were covering the kind of neo-garage obscurities that Billy was... and that Billy, as a collector and expert was responsible for suggesting many chestnuts that ended up on many of the garage compilation records you love so much (on the Norton or Get Hip labels, to name but two... I think Billy worked with Bomp a bit as well).
Joe, an avid record collector himself, pretty much makes Billy show us everything he owns, and plays a lot of it too. We girls are all extremely tired and ready to go to bed, but Joe could stay up all night... eventually we leave.
Halloween Night itself is a blast. Spent the morning scouring Good Will and Salvation Army stores for funky picture frames, then we installed the exhibit and before we knew it, the party began. People showed up in costume, Joe & Christine were throwing down an eclectic set of jams ranging from punk to garage and a little bit of soul and roots rock. People who came to the party left with The Ramones and Stiv Bators....
And then began the return home...
For all my own airport hassle getting to Harrisburg, going home was flawless, except that I had a 3-hour layover in Detroit, and that's just too much time to be waiting for a plane. I was surprised in Harrisburg that the people in the security x-ray checkpoint ahead of me had BULLETS (a big ole box of em) in their carry-on and were allowed to keep them.
Needless to say, had I attempted something like that, I'd be in jail.....
If you haven't already done so, GO VOTE TOMORROW
Tour Diary, October 4, 2008
Punk Rock Autumn Almanac
If it's September, then its Autumn... yes yes yes... beautiful weather and a sense of actually working and getting things done. Summer is play time, and Autumn is the harvest, its back to school and back to work.... that's the Almanac part of this. The rest of the title means you should invest in Kinks records.
Almost exactly a year ago I was getting ready to head out on the tour you've read about in these very pages. Last year, I was torn between my Day of the Dead special show in Memphis and possibly jetting over to Paris for a one-nighter with the Andy Warhol Factory crew in an homage to the Factory's famous photographer, Billy Name, with whom I share an agent... the lovely and talented Kevin Kushel, who organized a Billy Name / Andy Warhol appreciation show during the Paris Photo event. However, I got an once-in-a-lifetime command performance by Jack Oblivian and Tyler Keith as punk rock mariachis.... and I spent several days in Mississippi, a place that I hold dear because of William Faulkner, Elvis Presley and Jimmie Rodgers.
Just like last year, I am busy making exhibition prints.
There are three shows coming up for the rest of this year...
October 11 in East Nashville at Creative Space (400 Davidson Street, near LP Field), a group show and fashion extravaganza called Kaleidoscope, where I will be hanging up Punk Turns 30's greatest hits.
On Halloween, I'm in Harrisburg, PA with my friends Joe & Christine on the DJ decks for Punk Rock Day of the Dead... a show that will be a perennial.
In December, opening on the 5th in Lancaster, PA at the Metropolis Gallery, Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond will have its final showing. The show will be up through January 31, so instead of a hazy shade of winter, we will make it kind of high contrast and neon for you.
During the course of the tour, I've met a great many wonderful people, and I have seen a great many wonderful places. A lot of great punk rock bands have entertained me and you. My sojourns in each city have been both one-night-stands and never-ending stays. I feel like Bob Dylan on his never-ending tour!
As I look out on the Nashville Skyline - the Bat Tower, the Shelby Bridge, the ridiculous scrap metal heap right by the interstate and the capitol in the shadows of downtown... I do think of three albums recorded here... three of my favorites - not punk rock albums, but Bob Dylan albums. Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline.
"All Along the Watchtower," a track from John Wesley Harding comes to mind more for me when I look out my window than even the term "Nashville Skyline."
We live in scary times. I just watched the honorable Joe Biden and the ridiculous Sarah Palin participate in a "debate" and in a couple days, this town will welcome Barack Obama and John McCain to debate at Belmont University. I shudder to think what may happen if things don't go as I want them to.
Weird times make for good art, though. Last time politics were this ridiculous, punk rock was born. Europe gave us the Theatre of the Absurd during political repression, and the Absurds playwright, Vaclav Havel ended up presiding over his country decades later. Perhaps someday we will elect Wayne Kramer President. He could kick out the jams, huh?
Wayne Kramer, MC5
Anyway - please vote. If you're not registered, you have til Monday to do so. I don't care who you vote for - although I would really like if it you voted for Obama/Biden. Just vote. If you don't vote, then you have no right nor reason to complain.
Almost exactly a year ago I was getting ready to head out on the tour you've read about in these very pages. Last year, I was torn between my Day of the Dead special show in Memphis and possibly jetting over to Paris for a one-nighter with the Andy Warhol Factory crew in an homage to the Factory's famous photographer, Billy Name, with whom I share an agent... the lovely and talented Kevin Kushel, who organized a Billy Name / Andy Warhol appreciation show during the Paris Photo event. However, I got an once-in-a-lifetime command performance by Jack Oblivian and Tyler Keith as punk rock mariachis.... and I spent several days in Mississippi, a place that I hold dear because of William Faulkner, Elvis Presley and Jimmie Rodgers.
Just like last year, I am busy making exhibition prints.
There are three shows coming up for the rest of this year...
October 11 in East Nashville at Creative Space (400 Davidson Street, near LP Field), a group show and fashion extravaganza called Kaleidoscope, where I will be hanging up Punk Turns 30's greatest hits.
On Halloween, I'm in Harrisburg, PA with my friends Joe & Christine on the DJ decks for Punk Rock Day of the Dead... a show that will be a perennial.
In December, opening on the 5th in Lancaster, PA at the Metropolis Gallery, Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond will have its final showing. The show will be up through January 31, so instead of a hazy shade of winter, we will make it kind of high contrast and neon for you.
During the course of the tour, I've met a great many wonderful people, and I have seen a great many wonderful places. A lot of great punk rock bands have entertained me and you. My sojourns in each city have been both one-night-stands and never-ending stays. I feel like Bob Dylan on his never-ending tour!
As I look out on the Nashville Skyline - the Bat Tower, the Shelby Bridge, the ridiculous scrap metal heap right by the interstate and the capitol in the shadows of downtown... I do think of three albums recorded here... three of my favorites - not punk rock albums, but Bob Dylan albums. Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline.
"All Along the Watchtower," a track from John Wesley Harding comes to mind more for me when I look out my window than even the term "Nashville Skyline."
We live in scary times. I just watched the honorable Joe Biden and the ridiculous Sarah Palin participate in a "debate" and in a couple days, this town will welcome Barack Obama and John McCain to debate at Belmont University. I shudder to think what may happen if things don't go as I want them to.
Weird times make for good art, though. Last time politics were this ridiculous, punk rock was born. Europe gave us the Theatre of the Absurd during political repression, and the Absurds playwright, Vaclav Havel ended up presiding over his country decades later. Perhaps someday we will elect Wayne Kramer President. He could kick out the jams, huh?
Wayne Kramer, MC5
Anyway - please vote. If you're not registered, you have til Monday to do so. I don't care who you vote for - although I would really like if it you voted for Obama/Biden. Just vote. If you don't vote, then you have no right nor reason to complain.
March 29, 2008 - THANK YOU Lansing!!
Amy Gore and me at Mac's Bar
In a typical punk rock move, I drove up to Lansing, Michigan on the morning of March 28 for my exhibit that evening at Mac's Bar and the rock show with the Gore Gore Girls and Chrome Spiders. Its a 537 mile drive from Nashville,TN, my starting point to East Lansing, MI. Yes, that's a work day of driving.
The weather was working in my favor. It was grey and overcast but warm when I left Nashville in a brand new sparkly green Ford Focus, a rental from Hertz. There was a little bit of rain - sprinkles mostly - in Kentucky (appropriate because "Kentucky Rain" has got to be one of my favorite songs Elvis Presley, the King of Rock n Roll ever sang). The drive is a straight shot up Interstate 65, where I passed all kinds of farms, barns and their associated animals. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to stop and take pictures of what I saw... but I was on a mission and stopping was not on the schedule... that, and I intentionally left my camera in its bag in the trunk.
The moment I crossed the Michigan state line, there was snow on the ground and it was a bit colder. Good thing I brought my NYC winter jacket! Michigan did in fact have some snowfall the day before I arrived and I was surprised at how much snow remained on the ground.
Mac's Bar is typical of a college town dive. The walls are covered with neon beer logos and photos of the bands who have played there over the years as well as flyers for shows past, present and future.
Rich Tupica, a student in Lansing, and big fan of punk rock and all my favorite bands, set up the show and he brought a few friends with him to help me hang up the pictures.
As always, I finally got to meet in person several people I know only via email - guys like Mikey and Dutch Hercules and Stefan "White & Nerdy." Nice to meet you fellas! And as always, I get a chance to hang out with my friends who live far flung from me, like fellow rock n roll photographer and April Fool baby, Windy Mayes.
The highlight of the evening was the wild rock n roll sounds of The Chrome Spiders and Gore Gore Girls. I've seen the Gore Gore Girls plenty over the years; they never fail to pull out all the stops, go to 11 and then some... but it was my first time seeing Chrome Spiders. Tom Potter is high on my list of men I call musical geniuses. I hope this band will do some shows outside their home turf of Michigan. I'd like to run into them all over the place the way I do with the Gore Gore Girls.
No night of rock n roll is complete unless there is a late night lagniappe of greasy burgers. This night was no different. Across a parking lot there's a 24/7 diner, to which three out of four Chrome Spiders, Rich and I decamped for greasy burgers and ice cold Cokes.
And as usual, this whole shebang is over too soon. After a short night's sleep, I was back in the car, retracing my steps down the Interstate, bound for Nashville.
Thank you Lansing for one of the best one night stands I've had all year!
Next Exhibit: East Lansing, MI on March 28
Mac's Bar in East Lansing, Michigan will host the Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond exhibit on March 28. Gore Gore Girls and Tom Potter's Chrome Spiders are playing !!!
This special installation of the Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond tour will be a Ladies Only affair... not to worry... the guys aren't left out - they're just not the focal point of the photos.
Think superstars: Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Belinda Carlisle, and seminal punk ladies on the leading edge: Penelope Houston (Avengers), Lorna Doom, Patricia Morrison, Alley Cat Dianne Chai, Pleasant and more!
If you are a collector of photographs and want to buy something from this exhibit, the punkrockgiftshop.com is having a special during the month of March in honor of the Ladies Only exhibit.
Also during March, to help celebrate the release on DVD of the Gun Club documentary, Ghost on the Highway, we also have a Gun Club special - three 8x10 prints for $50! See below and click the pic!
Tour Merchandise in the form of picture booklets are once again available by mail order. Buy all 3 and save.
Details are HERE and here's a slide show of some of the images in those books.
This special installation of the Unguarded Moments: Backstage and Beyond tour will be a Ladies Only affair... not to worry... the guys aren't left out - they're just not the focal point of the photos.
Think superstars: Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Belinda Carlisle, and seminal punk ladies on the leading edge: Penelope Houston (Avengers), Lorna Doom, Patricia Morrison, Alley Cat Dianne Chai, Pleasant and more!
If you are a collector of photographs and want to buy something from this exhibit, the punkrockgiftshop.com is having a special during the month of March in honor of the Ladies Only exhibit.
Also during March, to help celebrate the release on DVD of the Gun Club documentary, Ghost on the Highway, we also have a Gun Club special - three 8x10 prints for $50! See below and click the pic!
Tour Merchandise in the form of picture booklets are once again available by mail order. Buy all 3 and save.
Details are HERE and here's a slide show of some of the images in those books.
Remembering New Orleans - Feb 18 - 25, 2008
Thank you, New Orleans
Louie Fest is over, with the last of the live music hitting its final note sometime on Sunday night, Feb 24... The Royal Pendletons closedthe festivities with their particular brand of rock n roll marathon.
I departed New Orleans at 7 AM Sunday, missing out on the Pendletons extravaganza, but not before getting the most out of my week in the Crescent City.
Such a warm welcome awaited, and I found New Orleans to be a city of artists who support one another in a way that no other cities artist populations do. The support from art lovers, music fans and general public was overwhelming and I am truly moved by all the shows of kindness, generosity, hospitality and interest from the warm people and wacky souls of New Orleans.
In no particular order, big love and thanks go to:
King Louie, Dustin Crops, Daphne Loney, Sarah Smith and her man Chris, Mimi and the staff at her bar including the imaginative chef, Heathcliff, Dan Tague, Andy & Terri from St Roch via California, Black Rose Band, Die Rottz, Jared Swilley, Damien & Ramona, Mr Quintron, Melvin - "an important motherfucker to know in this town," certain wage slaves at Kinko's, Miss Conduct at WTUL, JPK for diversion when I needed it, Adrienne the art school drop out for inspiration, Larry the shithead, Sugar, and finally, Robert Mache and John "Papa" Gros ( although neither of them had anything to do with Louie Fest, they had plenty to do with my New Orleans sojourn)
Louie Fest is over, but my photo exhibit is still hanging up at Mimi's in the Marigny so if you missed a chance to see it, you still can - til about the 15th of March.
Mimi's in the Marigny
2601 Royal (at Franklin)
open every day from 4 PM until you can't stand up...
Photo Exhibit is UPSTAIRS
Next Stop: New Orleans and LOUIE FEST!
King Louie is a latter day punk rock legend... he's got Louie Fest going on in New Orleans from February 20 - 24 and we will be there!! The opening party is on Tuesday, February 19 at Mimi's in the Marigny, Royal @ Franklin, from 6-8 pm with LIVE MUSIC from King Louie One Man Band - UNPLUGGED
In addition to the Vintage Punk Rock photos from backstage, off stage and beyond... I will be showing some special photos of some of the musicians performing at Louie Fest, like King Louie himself, Jack Oblivian and others... and there are some SPECIAL DEALS on prints of King Louie, Mr Quintron and others... click this and see!
Closing Party at Magnetic Field
February 2, 6-8 PM
HAPPY HOUR!!
We have had a FANTASTIC TIME hanging up in Magnetic Field and we're gonna go out IN STYLE with a punk rock happy hour closing party celebration... one more time to take a gander at the big blow ups of Darby Crash, The Cramps, Belinda Carlisle and many other punk rockers captured in their Unguarded Moments.
And - there are some cool iterations of familiar photos hanging... and they are all for sale...
come to Magnetic Field to buy this special print!!
If you didn't know this... February 2 is the 126th anniversary of the birth of my favorite writer in the English language, James Joyce. For those out there reading this who do know me, you know that I traditionally throw a party on February 2 - because in addition to it being Joyce's birthday, it is also the anniversary of the publication of his masterpiece, Ulysses by Sylvia Beach in Paris in 1922... making 2008 the 86th anniversary of the book's birth.
What does this have to do with punk rock and my photo show? Well --- the music playlist will be Hiberno-heavy... featuring Irish artists and those of Irish descent, oh... like the Pogues, Elvis Costello, Undertones, Boomtown Rats and others... don't worry... I don't think we'll be spinning any U2 but I will be sneaking in some Thin Lizzy, because Phil Lynott was a big fan of the punk rock. Since it is happy hour anyway... its time to enjoy the best of Irish libation -- Jamesons (which they drink in Ulysses), Guinness and I will be bringing some munchies for our final photo show fling.
Anyway -- see you at Magnetic Field on Saturday, February 2 from 6 - 8 PM... punk rock happy hour, some munchies and lots of sound and vision!!!
New York Shows Continue!
Magnetic Field & Pass Out
Still Hanging!
If you missed the opening night party at Magnetic Field on Thursday, January 10 - don't fret... you will have a few more days in which to see these photos!
But I wouldn't wait too long.... Magnetic Field is a great place to hang out and there's always great music whether its special DJ nights or just one of the bartender's iPod playlists...
Another reason not to wait too long is that all the pictures on the wall are for sale at ridiculously reasonable prices. I sold a few off the wall on Thursday - but the big movers have been the wide selection of unframed 8x10's and 5x7's in a box behind the bar. If you collect this punk rock ephemera, best get yourself down to Magnetic Field and grab some collectibles!
Punk Rock Dead of Winter exhibit at Pass Out Record Shop is also still hanging - with the small framed pictures - the Punk Rock Memento Mori as I call them - simply flying off the walls. Hurry in and get your own precious Punk Rock Collectibles while they're still there.
For a sneak peak at some of the images you can find on the walls... scroll down on this page.... and DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUT the punkrockgiftshop.com for some special deals on images that will be included in the Punk Rock Dead of Winter show. It's not too good to be true... its a deal too good to pass up! Images include: The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Stiv Bators, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Darby Crash and many more.
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