I've been working feverishly all week to preserve the old 35mm negatives I shot back in 1976-77, that chronicle the incipient punk scene in Whittier, California (such as it was). These photos feature long-forgotten bands playing private house parties for stoned, drunken teenagers, and I was there. Please revel in their proto-punk goodness, won't you?

[Link: Punked Out In Whittier]

While putting this photo album together, I experienced an extremely odd moment of serendipity: I had just uploaded a series of photos of a band at a house party in Pico Rivera. I couldn't for the life of me remember who they were, so I just called them "The Glam Corndogs" in my photo captions. Out of nowhere, an e-mail appeared in my inbox from someone named Dennis Catron who'd stumbled across my weblog while browsing Michele's Flipside magazine fan site [Link]. Dennis pointed me to the site he'd put together for his old band, the Mechanics [Link], and when I started looking at his photos I instantly realized that the Glam Corndogs and the Mechanics were one and the same! Turns out I'd photographed their very first party gig when they were called the L.A. Brats. Too, too weird!

I also received an e-mail from the Brats' bassist, Brett Alexander [Link], who filled in a few more blanks by pointing me to the current whereabouts of drummer Sandy Hancock [Link], and singer Scott Hooglin, who is busy playing with Rick Agnew's Poop [Link] these days (gawd, I loved saying that).