It also helpfully explains exactly how to "pogo":

"...the Pogo is a highly energized dance form, a theatrical and emotional reflection of today's society. Frenzied movements tell a story of confrontations and frustration....The Pogo is composed of an alternation of moving and holding stances, freestyle, move and hold, move and hold, and on and on."

Whew. All these years I thought it was just jumping up and down in one place. Who knew that it was such an art form?

[Link: How to Look Punk]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

[Link: Alice Bag's L.A. Punk Rock 1976-1981 Flickr Set]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Cartoonist scoops Wire's new EP: Read and Burn 03. Hear his podcast interview with Colin Newman and clips of the new songs. It's great stuff. Nobody does that slow, droning burn like Wire does.

[Link: Read and Burn 03: an Interview With Colin Newman]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

"The Ramonetures are the brainchild of Phantom Surfers guitar genius Mel Bergman. On this, their debut album, the band takes on the task of reinventing 16 classic Ramones tunes - in a style that would have done the Ventures proud!"

[Link: Ramonetures]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Acclaimed British-Indian author, Indra Sinha, talks to Flipside Magazine co-founder, L.A. punk in-crowder, and outsider artist, X-8, about his life, music, and artistic aesthetic. X-8 was one of my best friends through most of high-school, and it always amazes me how little I really knew about him back then. His vision isn't for everyone, but you've gotta admire him for the way that he tackles his demons head-on [Link].

Posted by MrBaliHai at 5:09 AM | Permalink

My pal X-8 put together this nifty little tribute page to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of fLiPSiDE magazine. It includes a couple of sites that I've already linked to like Michele's essential fLiPSiDE Memorial page, and my own personal history of fLiPSiDE and scan of Issue Number 1, along with a bunch of interviews with LA punks, the Germs, Weirdos, and the Screamers. There's also a brilliant live clip of the Weirdos kicking ass on Solitary Confinement from a 1986 fLiPSiDE video. Be sure to check out some of the other great Weirdos clips uploaded to YouTube while you're there. For my money, they were hands-down the best band to come out of LA punk.

[Link: fLiPSiDE 30 YEAR TRIBUTE]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 3:54 AM | Permalink

Click to Embiggen

In 1976, X-8 and I went to a party at Bomp Records in Hollywood to meet the members of Blondie. Not too many local artists were there, surprisingly, except for Danny Wilde of the Quick who was busy passing out drunk with his head in a record bin. However, Deborah Harry her bad self was present, and me being 17, filled with raging hormones, and terribly shy, couldn't think of a single thing to say, so I just stood there and stared at her for about a minute. She looked me up and down, grunted, "Nice shirt", then walked away. Ah, youth.

What I remember the most about her was that she was incredibly short. I'm only 5'2", and she barely came up to my nose. Funny, her official bio lists her as 5'2" as well. Guess she was wearing some really high heels when they measured her.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I'm really digging Glyph Jockey's (extremely) limited series of Punk Baseball Cards, and I want more more MORE! May I humbly suggest the following players for your next set?

Joey Ramone: New York Yankees
Stiv Bators: Cleveland Indians
Darby Crash: L.A. Dodgers
Jello Biafra: Colorado Rockies

Posted by MrBaliHai at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Apparently, some studio-marketing wanker has declared today Joe Strummer Day to publicize the release of Julien Temple's new documentary about the Clash's eponymous frontman.

However, dustysevens is not content to merely celebrate 25% of The Most Important Rock Band in the World, and has made a counter-declaration that May 9th shall be hencefore and forevermore be considered World Clash Day, and celebrates with a cacophony of music, video, and ephemera.

Can you dig it?

[Link: World Clash Day]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

While rummaging around in my basement last night, I came across this photo from the Music Box feature of the November 24, 1976 issue of my high-school newspaper, in which our faculty advisor, Herb Cartwright, was fed snippets of songs from the classic (whoops, I almost said seminal) proto-punk album, Live at CBGB's, for his predictably horrified reactions. There's no by-line on the article, but I'm pretty sure it was written by X-8. Poor Herb, little did he realize that he was just a patsy for vicious, amoral punk-rockers thumbing their noses at the establishment.

Click on the Extended Entry to read the article.

Continue reading "Cartwright Rips CBGB's" »

Posted by MrBaliHai at 3:39 PM | Permalink