Someday All The Adults Will Die: Punk Graphics 1971-1984

Someday All The Adults Will Die: Punk Graphics 1971-1984, curated by Johan Kugelberg and Jon Savage, provides a comprehensive overview of punk graphic design, highlighting imagery before, during and after the punk years, drawing upon previously unseen public and private archives and collections. Punk and post-punk graphic design is illuminated by examples of homemade cassettes, fanzines, posters, handbills, records and clothing. Highlights include original artworks by Gee Vaucher, Jamie Reid, Gary Panter, John Holmstrom and Penny Rimbaud alongside numerous anonymous artists.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of Punk: An Aesthetic by Kugelberg and Savage, published by Rizzoli.

September 13 – November 4, 2012

Hayward Gallery, London, UK

Thanks to This Isn't Happiness for pointing this out!

Check out Social Distortion's new album, Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes

Social Distortion is about to release their newest album, Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes, and they're making it available to stream which you can do below, or here. I shall forever be a fan of Mike Ness simply for the fact that, without knowing me, he put me on his guestlist for a show of theirs in the early 90's. I didn't have a ticket, and he must be a decent guy because I didn't know him. As you were...


Social Distortion - Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes by Epitaph Records

Social Distortion - website

Friday Ephemera - More badges

All courtesy of the Button Museum

Just Because - the Screamers

Read Jon Savage on the Screamers and "122 Hours of Fear."

B-52's in 1978

Here's some fascinating early footage of the B-52's in action in 1978. The two in color were shot in a Georgia TV studio, in Athens I'm assuming, and there are links to a couple of black & white live videos. All of this must have been shot right around the time of their record deal with Warner Bros. and the release of their first album...They were playing places like Max's Kansas City at the time. I find it interesting to come across stuff like this, and imagine what was going for these kids (because they were kids at the time) right around this. They must have had a blast.





Also Devil In My Car and 52 Girls (live 1978) in black & white.

Flipside returns

Well, if every band from the 80's is reforming & touring, why can't a magazine give it another go? LA's Flipside returns - get it here for free. Drop 'em a line on Facebook. Hat tip to the Barman.

Record Store Day 2010

Well, it's almost that time of year again...Record Store Day, 2010. I believe this is the third one, right? Anyway, in case you're the type of person who wants to plan ahead, it falls on April 17 this year. I wanted to direct your attention to a couple of lists of the special releases in store specifically for the day.

US releases for US stores - click here
UK releases for UK stores - click here

Personally I'm not as stoked about the special releases this year compared to last. Although there is a Fela 10" that looks pretty good. To stay up to date, sign up for the official Record Store Day mailing list here.

The Punk Art Catalogue

Hat tip to EV Grieve for the tip on the following:

Marc H. Miller, of 98Bowery.com, has made available online the Punk Art Catalogue. Originally put together in 1978 as part of the Punk Art Exhibition, Washington Project For The Arts, Washington, DC, 1978, it's really an incredible artifact, and deserves wide recognition as most likely the first ever punk based art & ephemera show.

"Every time Bettie and I headed north on Bowery towards the East Village, we passed a grungy bar that clearly had the feel of a happening scene. Curiosity pulled us into CBGB in 1976, and for the next three years the club was our regular haunt, a place we visited three or four times a week, meeting friends and absorbing inspiration as we watched the emergence of a new music and counter-culture scene that would soon spread around the globe. More than just a music revolution, punk also affected the visual arts, fashion and design. Under the sway of punk, our conceptual art grew and evolved in ways that reflected the style, content and marketing of the broader CBGB scene. Like a rock group, we were an art group, first billed as Miller & Ringma and then as Miller Ringma & Hoppe when Curt joined our collaboration. In 1978 we brought together the visual artists at CBGB by organizing the world’s first "Punk Art" exhibition in Washington DC. For us the punk years were fast, loud, and lots of fun."

Popcorn!

Soul Train is coming to DVD. Popcorn! Gotta have a mutha fo' me.

Christie's Pop Culture auctions - US & UK

As mentioned last week, Christies will be having another major Pop Culture/Music auction in the UK on July 1. And now preceding that here in NYC, they will have an additional auction of the same sort of stuff on June 23, with viewings June 19-22. The items can be viewed here and an ecatalog of everything can be viewed here. Below are what I found to be some of the more interesting items available.


The Who crew tour bag circa 1970's


The Who 1965


Velvet Underground 1966


Velvet Underground 1966


Television & Blondie UK tour 1977


Sex Pistols official 'zine 1977


Sex Pistols, Manchester UK 1977


Sex Pistols promo poster 1977


Little Richard et al 1957


John Lee Hooker 1975


James Brown 1966


The Jam 1977


The Factory Club repro 2003 (Peter Saville)


The Factory Club 1978/79


The Clash Manchester UK 1977


Can 1971


Buzzcocks 1977 (Linder)


Bo Diddley 1955


Studio 54 opening night invite 1977

Bobbleheads

This has been fairly well reported elsewhere, but was too funny not to mention here. Aggronautix has produced two new unlikely bobblehead collectibles of GG Allin and the Meatmen's Tesco Vee. And at $14.95 each they're a bargain!

Punk Before Punk Was Punk

This is amazing! Read the story of mid 70's rock band Death in today's NY Times. Listen to them play "Politicians In My Eyes." I had never heard of these guys before, but they existed, starting in Detroit as an R&B band in the early 70's, and switching to an up tempo, hard rock style in 1973 after seeing an Alice Cooper show. And yes, they seem to have beaten the Bad Brains and Pure Hell for the mantle of first all black punk band by some time. Incredible.

"The teenage Hackney brothers started playing R&B in their parents’ garage in the early ’70s but switched to hard rock in 1973, after seeing an Alice Cooper show. Dannis played drums, Bobby played bass and sang, and David wrote the songs and contributed propulsive guitar work, derived from studying Pete Townshend’s power-chord wrist technique. Their musicianship tightened when their mother allowed them to replace their bedroom furniture with mikes and amps as long as they practiced for three hours every afternoon. “From 3 to 6,” said Dannis, 54, “we just blew up the neighborhood.”

The Fluid is back

After taking part last summer in Sub Pop's 20th anniversary shows in Seattle, the Fluid are back playing some shows which is pretty exciting news to me. In my mind, they were THE best US underground rock band in the late 80's/early 90's. If you're in the mood for some rock 'n roll, I would highly suggest catching a show.

The Fluid on Facebook and Myspace.

Here they come, la la la la la la la la

PART TIME PUNKS & THE ECHO present
THE 1ST-ANNUAL PART TIME PUNKS FESTIVAL
Sunday, November 16, 2008

Los Angeles will be the location of the world’s first-ever Post-Punk Festival (or at least the first since 1982 or whenever the last Futurama was held in the UK!). The day-long event will be held in conjoined venues, The Echo & The Echoplex, in Echo Park, Sunday, November 16, 2008 from 2pm – 2am.

Most excitingly, the Part Time Punks Festival will mark the first appearance of A CERTAIN RATIO in the United States since 1985! At the time, often dismissed as Joy Division clones (also on Factory Records), the band has since been recognized in the highest echelon of Post-Punk innovation, alongside Public Image Limited, Gang Of Four and The Slits for fusing Punk with dance rhythms – much of this credit probably due to the reissuing of the band’s back catalogue by Soul Jazz.

The Festival will also mark the first West Coast appearance of Pylon since they reformed last year to promote DFA’s releasing of their back catalogue (the label will be re-issuing Pylon’s second album, “Chomp” in time for the Festival).

The Festival will also provide the first West Coast appearance of The Nightingales since their reformation two years ago, the first-ever West Coast appearance of Vivian Girls AND the first performance by The Wild Stares since splitting in 1987 (who, if you don’t know, were Boston’s finest Post-Punk band from the early 80s, led by Steven Gregoropolous, now best known for his current band, Lavender Diamond).

The complete confirmed line-up is thus:
A Certain Ratio, Pylon, Love Is All, Vivian Girls, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Mika Miko, Savage Republic, Nervous Gender, Medium Medium, The Nightingales, The Urinals, The Wild Stares, Magic Bullets, The Muslims, Grimble Grumble, Warpaint, Softboiled Eggies, Nodzzz. . .

PLUS. . . GUEST DJs: David J (Bauhaus/Love & Rockets), Dave Newton (Mighty Lemon Drops), Brendan Mullen (“the guy who ran The Masque”) Chuck Warner (Messthetics/Hyped 2 Death) & Dan Selzer (Acute Records) & Kevin Pedersen (What’s Your Rupture?)

PLUS. . .the first-ever band-sanctioned public screening by Throbbing Gristle (videos, live performance & never-before-seen material) AND screenings of rare & unseen Post-Punk videos, films & live performances by Joy Division, New Order, Section 25, Cabaret Voltaire, Fad Gadget, Suburban Lawns, The Films Of Bruce Licher & Savage Republic AND the DVD-release-premiere of Decoder (featuring Genesis P-Orridge, William S. Burroughs, Christiane F and members of Psychic TV, Soft Cell, Talk Talk and Einsturzende Neubauten).

So why PART TIME PUNKS?

Well...where the hell else would it happen?
Probably nowhere in this country.
Perhaps not even the world. (Not since The Hacienda was bulldozed.)

So. A spot of history for you, of the more recent variety:

PART TIME PUNKS is the name of the club which happens every Sunday night at The Echo in Los Angeles. Started in May 2005 by DJ-partners Michael Stock and Benjamin White, the club celebrates/investigates the Post Punk period and its sub-categories (DIY, synthpunk, minimal synth, punkfunk, punky reggae, new wave/no wave and industrial) as well as occasional excursions into Indiepop and Shoegaze. Not only in the form of the music Michael and Benjamin spin for the dance floor (on vinyl only), but also the bands that Michael books to play.

The bands that have played the club have included a mix of classic Post-Punk bands (The Slits, ESG, Medium Medium, Nikki Sudden, Chrome, Nervous Gender, Savage Republic, Kid Congo Powers, Spectrum, Phil Wilson) and the best up-and-coming bands who are mining the Post-Punk world of obscurities for their inspiration (No Age, Mika Miko, Abe Vigoda, Ariel Pink, Love Is All, Tokyo Police Club, Tussle, Glass Candy, Chromatics, Cause Co-Motion, Indian Jewelry, New Bloods, The Strange Boys, Times New Viking, The Tough Alliance, The Go Team). Not to mention an impressive array of Guest DJs: Buzzcocks, !!! (Chk Chk Chk), Alan McGee, Calvin Johnson, Ian Svenonious, Juan MacLean and Cut Chemist (the Sunday before last).

In short, PART TIME PUNKS has always been ahead of the curve in looking back. While punk is now retro and retro is standard fit, Post-Punk is just on the slender margin between history and pop-culture. It falls between the cracks – in the music world, in the film world, even in academia. While the word has definitely entered the vocabulary of most musically-minded kids and adults alike, most folks think it means "DFA" or, best case scenario, "Gang Of Four" or maybe "Joy Division,” when what Post-Punk really means was the most musically-diverse time in popular history: 1978-1984. Of course, Part Time Punks has always been about the mix of that period and those records AND the very bestest, newest bands who are basically mining those tracks for their influences--as opposed to yet another dancepunk rehash.