The Avengers at Mabuhay Gardens, San Francisco (1978)

Courtesy of Old Punk Flyers

Friday Ephemera: Dead Kennedys, The Avengers, The Mutants in San Francisco 1978

Source

Rare Film Alert: Search & Destroy - Louder Faster Shorter with the Avengers, Dils, Mutants, Sleepers, and UXA

I know nothing at all about this film. I've never known of its existence until now thanks to the crew over at The New Vulgate. Apparently made by the folks at Search & Destroy, it was shot in 1978 by Mindaugis Bagdon at the March 21 benefit for striking Kentucky coal miners at the Mabuhay Gardens. It includes appearances by the Avengers, Dils, Mutants, Sleepers, and UXA, and if you're lucky, you can grab a copy on DVD here.

Big Takeover Magazine 30th Anniversary events

Big Takeover issue #1, 1980

It's almost difficult to type out, but for the last 30(!) years(!), my friend Jack Rabid has been publishing the Big Takeover magazine twice a year, like clockwork. For a long, long time, the BT has been my number one US source for new records, live shows, and music press in general. I wrote reviews for the mag from the mid 80's into the early 90's, and I'll always be grateful to Jack for his open mindedness, love for the music, and friendship. Long may you roll, Jack...congratulations!

In July, Jack will be hosting a two day festival celebrating the anniversary. There's lots of information to follow, so read carefully. I hope to see you there.

Announcing The Big Takeover 30th Anniversary Festival/Party at The Bell House, Brooklyn, Friday And Saturday July 30-31, 2010

16 BANDS! ONLY $40 FOR A TWO DAY PASS! ($25 for one night)

Celebrating 30 years of American's oldest indie-produced music magazine.

MC for the weekend: founder/editor/publisher Jack Rabid

Tickets on sale now! (Hurry, this may well sell out! Admission is 18+) first day pass, second day pass or two day passes available.

Come join us to mark the occasion and see:

FRIDAY JULY 30
- The Avengers (Reformed S.F. '70s punk legends, with two original members, singer Penelope Houston and guitarist Greg Ingraham)
- Channel 3 (Early 80s L.A. punks!)
- Visqueen (Female-led Seattle post-punk rockers' first East Coast shows in 5 years)
- Springhouse (First show with original lineup in 8 years, playing a normal set)
- Libertines U.S. (Reformed Cincinnati '80s greats first-ever NY show)
- Flower (New York postpunk band’s reunion gig. first show in 16 years! Later split into two bands, Versus and French!)
- EDP (New York’s hard-hitting, Jam-like, mod revival band)

And more acts to be announced! Buy tickets now for this show for $25, or buy a two-day pass for $40


SATURDAY JULY 31
- Mark Burgess (England's Chameleons star. Acoustic and full band!)
- For Against (Lincoln, NE post-punk legends' first East Coast show in 15 years)
- Springhouse (Playing their second LP, Postcards From the Arctic, start to finish for the first time ever; first shows with original lineup in 8 years)
- The Sleepover Disaster (Fresno shoegaze wonders' first-ever East Coast appearance)
- Don McGlashan (ex-leader of New Zealand’s Mutton Birds in his only U.S. appearance)
- Jon Auer (Seattle’s Posies star and 17-year Big Star member)
- Astrid Williamson (English singer-songwriter extraordinaire)
- The Sharp Things (New York's acclaimed orchestral poppers!)
- Paul Collins (Former member of The Nerves, their "Hanging on the Telephone" was famously covered by Blondie, and of Paul Collins’ Beat)
- The Curtain Society (Veteran Boston shoegazers, also backing Burgess for part of his set)

And more acts to be announced! Buy tickets now for this show for $25, or buy a two-day pass for $40


Big Takeover issue #65, 2009

NOTES:

Festival Food: No exits will be final, and there will be food.

Area Accommodations: The event is in the Park Slope / Gowanus Canal section of Brooklyn, five miles from Manhattan, and only 20 minutes by subway from Manhattan. Click here for a list of hotels in the area (note - these are not recommendations).

Help the bands! Since there's no way we can pay each of the 12 non-local bands the entirety of their large travel expenses, in order to help some of them recoup, our friend Wayne Guskind suggested we take donations for them in addition to the ticket price. He even started it off by donating $100. If anyone else wants to do that, can do that via Paypal to jrabid[@]bigtakeover.com (specify "personal payment" if you can, to help avoid the 3% Paypal fee), or send a check made out to The Big Takeover at 356 4th St. Brooklyn, NY 11215. If you'd rather use Visa or MasterCard, email Jack and he can walk you through it, as that's a little trickier.

We will list the donors at the event (including anyone who wants to be listed as "anonymous" or donate in another person's name), but of course, no one has to donate.

The hippies dig some punk

Things got pleasantly all punk rock this week over at Wolfgang's Vault...Here's a preview, including cuts from the Nuns & the Avengers when they opened for the Sex Pistols at their last show in San Francisco in January 1978. Everything is kicked off, fittingly enough, by the MC5's spiritual advisor, Brother J.C. Crawford.

MC5 at the Grande Ballroom 10/30/1968:


The Avengers & the Nuns at Winterland 1/14/1978 opening for the Sex Pistols:




The Sex Pistols at Winterland 1/14/1978:


The Runaways at the Palladium (NYC) 1/7/1978:


X at L'Amour (Brooklyn) 11/26/1983:

the Avengers

Visit Punkcast.com for a look at 2 songs performed at their storming CBGB set a few weeks before it closed - We Are the one, and White Nigger.

Avengers, from San Francisco, had a brief but stellar career from 1977-1979, playing over 100 shows, including opening for the original Sex Pistols last show. They never, however, made it out of California. Since then the anthemic nature of their songs and the strong personality of singer Penelope Houston have made them enduring punk heroes, particularly to New York's own NY Rel-x, who cover more than one of their tunes (See Punkcast#25) - played regularly at CBGB's. So, when in 2006, a reformed Avengers with Ms Houston and original guitarist Greg Ingraham did finally make the trek across the country to play the hallowed shithole themselves, 27 years later, punks were coming out of the woodwork. They weren't disappointed, Avengers played a blinder - thrashing out 19 songs one after the other, including their hits, and a couple of great covers - the Stones' 'Paint It Black', and Beatles 'Money'. Penelope complained about New York magazine - they'd described her as 'spry', she would have preferred an adjective like 'ferocious'. With reason, as I think you'll see in the clips. I've picked two songs - the show's opener - "We Are The One" and the very popular "White Nigger".