Calendar Entry: Goteblüd Opening!

Zinesters! Goteblud is opening for business in the Mission equipped with vintage zines and other publications. I have not been, but I hope it rocks.

From the site:

Grand opening party May 8th, 2009 from 7-9pm – be there!!

Goteblüd is a gallery/store located at 766 Valencia, in San Francisco’s Mission District.

We buy/sell vintage fanzines and underground magazines and also have
periodic shows related to self-publishing.

Goteblüd is also the home of Goteblüd Comics, publisher of Wuvable Oaf.

Store hours are weekends only, Sat/Sun 12-5pm.

Bring your cat.

An quick interview with Jack Boulware…

Jack Boulware doesnt have much time these days, as he is finishing up his book a la oral history about Punk in the Bay Area (circa 1976-1998) - scheduled for an October release (check it out here). He kindly took some time to respond to a couple questions that I am constantly thinking about re:my thesis project. His responses prove very helpful to framing my research…read on

(ks)With the decrease of venue space in SF during the 1990s, what alternatives did Punk rock seek out?

(jb) we talked a lot about this while we put together the book. the east
bay still has punk shows, but what happened to punk in SF? it turns
out, at least from our perspective, that in the city, punk attached
itself to other forms of entertainment. it got more organized. the
bands were not always in the forefront, but definitely the music was
still there, and the attitude was retained. things appeared like
incredibly strange wrestling, a punk-rock show of luche libre
wrestling, comedy, and punk bands. circus redickulus, a punk-rock
sideshow circus. cyclecide — the festival/rodeo for bicyclists and
punk bands.

you could even argue that the extra action marching band, suicide
girls, the hot rod-burlesque-tattoo-swing renaissance that occurred,
those people were largely punk rockers who were a bit older, and still
wanted to have fun but in a calmer atmosphere than punk. there’s still
a costume to put on, and a crowd of similarly-dressed people you can
socialize with. the bands that were still playing punk-style music
seemed to be absorbed by rock clubs. for instance, the dwarves will
still play in SF, at the bottom of the hill, and the next night, the
club will have a metal band, or alt-country, or whatever.

over in the east bay, a bunch of disillusioned gilman kids went and
formed their own punk festival, the geekfest, hosting a weekend of
punk bands in the middle of nowhere, all camping out, listening to
music. that went on for several years. the east bay rats, the gang of
motorcycle guys who build their own rat bikes from parts, regularly
host parties and initiations, and punk bands play those shows. and of
course, the east bay still has regular shows at gilman, warehouse
spaces, house parties — all that still goes on today.

we covered some of this stuff in our book, and ended up cutting it for
space, it was a bit off-topic. but it was fascinating to see what
happened, at least in the bay area.

(ks)Aside from unneccesary appropriation (ie the Hot Topic variety), where do you see punk motives and actions occuring in our current cultural and urban landscape?

(jb)silke my co-author will have more to say on this. for myself, i think
punk has now transcended what it used to mean. punk rock is now a
flavor, an adjective that everyone can agree on its meaning. fast,
loud, fun, fuck shit up, etc. we see NOFX in their own reality TV
show, we see young bands emulating a retro 80s-hardcore aesthetic. we
see bands like pennywise, offspring, bad religion, circle jerks,
rancid, green day, all still on tour and releasing records. and yet at
the same time, “punk rock” is not a category on iTunes. as a music
genre it doesn’t appear to have lasted. as a flavor, style, mentality
– it will always exist. kids will be wearing ramones t-shirts for
decades to come.

DIY culture doesn’t mean much anymore in america. software engineers
have allowed all of us to design and build our own websites, blogs,
facebook pages, audio and video playlists. the retail world allows us
to design our own clothing, cars, books, even our cup of coffee can be
personalized. everyone is customizing their own life, every day. if
you want to break it down further, the people responsible for the
computer revolution — 60s acidhead math nerds — actually paved the
path for future generations, by creating a mentality of how humans
might use computers. early-adopter DIY types picked up the technology
ahead of most, and pushed that culture even further. so now, young
people are growing up in this world where the tools are all around
them, to customize their own life. program your phone, mix your music,
bookmark your sites, twitter your friends, create your own avatar
icon. i it’s very easy to think you are an enlightened autonomous soul
if you have the software. and that must be frustrating, i think, for
young people who want something more.

where you see this come into play for real — is outside the U.S. if
you’re a blogger in cuba, or malaysia, or china, you’re using this
technology to disseminate information that people genuinely need to
hear. these people actually risk going to jail, by using the internet
to spread the truth about government oppression and human rights
violations. that to me is a radical, relevant, and dangerous use of
technology. here in the fat and lazy US, we use it to email each other
video clips of kittens and puppies.

one of the newer trends that i see, having some ideological roots in
punk rock, is the handmade scene, the maker faire, make magazine,
readymade magazine world of creativity. The excitement around building
homemade things, showing them off to others. there’s an element of
smart culture-jamming and upending the status quo, that smells new and
unique to me.

(ks)With the rise of Internet culture, do you see any punk (or radical) activity occuring on the web that is comprable to the practices of punk activity, of say, the late 1970s?

(jb)well, hacking is the obvious one, but that’s been going on for so long
it’s not really considered punk. the concept of organizing flash mobs
has some punk community anarchy about it. i’m sure there are pockets
of punk activity occurring online, if one were to seek it out. but
that excitement and fear combination that punk rock injected into the
mainstream culture in the late 70s — i was in high school at the time
– i haven’t seen that since. we see excitement — girls screaming
over bland musicians like the jonas brothers. we see fear — alarmist
news about terrorists and the economy. but we don’t see that
combination of the two so much anymore. also, anything that appears
online is instantly considered dated and therefore must be ignored.
look at any website from the 1990s, we would rather laugh at its
remedial HTML design than understand, or remember, why it was put up
in the first place. people will still dig out their own punk records
because it reminds them of actual shows they saw, fights they
witnessed, physical visceral experiences. it’s a very different
feeling to revisit something online that might have once yanked your
chain, if there’s not a memory attached to it that occurred in the
real physical world.

some of the people in our book talked about what was going to be the
next big thing? even in the 80s, people were dissecting this — what
is going to come after hip hop and punk? what new style of music is
going to push the culture to the next level? their conclusion was, it
hasn’t really happened yet.

of course, there’s several definitions of punk rock. for some people,
it’s political activism. for others, it’s getting fucked up and
breaking things. or fast and loud with cookie monster vocals. or
having charged hair and the proper clothes.

 

SF Article on Music circa dot-com…

http://www.sfbg.com/37/34/cover_history.html

2003, by Josh Wilson

“Though the ’90s-era Mission was home to a thriving community, it did not occur in a vacuum. Tangential happenings and institutions flourished, part of a confluence of and infrastructure for homegrown, urban, do-it-yourself creativity. KFJC, KALX, KZSU, and KUSF (where this writer DJs) delivered the emerging soundtrack of the era to Bay Area listeners starved for adventurous music. Burning Man was still a lawless punk-pyro and machine-art utopia, and San Francisco Art Institute superheroine Warrior Girl’s 24-Hour Community Spacewalk orchestrated a colossal, simultaneous display of interactive, round-the-clock art, music, and performance on dozens of street corners in the Mission and South of Market for two years running. “

…

But even as the community gathered momentum, things began to disintegrate.

 

“I think it was a plan…. Slowly but surely you watched all the police and the officials align to ‘clean up the Mission’ by getting rid of the riff-raff” and making room for expensive real estate development, Shagawat said. “They started by closing the Komotion. The man who ran Komotion, Jeff Mann, was a genius and an awesome guy, and he was so devastated by it. He was very hip to the politics way before me and was warning me and telling me this was going down.”

More SF Venues…

Tool & Die (974 valencia)

On Broadway (435 broaway) 

330 Grove Street

Club Foot (Dogpatch, 3rd street)

the temple (1839 Geary)

the deaf club (17th & valencia)

the cinema (6th & market)

the elite club (1803/1805 geary)

162 turk

the farm (1499 portrero)

Working Timeline…

(from Gimarc, George. Punk Diary: The Ultimate Trainspotters Guide to Underground Rock, 1970-1982. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2005.)

July 13, 1976: SNIFFIN GLUE = new zine (33)

August 29, 1976: Clash first public gig with Sex Pistols & Buzzcocks on the Green in Islington (36)

December 31, 1976: Desperate Bicycles debut at Eric’s in Liverpol (49)

January 6, 1977: Crime releases single “But You’re so Repulsive” (50)

January 29. 1977: Buzzcocks’ Spiral Scratch is released – their self-made record of their own New Hormones label. 1000 press release credited as one of first self-made records of the underground movement (52)

March 12, 1977: “Devo makes their debut on their own Booji-Boy label with ‘Mongoloid’ and ‘Jocko Homo.’ (58)

April 23, 1977: Desperate Bicylces: “…state their motivefor being a band…’specifically for the purbpose of recording and releasing a single on their own label.’ They booked a studio in Dalson for three hours and with a lot of courage and a little rehearsal the recorded ‘Smokescreen’ and ‘Handlebars.’ Total cost of the studio, single and printing was (pounds)153. THey cut the tracks back in April and the wait’s finally over. It’s released on their own Refill Records label. It is such a budget operation that the sleeve is a monochrome of a Bicycle Wheel printed on one side only; the single has only one printed label on one side only and the two tracks on the ‘A’ side are repeated on the flip. [...] There is a limited edition of 500 copies, with the potential of being re-pressed if it sells.” (62-3)

June 15, 1977: NME runs ANOTHER review on the proliferation of fanzines (71)

August 21, 1976 & August 5, 1977: = The Mont de Marsan Punk Festival in France (81)

September 1, 1977: The Weirdos are busy in studio “with Ramones producer Craig Leon recording their debut single, and it’s out now on Greg Shaw’s indie Bomp Records.” (86)

September 7, 1977: “Fanzines are featured in a double page spread this week in Sounds.”

September 20, 1977: Dils single out “I Hate the Rich” on What Records. “They appear in the Cheech & Chong movie Up in Smoke in a brief scene playing ‘You’re Not Blank.’ Filmed at the Roxy, the intent was to capture, on film, some really awful bands in a battle of the bands that Cheech & Chong would win.” (89)

October 15, 1977: The Blank Generation on the NY punk scene is screened in London (95)

October 15, 1977: Germs live album released from Mohawk Records called “Germicide” (96)

December 1, 1977: Crime second single released “Frustration” (105)

December 29, 1977: Dils new album “198 Seconds of the Dils” released

January 14, 1978: SEX PISTOLS @ Winterland w/ Slaughter & the Dogs, The Nuns & the Avengers – opened show up with movie Number 1

January 16, 1978: Sid Vicious ODs on a mattress in Haight Ashbury and barely makes it (113) Sex Pistols demise….

March 29, 1978: The Weirdos release new 45 “We Got the Neutron Bomb” out of Kitchen Sync 8track studio

April 25, 1978: 100 club decides not to book punk bands anymore due to graffiti & property damage (134)

May 3 1978: Readymades debut (former Avenger and Crime members) on Automatic Records (picked up at Mabuhay gardens as opener)

135)

May 12, 1978: The Germs’ “Lexicon Devil” is released through Slash magzines record label. recorded with Weirdos drummer and available by mail order only (not stores) (137)

July 10, 1978: The Last out of LA release record on their own Backlash Records (146)

July 19, 1978: Dead Kennedy’s premier in SF after Jello Biafra returns from London having witnessed the punk explosion. (147)

July 22, 1978: another NME Fanzine spread, now including American fanzines (148)

July 28 1978: mention of DIY band the Freshies with their record label Razz Record Company

September 8 1978: “Club Closings: Things are getting more and more difficult for UK club owners. Newcastle clubs are having difficulty getting bands to play because of increased violence at some punk gigs. Recently the Glasgow Apollo has decided not to allow any more live rock shows. In London, the Red Cow closed recently at the insistence of the local councilor, The Speakeasy closed because of problems with patrons and drugs and The 100 Club banned all punk bands back in April. Now some new problems are arising. The Musician’s Union are demanding that all musicians receive an elevated hourly minimum. This is causing problems for the Marquee. The Rochester Castle has lost itslive music license and will no longer have bands playing and in Leeds, The Fan Club is not allowed live bands under their new liquor license. The difficulties of finding a club, no matter how willing, to support local music, are increasing.” (156)

Sep 14, 1978: Scritti Politti mentioned as DIY band from Leeds (158)

March 18, 1979: “Fanzines: There’s a huge crop of fanzines littering the doorways and racks of independent record shops these days. They cover the gamut from self xeroxed two page missives to elaborate, slick typeset magazines that appear with alarming regularity. Most are priced from ten to twenty-five pence, and will give you great, street level insight into over the top fan enthusiasm.” (193)

May 1, 1979: The Raincoats, re: new album on Rough Trade Records. “The Whole effort is very DIY with labels that appear to be handwritten, a xeroxed insert and low budget sleeve.” (203)

1976-1986 = Mabuhay Gardens. (trans. Welcome Gardens, a filipino restaurant and club) (source: wikipedia )

Talking with J. Rivera (6/26/08)

link i found that correlates with my talking with Jason. (scrapbook of punk bands playing in SF)

Punk Venues in SF/Bay Area:

• On Broadway
• Death Pub?
• The Farm (late 80’s)
• 924 Gilman (late 80’s)
• Keystone (late 80’s)
• Fun Terminal – arcade/venue/The Mutants (fritz fox, name of album)
• Ruthie’s Inn (Berkeley)
• Wolfgang’s
• Stargaze (Fremont, 80’s too, I think)
• The Omni (80’s)
• Echo Beach
• Mabuhay
• I Beam

Records/Recording:

• Aquarius/Rather Ripped
• 415 Records

Bands/People:

• Deborah Lyle
• Nyna Napalm Crawford & The VKTMS
• Romeo Voy
• Pearl Harbor and the Explosions (also)
• The Contractions
• The Stirrups (listed here)
• The Readymades
• The Nuns
• Crime (page)
• Mike Ness (social distortion, apt/venue in fullerton)

The Quake Radio station.

Scribbled Notes:

• Translator –> Nights of Keno -> The Fab Mob
• Linden Street Festival
• Stan Ridgeway/Penelope Houston -> Waller Video

Great Article on ‘Infoshops’

http://www.infoshop.org/texts/infoshop_chuck.html

 

 

Meeting with Julian

Political/Place specificities: UK in the 1970’s or US 1970’s. (Specifically post 68)

Riot Grrrl is clearly working in a post 89 political economy.

Also it is more specifically an urban movement (need to verify this) but definitely migrated to the urban arena from the suburbs. What are the tensions that exist in this migration?

Is it possible to do a spatial theorisation of punk feminism? And what does this entail?

(What are the tensions between self-theorization and actual production of space?)

(What are the issues of cyberfeminisms non presence in everyday streets?)

 

Regarding technologies:

Older: Mailing List Culture, zines, phone trees, networked venues

Newer: myspace/websites, event list serves (tons!), second life, blogs

The modes of organizing these social networks have changed dramatically. What is lost here?

(Clearchannel, real estate, the internet) Decentered world, scattered.

 

Recommendations:

Spaces – Chamelion, Firehouse in Mission, Epicenter Zone(also, and also)

Bands/People – Mark Perry, Tuxedo Moon, The Avengers, SST (LA), Desperate Bicycles, Miranda July (Canyon Cinema, Joanie 4 Jackie, Learning to Love you More)

Zine – Snarla, that one by Le Tigre

Books/Authors – Resisting the Virtual Life (book, last chapter), Jane Jacobs (author), Reclaiming San Francisco (book), Rip It Up and Start Again (book by Simon Reynolds), 921 Gilman Book

Collective/Circle (circa Andy Warhol in Greenwich Village) – Semina Culture (60’s zine, and also)

 

**specificity**

San Francisco Punk Scene…

V.Vale interview with Jon Dale

RE/Search Publications (past events)

Mabuhay Gardens

The Avengers – Penelope Houston (SFAI grad)

“Counterculture Hour” (TV show) on Cable Channel 29