(New edit 3/17/2023)
Dix Denney
The Weirdos at Cobalt Café (rip) Canoga Park, CA. Aug. 2014
“Such knowledge is too wonderful For me,
To wonderful for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your Presence?
I go up to the heavens, you are There;
If I make my bed in the depths, You are there;
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me Fast”
~Psalm 138:2 New International Version
My heart aches and I feel guilty. I think upon what Ross Lomas bass player for the punk band GBH said to me once,
“That is no excuse… I have seen punks on their deathbeds at shows. If you are sick, we can put you in a wheelchair and roll you backstage!!”
Ironically, this quote from Psalms is how I feel about Punk Rock. Exactly! How can this be? Is Punk Rock God to me? Yes, it is, in a sense it is to me. Where can I go from the punk rock spirit? It is true it will not let me forget it! If I make my bed in the depths, punk rock is there.
As many others who were taken up by it, punk rock gave me a voice and said.
“do it.”
If Punk Rock is dying to popular culture, this has no bearing on me. Punk Rock is an accountable community.
Punk Rock is a cultural underground musical phenomenon of holy sound. A spirit that rock & rolls around this planet. It is a rogue wave that generates change. However, you plug into it, Punk Rock is a continuity that identifies a generation and so moves on in different ways.
I may not always be true to it; I often hide from it…but when I try to… it finds me again. I rise on the wings of dawn. Inspired and filled with that spirit of Punk Rock again.
I was enlightened in an alley, where beer, anarchy and music became my God.
To those that are vastly superior …those in bands, fans and, that strange brew called record collectors, I salute you.
AMEN!!
So, what is all this Mambo Jumbo about? One of the original Los Angeles Punk Rock bands is playing around. I have been avoiding them.
“That club is too far to drive to”
Or
“I have to get up early the next day and take my kids to school!”
My heart aches and I feel guilty. I think upon what Ross Lomas, bass player of the punk band GBH, said to me once,
“That is no excuse… I have seen punks on their deathbed at shows. If you are sick, we can put you in a wheelchair and roll you backstage!!”
This is the punk rock accountability I was talking about. I have been but no can no longer avoid The Weirdos because they are going to play a few blocks from my house.
“If I settle on the far side of the sea, Even there your hand will guide me.”
This is a punk rock confessional!!
Now for some oysters before the big meal…. enthusiasm!!!
Weirdos Enjoy the BIG PUNK ROCK 1984 the real deal
Flipside Radio Tape Number Nine.
This tape was released around 38 years ago. Where a process of recording, organizing, mailing, and airing tapes live turned out to be an extraordinarily successful project indeed !!… Wow!! Projects took some time back in the 1980s. All sent through our post office box. The Flipside post office was a busy place in Whittier California.
One little, tiny post office box oversaw vast number of gifts. Which consisted of records, mail, ads, and money. It was like Christmas every day. Then there was the Post Office Master. A lady that I hated at first but who turned out to leave little gifts for us in our P.O. Box each Christmas season. She thought we were weird at first with our wild ways… but later she became a part of our unofficial crew in her own dependable way. Enjoy a cameo appearance by Henry Rollins.
To Mr. Cliff Roman….too