September 2025 – The Seminary of Praying Mantis Publishing

Click on the image to order T-shirt.

I had a weird experience with ChatGPT. I recently got pro. I use it as a tool. I call it Franky after Frankenstein’s monster. I wanted to superimpose a new t-shirt I designed on an image of me. It would not do it. As the statement was anti-Trump? Well ya?

So I cancelled my pro. It was startling… time to ponder this.

Censorship, Franky said no to me.

The freedom of “free speech and political protest” is our constitutional right?

“The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects freedom of speech, stating that “Congress shall make no law…abridging freedom of speech”. It also protects the freedom of the press, assembly, and the right to petition the government. The First Amendment’s protections include:

Symbolic speech: The right to wear black armbands to protest war in school

Offensive language: The right to use certain offensive words to convey political messages

Political contributions: The right to contribute money to political campaigns under certain circumstances

Commercial speech: The right to advertise commercial products and professional services with some restrictions

Religious freedom: The right to choose any religious faith or none at all

The right to not speak: The right to not salute the flag ….”

(The original image of Winston Churchill is a real historic public “Access image”)

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

The bass sound was off all night at the Hollywood Palladium. A kind of thorn in my side I had to endure.

Hey where is everybody?

My transitional period moving away from Flipside and our staff, and small family hub… was between these two issues. I am visiting them for the first time. Even though I have these issues in my collection. It is difficult to meet up with people at shows sometimes ‘cause that time period is contained in flashbacks of pain, growth and finding my real individuality.

Last night I met someone from Claw Hammer I believe. Like other people who I remember, yet sometimes people’s faces merge with bands and all the correspondence I had back then.

I apologize, yet please do put up a hello and remind me … I love putting all the puzzles in my brain together. My heartfelt thanks to being at a show last night that brought up so many memories, but also the good feelings of belonging to a real scene… it is still happening in a way, even the punker ghosts of those who have died are still floating around. I felt closer to them on the balcony looking out of the bar window than to the overall show.

Ceremony

Because once long ago I was in the crowd all the time or backstage with the bands. Now I was hovering over it all in a safe place above the show. I am grateful for this to be sure.

I did go down and walked through the fans. So many ages and band logos. Party time was real. Screaming and a kind of warm embrace of a world that is still rattling around in my psyche.

Before I went back to the balcony, I saw a large kid with a leather jacket sporting a GBH T-Shirt. We talked a bit, and I said,

“Are you going to see GBH this October at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles?”

He said no he could not make it. Yet they were one of his favorite bands. I told him mine too and I gave him a high-five with a loud slap.

We were all Hollywood punks, in my mind, fans enjoying another show. A youthful rebellion, our souls are ageless.