Todd Blanche
Month: February 2026
Why I started my own publishing house, unique as my fingerprints.
Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant
Hudley Flipside
“We become more characteristic of who we are simply by lasting into later years; the older we become, the more our true natures emerge.”
~ James Hillman
I was filled with a huge amount of energy today. So, I decided to clean my office bookshelves. Ya know how things sometimes get put on the shelves. Precious items that get dirty and block the books. So today I put the precious items in a box and will put them away for a while. So, I can access my books more efficiently.
Oh, some are missing like the few I gave to a gal to look over before an interview. I never did the interview last year due to being sick. I was so sick after the California fires. I am going to have to ask for them back soon.
Then I saw one book American Hardcore a Tribal History by Steven Blush. Glory glory Feral House Press. Why I started my own publishing house.
I remember being on Stig Stench Radio with Blush and Edward Colver. It was fun but they did the talking and complained about stuff. Ed stating in the past how his Photos were used without being responsibly sourced. And those images sold for profit. I told them both about how I saw my photo not sourced in the above book correctly. For an author and publisher, we make a lot of mistakes.
The Black Flag at The Church, Summer 1979 appears on page 49 of his book. I requested photo credit, noting that my name is listed as the photographer in the original Flipside Fanzine issue, which serves as the source material. They both brushed me off.
I took a lot of images in Flipside Fanzine. Al is a great punk photographer, but he did not take that one. It is included in our Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine Anniversary Issue a full-page image; ya I get full credit for that one a direct copy of the original image from Flipside Fanzine.
For Keith Morris’s 70th birthday I sent him a copy of the image along with others I took of him. Sweet and rebellious memories of when punk rock was just punk rock. I remember the term Hardcore when it became known and was coined. I still hate the term.
I really brought the image to the next level when I was asked for some images for the film 20th Century Women. I could have given them a lot of my photos but instead just gave him this one. It is nicely framed in the film, and I get full credit in the ending credits to the sound of the Buzzcocks.
It was one of those moments while sitting with my two sons to see the film where I felt acknowledged for my dedication and love of punk rock. I thought to myself,
“I showed them.”
Furthermore, Blush and Edward Colver most likely don’t even know about my film endeavor for full credit, who knows, but Keith was aware of the image and got recognition with the original Black Flag.
The film’s creator grew up in the punk scene and gets both the issue and women’s perspectives. Well, done, Mike Mills!
“Character is as unique as your fingerprint and as we age, it can often surface in interesting and unusual ways and at unexpected moments.”
~ James Hillman
Share this:
Sun Bear
Only the last few weeks a memory came forth. Days on the east coast living in Rochester New York. Taking the bus to see my patients as a Home Health Aide. Trained through the Red Cross.
There was a bus stop there where I would stop between buses. A coffee shop. It was small with a round platform. I would get a piece of pie and cup of coffee.
Here is where I met Betty MaCusic.
I was sitting alone and she sat next to me. Then she asked me a question,
“Are those Kachinas on your arm?”
They were two figures, tattoos, that do resemble Kachinas.
This is where a beautiful friendship grew over the years. Even until I moved back to California.
We talked about Native Americans, and the Medicine Wheel. A name came up that amazed her.
“Yes, I met Sun Bear. I went to a Medicine Wheel Gathering in the late 80s.”
I told her it was in northern California where I went for a week to a Medicine Wheel gathering. It was near the Russian River in Northern California. I was dropped off while the rest of the Flipside Crew went back to San Fransico for a show and distribution of our fanzine. Staying with Maximumrocknroll.
She told me her story. That her son and daughter-in-law were fans of Sun Bear. They did a recording for him of singing and drumming. They sent a tape to him. But they never got a reply. That saddened me. Later their marriage did not last and they divorced.
The probability of us meeting and talking about Sun Bear is a remarkable one. Now I realize that somehow, I was meant to assure them that the Medicine Wheel is real and part of our connection. I met her son but only briefly.
I don’t know where I found his original book published in the 1980s. But this is one that was published when I was in fact living in Rochester New York. Funny how I did not make this connection until recently.
It has been on my mind lately.
Sun Bear often said that “Shit Happens.”
He told me a story once where many people would call him and ask for help with their life problems. He would listen for a long time. Not sharing a word. Then he would break the conversation with these words,
“Go out into your garden. Dig a big deep hole. Throw some seeds into that deep hole. Then scream everything into the hole. Everything you just told me. Cover it up and see what grows.”
Then he would hang up.
It is amazing to think about how a book, place or person was found back in the middle of the 1980s. I guess following one’s intuition and going to the local bookstore was a way to find new things. I did a lot of correspondence back then. Writing, reading, and meeting people.
While I appreciate the ease of finding information today, I am surprised at my past experience of taking a bus to patients’ homes in Rochester and how I managed to find and attend appointments without even knowing the area. I was always on time.
