Finalist In Art Competition: Superior and the best of human nature.

I have often been afraid or uneasy or did not believe in competition. The means of doing anything is an obligation I took for myself and the world a long time ago. Acknowledgement is a new feeling for me, and I like it.

What really turns me on here is that so many countries unite through sharing their art in a competition without hate or dismay. That the world can join here in peace and beauty and reflection.

This is so good. That is why I love my WordPress site. It lets individuals communicate all around the world. Communication is the key to peace and though we can get angry, expression is always best. Creative expression is our superior and the best of human nature.


* I placed as a Finalist in the April 2023 Competition. So much art… yet the renegotiation is satisfying. Below is the inspiration. A quote from a book.


“One day, having noticed my covetous gaze, he presented me with a tiny golden pendant of my own-two bees entwined together around a tiny honeycomb. It glistened in the sun light, so rich and burnished that I thought the minute drop of honey would melt and slide away in the heat.”

Daedalus gives Ariadne a gift. ~ Ariadne Page 7, by Jennifer Saint.


It says pencil in the competition. It is pencil, sharpie pen ink and watercolor.



“Entries from many countries across the world: South Korea, Hong Kong, Ukraine, USA, Taiwan, Austria, Italy, Canada, Poland, Singapore, South Africa and Portugal. Enjoy the show and thank you for expressing an interest in our competition.”

https://www.greycubegallery.com/current-show/index.html



Flipside Fanzine, My Aim Is True

1980 Hudley


My obligation to Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine. (1977 to 2002)

As a co-publisher, editor of Flipside Fanzine I hold to my heart a need to protect and preserve the memory of this Fanzine. Being its roughly 20 years of existence.

How it is presented to the world is important to me. At one time Flipside Fanzine supported a beginning and then growing underground, and international, punk rock scene.  

Over the last few years, I have had bands, record labels, writers and major movie companies approach me for images for their work and/or production pertaining to Flipside Fanzine. I engage the many demands in a proper and organized manner.

There is not another Flipside person who has stepped forward to engage this pressure.

My intentions are good for Flipside Fanzine, and I will continue to protect it as best I can. I hold good integrity too. I can choose with whom I share or sell things from this Fanzine.

Be it the fanzine itself, videos, or records. I am under an umbrella of protection, and I can release things for such productions as I always mention those involved at the time if they are dead, or otherwise, or do not want to be bothered. Flipside was a fast moving fanzine with many who did willfully engage freely in its creative life time.

I love Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine. It is ironic to me, but Flipside’s created products become more precious with time. Everything Flipside “produced and created” is becoming more in demand.

In its publishing history there have only been two owners of Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine, its “living publishing time,” Al Flipside (Al Kowalewski) and me Hudley Flipside (Holly D Cornell).

I promise to do my best with all of Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine documented materials and all products over its full life. Yet now it is a defunct fanzine and we only see it as a history of what once was and so many of its creations still shine in many corners of the world.

My Aim Is True,

Hudley Flipside / Holly D Cornell

The Seminary of Praying Mantis Publishing

hudleyflipside@gmail.com

https://hudleyflipside.com


Art Mineral Film


Do you remember those art films you watched in class in elementary school. They got me to wondering just like a mystery or scary film. So, I decided to engage those memories with my own art mineral film.

Youngest son had to go study minerals and gems … a fun day at the LA Museum but both the LA Memorial Coliseum and Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County are surrounded by poverty and such a treacherous drive to get there.

The duality of life is witnessed! Many older women wait at the bus stop, as fast cars cut corners in the pursuit of oblivion? Strange dark corners in old broken apartments hold desperation or reflection as I see!

In return the big rich donors to the museum are great, as the surrounding community lacks such concern!

Happy unaware children and babies and a history of preservation even on a hooked tip of a once weaponized airplane!



The beetle bug and the worm, it turned out pleasant for them.

Beetle Bug in our garden.


beetle bug

After opening the bathroom drawer up on the Q-Tips box was a large beetle bug. I think we both were surprised. I swooped it up to the ground and got my two sleeping kitty girls. I know this is their favorite pass time going after bugs that enter the house. I am guilty because I’m prejudice on how cats think over the needs of this bug.

As the two girls altered to attention and moved towards the bug it was not a long chase. Seems beetle turned around and pinched one of the girls. End of their engagement. Yet over the week the two kitties did keep beetle bug in the bathroom.

Youngest son and I did some cleaning in the bathroom and did not find beetle bug. So, I put a small plastic container in the bathroom in case the bug showed up.

Beetle bug was there one day in the bottom closet and seemed to be waiting for me. Husband and I caught the bug and put the creature outside on the grass near the rosemary bush.

Hungry as if the beetle bug came upon the biggest smorgasbord in town. Embracing a purple anarchy flower, grass and leaves, this beetle bug’s feast began. Beautiful little beetle bug is now free.


worm

While walking around the block. A break from the rain. I saw a worm halfway across the cement walkway. Knowing about other people walking, dogs and wild things, it seemed like this little creation did not have much of a chance of survival. I often find rolled up ones dried from the heat.

I tried to gently hold the little worm that was very long. He was slimy, grey, and untouchable. So, I grabbed a small leaf and got him and softly put him on the earth near a bush.

The worm slowly moved with all its body’s muscles into the darkness of the earth. Only leaving the tip of a tail. I smiled and touched it saying loudly,

“BOOP!”

With boundless rapidity the little worm pulled a worm tail into the safety of the dark grassy earth and was gone.


Title X funding


If women and men and all those in between and around, don’t fight for their rights, be it small or major world changing … unfortunately there are nut jobs ready to take over the world in a very unfair, crazy, and fascist way. Most of them have lost their ability to discern and hold to a propaganda or support system that is a dark, fear inspired, hate and stupidity blended homogeneous in their coffee coffee. They are drinking it down…


No American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.

~ Richard Nixon


Dorothea: What is that?

Abbie: It’s The Raincoats.

Dorothea: Can’t things just be pretty?

Jamie: Pretty music is used to hide how unfair and corrupt society is.

Dorothea: Ah, okay so… they’re not very good, and they know that, right?

Abbie: Yeah, it’s like they’ve got this feeling, and they don’t have any skill, and they don’t want skill, because it’s really interesting what happens when your passion is bigger than the tools you have to deal with it. It creates this energy that’s raw. Isn’t it great?

~ 20th Century Women


When I was growing up my dad would not let us talk politics, religion, or science fiction. We lived in a male dominated world and that was how it was. When the 70’s hit things started to change. When the civil rights movement grasped the main media in the late 1960s and the women’s rights movement in the 1970s, it changed the main media exchange and life became a real lesson on our human rights.

“Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion.”

As a young lady Planned Parenthood clinics became available to us all over the USA and beyond.

“Planned Parenthood has received federal funding since 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed into law the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act, amending the Public Health Service Act. Title X of that law provides funding for family planning services, including contraception and family planning information. The law had support from both Republicans and Democrats. Nixon described Title X funding as based on the premise that “no American woman should be denied access to family planning assistance because of her economic condition.”

I have a friend who I grew up with who plays by the extreme conservative playbook. Where civil rights and a woman’s rights are changing for the worst. She did not want to have children, so she consciously got sterilized. When I was about 18 after being group raped and then having an abortion, I too almost took that measure. Yet I am glad I did not. I now have two sons that I can’t imagine living life without.

Now in some states she could not have that right to choose, nor I for that matter. God did not strike us down for our decisions.

Yet now she supports a political agenda hurriedly ascending to take away those rights, well it does not make sense.

It is like seeing a big image of Nixon on the back of a stage with Kari Lake foaming at the mouth with her anti humanity propaganda. They don’t make sense. It is absurd.

How do you reason with a drunk dad who is calling you a moron when you want to watch Star Trek.? You can’t.

20th Century Women (2016) was not a big film, but it holds a high degree of foresight about what was coming and is right upon us now, again. It tells a narrative rich and believable and endearing. And yes, I got to work with the production to share a image but it is an image that is endearing to me.

It was my story about being a woman in the late 1970s and how one image was used, and I never got credit for it,  until in the ending credits of this awesome film. I could not think of a better way to achieve my goal. Which makes the film so special to me and that I took my two boys to see it when they both were still living at home. A special time to teach my boys about women, civil rights, and the early punk scene. But most importantly about what it is like being a mom.

In conclusion as a mama, punk, one who supports civil rights and a woman’s right to choose, to one who wants national healthcare for all, I just had to set the scene straight… there is something off here in the time we are witnessing, and it is not good.



I call for a mandatory ‘stop building bill.’

Topper and Hopalong Cassidy


CPUC Public Advisor’s Office, 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102

SoCalGas GRC Application

A.22-05-015:


I call for a mandatory ‘stop building bill.’

A Wake-Up call for the San Fernando Valley, West Hills California. To our politicians, Southern California Gas Company, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the California Energy Commission

I don’t think our California politicians, or corporate building contractors or big baron tycoons want us to have land.

They want it all to be too expensive to have a small piece of land where the earth is below you and the stars are above you. They have a goal to buy up all the land and force us into apartments.

Shame on our Governor for appointing this commission who have proven they have all lost their marbles.

I got my email message to pay our gas bill. I have lived in California most all my life, some 65 years. I know the bell curve for seasonal gas usage. That is fine by me. Yet today I noticed a double fee. I had to look twice to believe what I saw. I overlooked my yearly average, and this is just insane. It doubled in only one month.

Nothing has changed in our usage of gas. In fact, we got a new energy efficient heater last year and a new washer and dryer this year. Yes, again both are energy efficient.

We have lived in our home for close to 23 years. Our home is 65 years old and was built in 1958.

I called our Southern California Gas Company thinking we had a gas leak.

I finally got through to a nice representative and she told me that the California Energy Commission passed a bill that began January 1, 2023, to raise our fees. Now they want to do it again?

After a pandemic, I feel is still very observable, and during a major storm season here in California they do this to us. This seems insane.

I watch as the big houses are being built smooched next to each other right here in the San Fernando Valley during a drought, pandemic and now an economic recession.

Yes, many ugly apartments are going up and they do this to us. Apartments plugged into every space not leaving any place for our good Earth Mother to breathe.

We need to create and pass a mandatory ‘stop building bill.’ We need to conserve our precious earthly resources now. We can do this by, not building more but less. Taking the time to fix up and recycle old buildings and regenerating and protecting our great historical places. Not run them over with a large bulldozer.

We need to step back and take a look at where and why we are building. Is it for our community? Are we considering the environment or our precious wildlife? Will all these apartments and large homes put a real danger on our gas and water usage? I won’t go into how awful public transportation is here.

All these buildings have caused much more traffic while contributing to pollution and other negative players.

Other countries protect the land and consider the environment and the resources they have by not exploiting their communities.

Building contractors can save and regenerate old buildings and turn to creative conservation energy efficient means of protecting the environment. Yet they are now exploiting our environment for extreme profits, with the permission of our politicians and other bad players, by overbuilding and then raising our gas and water fees.

For example, at Vanowen Street and Canoga Ave in the San Fernando Valley there is a block where once was an open area where two Mexican Restaurants were. Across the street from where once stood Rocketdyne. A wonderful place for family and young people to gather.

Now there are apartments on that same square block. Ugly apartments create more traffic, more pollution and use up more water and gas. Apply that by many more apartments that have been built throughout the area. Not to forget to mention what is planned for the empty Rocketdyne campus.

Viewing an image of Rocketdyne today at a Car Repair Shop in Canoga Park I was amazed by the structure.

The view was showing the perspective where the viewer can see the Verdugo Mountain range in the background. At the time of the picture, 1950s, Rocketdyne is surrounded by farmlands and wild fields. Canoga Ave, Owensmouth and Victory Blvd. are only small two-lane streets.

Vanowen street parallels the buildings as a rough asphalt two lane highway. Rocketdyne looks like a large computer chip plugged into the surrounding farm and open wild land, including a large parking lot filled with cars.

Ironically and sadly today the same once futuristic rocket business is now an empty field where wildflowers and weeds are growing. I hope this will become a museum or open park in Rocketdyne’s memory.

The only things remaining on the Rocketdyne campus are a few old pepper and eucalyptus trees. It is now hopelessly surrounded by cars, apartments, and more ugly apartments. And yesterday I saw a homeless camp of many homeless people set up on Canoga Ave right across from the old Rocketdyne campus.

Once at Valley Circle and Reseda Blvd was a horse stable where I used to go riding in the wild hills above. Now in the last five years massive, large homes have been built there. No sense of the environment or any room for a garden or place for children to play. The natural environment was raped by putting in massive water, electric and gas eating monsters. No sense of the surrounding wildlife. It is very sad to see. All built during a drought, and pandemic when ironically conservation is shamelessly pushed upon those who have lived here responsibly for years. These big homes and apartments are built never-endingly while there are more homeless people in our communities. Something is desperately wrong here.

Who is giving these companies permits to build on the one hand while raising our water and gas fees on the other? Time for you to consider greed, and other bad players. Time for our politicians, Southern California Gas Company, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the California Energy Commission to see this for what it is. Are you part of the problem or do you really want to get down to the job to help us all and create a real answer to the problem?

I call for a mandatory ‘stop building bill.’ So, our politicians, Southern California Gas Company, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the California Energy Commission can take the time to really do something to help us all!

Not just doing the foulest and cruelest thing of all, which is to increase our water and gas fees when we are already finding life too expensive. Not to mention more people moving onto the streets because they cannot afford to rent or lease these ugly apartments and massive homes being built. This is not governance but irresponsible corruption, this is just downright embarrassing.

I have lived here 65 years and never has it been like this. It is unacceptable.



Why am I receiving this notice?
Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) would like to hear from you. You are invited to participate in a public forum, also called a Public Participation Hearing (PPH), about SoCalGas’ 2024 General Rate Case (GRC) application. At the public forum, you can make comments and raise concerns with the CPUC’s Administrative Law Judge (Judge) who is overseeing this rate increase request.

How will the public forums be held?
As part of the CPUC’s ongoing efforts to protect customers and community members, and provide the greatest access, these hearings will be held virtually. Your participation by providing your thoughts on SoCalGas’ request can help the CPUC make an informed decision.

You can also provide written public comments at any time during the proceeding at apps.cpuc.ca.gov/c/A2205015.

Where and when will this/these Public Forum(s) be held?

March 6, 2023
2:00 p.m.
Virtual PPH
Phone Number: 800-857-1917
Passcode: 1767567#
Webcast: adminmonitor.com/ca/cpuc
March 15, 2023
6:00 p.m.
Virtual PPH
Phone Number: 800-857-1917
Passcode: 1767567#
Webcast: adminmonitor.com/ca/cpuc

SoCalGas’ March 6 and March 15, 2023, PPHs will be held virtually, meaning you can participate via internet or via phone using the access details above. Please note: If you need a language interpreter for these virtual hearings, please contact the CPUC’s Public Advisor’s Office using the contact information at the end of this notice at least five business days before the Public Forum. If you wish to make a public comment, you must participate by phone using the phone number above. After calling in and entering the passcode above, press *1, unmute your phone and record your name when prompted. You will be put into a queue in the order you dialed in.

Why is SoCalGas requesting this increase?
On May 16, 2022, SoCalGas filed its 2024 General Rate Case application (A.22-05-015) with the CPUC. The application, as updated in November 2022, requests authority to increase revenues for 2024-2027. SoCalGas is requesting to increase revenues by $738 million (20.2% increase over 2023 expected revenues) in 2024. This application also includes requested increases of $295 million (6.7%) in 2025, $261 million (5.6%) in 2026, and $379 million (7.7%) in 2027. The cumulative requested revenue increase is $4,740 million.

Every four years, SoCalGas is required to file a GRC application with the CPUC to set annual revenues. Annual revenues are the total amount of money a utility is allowed to collect through rates in a given year. The revenues requested in this application pay for the costs of owning and operating gas infrastructure. This application does not include the cost to purchase natural gas for SoCalGas customers and does not determine how revenues are assigned to customer groups. Those are evaluated and authorized in separate proceedings.

SoCalGas is requesting this increase to:

  • Continue to invest in its gas delivery system to enhance safety and reliability, and to manage risks that could impact its employees, customers, and/or system;
  • Invest in the gas system and technologies that advance clean energy for customers and the environment;
  • Continue to invest in the needs of customers by enabling diverse customer service capabilities, and to empower customers with information and tools to better manage their gas use;
  • Meet regulatory and compliance requirements driven by system safety and reliability and environmental compliance; and
  • Invest in efforts and programs to maintain a highly-trained, qualified, and diverse workforce.

If the CPUC approves this application, SoCalGas will implement new revenues in gas rates beginning on January 1, 2024. This will impact your monthly bill.

How could this affect my monthly gas bill?
If SoCalGas’ rate request is approved by the CPUC, the typical residential monthly bill using 36 therms per month would increase by approximately $8.28 or 13.2% per month in 2024, compared to estimated 2023. Individual customer bills may vary.

How does the rest of this process work?
The assigned Judge will consider proposals and evidence presented during the formal hearing process. The Judge will issue a proposed decision that may adopt SoCalGas’s application, modify it, or deny it. Any CPUC Commissioner may sponsor an alternate decision with a different outcome. The proposed decision, and any alternate decision(s), will be discussed and voted upon by the CPUC Commissioners at a public CPUC Voting Meeting.

Parties to the proceeding are currently reviewing SoCalGas’ application, including the Public Advocates Office. The Public Advocates Office is an independent consumer advocate within the CPUC that represents customers to obtain the lowest possible rate for service consistent with reliable and safe service levels. For more information, please call 1-415-703-1584, email PublicAdvocatesOffice@cpuc.ca.gov, or visit PublicAdvocates.cpuc.ca.gov.

Your participation by providing your thoughts on SoCalGas’ request can help the CPUC make an informed decision.

Where can I get more information?
Contact SoCalGas
Email: centralfiles@semprautilities.com
Mail: Jamie York, 8330 Century Park Court, CP31E, San Diego, CA 92123

A copy of the Application and any related documents may also be reviewed at https://www.socalgas.com/regulatory/2024-general-rate-case.

Contact CPUC
Please visit apps.cpuc.ca.gov/c/A2205015 to submit a comment about this proceeding on the CPUC Docket Card. Here you can also view documents and other public comments related to this proceeding.

If you have questions about CPUC processes, you may contact the CPUC’s Public Advisor’s Office at:

  • Phone: 1-866-849-8390 (toll-free) or 1-415-703-2074
  • Email: Public.Advisor@cpuc.ca.gov
  • Mail: CPUC Public Advisor’s Office, 505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102

Please reference SoCalGas GRC Application A.22-05-015, in any communications you have with the CPUC regarding this matter.


Having a Bit of Fun Video A Happy Celebration of Time Shared on this weird planet…

“But how do you thank someone

Who has taken you from crayons to perfume?

It isn’t easy, but I’ll try

If you wanted the sky

I would write across the sky in letters

That would soar a thousand feet high

“To sir [s], with love”



That crazy Godzilla Punk Rock Night Club in Sun Valley is where I first saw GBH’s – Leather, Bristles, Studs and Acne spray painted on the wall.

I was then in search and found the vinyl and became a fanatic. 44 years now for me.

The album City Babys Revenge is one of the best sounds of punk rock! The band and songs are phenomenal. A forty-year celebration. I got the vinyl from Zed Records of Long Beach and played it loads. Yet seeing (Charged) GBH live was just the best experience I had as a young punk bird. They still thrill me as an old crone owl.

A hardy band that still tours around the world and I think they are indestructible. I really do!


A bit of history in front of Perkins Palace Pasadena mid 1980s.


A Ghost Mantis holding a Thyrsus

In Greek religion, the staff was carried by the votaries of Dionysus. Euripides wrote that honey dripped from the thyrsos staves that the Bacchic maenads carried. The thyrsus was a sacred instrument at religious rituals and fêtes.


Light and shadow magic comes to visit at different times in life.

The wind was strong and pushed over my angel solar light. I just got home from shopping as I was looking up at Jupiter and the waxing moon.

I have been changing my routines a bit. I go shopping at dusk now and take my showers in the morning or in the middle of the day.

Taking morning walks is something different too.

When I saw the angel at an angle, I ran to fix it when I noticed the shadow playing on the wall behind it.

I said aloud, “A Ghost Mantis holding a Thyrsus.”

I will let the angel be.

I took a picture and played with the image on Adobe Photo Express.



A lack of human consciousness.

Taken from The Terrible Death Bubble Gum Comic A Flopside COmic!



“The Double does not exist only as an Ahrimanic shadow in individual men. There are members in this Doppelgänger sub-hierarchy of far greater power who act as the anti-spirits of peoples, nations, and races. And finally, there is the World Doppelgänger, the Anti-Spirit of Humanity, which plays its historic role as a servant of Lucifer in opposing the rightful evolution of human consciousness.”

Pg. 291 The Spear of Destiny, Trevor Ravenscroft

Friday night was time to go out and celebrate cause my man was winning a Chess tournament online. Youngest son, my man and I made three.

We went to the local Pub and then bar to celebrate properly.

We played darts at the Pub and had some healthy “Humulus lupulus” while listening to real records. The hiss and scratches and well listened to 45s made the music more enjoyable to me. Soul and ska and other melodies moved through the Pub and lots of hugs were shared.

At the next-door bar, we had some cocktails and enjoyed the slow ambiance of a well-loved bar. Nice and easy with an anime film on the screen. A break from the usual sports in most bars.

As we were finishing up, I looked over to see a man with a beard. Brown and rather friendly looking. We smiled in what I thought was a happy nod of enjoyment. He came up to us as my youngest son got up to take care of business. Then the man walked over to my man and me.

“Not just Jews were killed in WWII by the Nazis.”

We responded with a knowing agreement. Then he went on.

“My great grandfather saved a whole lot of people. Christians mostly and not many Jews.”

Seems this guy was reflecting upon his grandfather and WWII.

“You liberals think it was only Jews. You who voted for Biden and Kamala Harris!”

We then got a little confused and I said,

“How do you know who we voted for?”

Then he addressed me directly,

“Who did you vote for?”

“None of your business!”

We batted that back and forth a few moments.

Then came the flip into a world of conspiracies and insanity when he looked at me and addressed me singularly.

“You liberal voting people think only the Jews were killed in concentration camps. But you are the real Nazis.”

“How do you go from talking about WWII and then accuse me of being a Nazi?”

I then put my hand on the table with a whack. Telling him about how my dad got a purple heart as a captain pilot during WWII.

“I respect that you grandfather saved many lives during the war from concentration camps. Yes, there were all sorts of people who died there, and the people were also saved. Gypsies, Christians, Jewish people, I really don’t think it mattered who you were or your faith. Hitler killed anyone opposed to his belief system of inhumanness.”  

The man with the beard seemed filled with total contrary ideas that made no sense but only served to confuse and attack others who he found offensive. He is one of the ministers of chaos. Who spreads their hate talk.

It was a really sad moment of the evening, and when he told me he did not give a fuck about Iranian women’s demands for freedom I turned my back to him and walked away with hands up.

Youngest son confused him by saying,

“I didn’t vote for Biden.” (Just to see the bearded mans confused expression of an unexpected answer.) And added,

“Thanks for the story.”

Nothing that going to Denny’s didn’t wash away mighty fast…

At Denny’s youngest son was laughing and said,

“I was staring at the tiles in the bathroom and then I walked out, and you were talking to this guy. It was a weird thing to walk into….”

He really enjoyed the people we met last night between the pub and the bar.

These chaos ministers are a part of

WE THE PEOPLE,

They are out there,

and it is something to be aware of,

Even at the local bar.

“Alister Crowley adopted different identities when the mood struck him-and, like Trump, did his best to keep his name in the newspapers-and chaos magick asserts that one’s identity is malleable, that one should “reinvent’ oneself often, play different roles. We should pretend to be someone else, to envision a “magical self” possessing all the qualities that we desire, something that some New Thought advocates also suggest . Chaos magick also promotes the idea of using “shock tactics” saying something “outrageous” in order to “enhance personal power,” something that, as with much else about chaos magick, seems to come to Trump naturally.”

Pg. 76-77, Dark Star Rising, Gary Lachman

Does George Santos ring a bell? He is an manifestation of this  “Crazy Wisdom” of “Chaos magic!”

Seems it is what it is.

In a bar in the San Fernando Valley California to the House of Representatives

bewildering our beloved District of Columbia,

these dark spirits or anti-humans are hanging around,

spreading their chaos, chanting….


“I am the spirit that negates.

And rightly so, for all that comes to be

Deserves to perish wretchedly;

‘Twere better nothing would begin.

Thus everything that your terms, sin,

Destruction, evil represent—

That is my proper element.”

― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust – Part One


sweet and bitter WHEELING AND DEALING


I saw something unexpected today. Billy Idol got a star on Hollywood Blvd. and Mr. Henry Rollins was the presenter. I saw the photograph on a site. Now and then I do like to reflect on my punk rock glory days.


I think upon these two characters that influenced us by their music or words in a big way. I knew them, as many of us did, as youths with deep and high ideals that I once respected.

I met Billy after he left Generation X.

He visited Hollywood.  A group of us youthful rebellious punks were talking about music. We were in the back of a liquor store waiting for some beer because we were not 21 yet. Someone was WHEELING AND DEALING with the booze scheme.  Billy and I were talking about the Beatles and how much he loved them. He then cried on my shoulder stating to me that he missed his mates back home.

The beer arrived and a friend of mine whisked him away and that was the only time I met him. Over the years when I see him or hear his music, I often reflect back upon that sweet young kid who was kind of lost.

Henry was a wild youth too. He was kind of funny and thoughtful when I first met him. Yet as time went on our friendship soured. I think it was due to a subscription to Flipside Fanzine he never received because his letter fell behind my desk. Maybe the critical reviews I did of him in Black Flag were thought to be unfunny. His lack of humor made it easy to accelerate into doom.

Funny how a guy from England and a guy from DC can be standing on the grounds whereas young punks, who grew up here, used to run wild on those same streets. Then no need, or sense of fame or fortune.

Once equals as friends and fans of the punk scene, they got bigger, and we got smaller. Yet I think I am happy with my place in the world, and I hope they are too.

The sweet and bitter is what punk rock left me. As a punk rock fanatic,

That’s the way it crumbles, cookie-wise

~ The apartment (by Billy Wilder, 1960)