Piping songs of pleasant glee with the Moody Blues and Charged GBH

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian

Hudley Flipside

‘In the sadness of your smile love is an island way out to sea

But it seems so long ago we have been ready trying to be free.”

John Charles Lodge (20 July 1943 – 10 October 2025) was an English musician, best known as bass guitarist, co-lead vocalist and songwriter of the longstanding rock band the Moody Blues.

The Moody Blues

My heart aches… a sad time now amplified…

Last time I saw a member of GBH… 2015.

The writer reflects on a recent dream of wanting to connect with a band, expressing feelings of grief over lost connections with musicians and friends. They reminisce about the Goldenvoice Celebration, where despite enjoying old friendships, they felt distant from the bands. The author grapples with political concerns as an important election approaches, contrasting ideals of freedom with the potential for poor leadership. They express disappointment over the outcomes of youthful rebellion and emphasize the emotional toll of being just a fan, while recalling the impact of a past election and lamenting the Electoral College.

On Sunset. May 2015. I am wearing my Bernie Sanders T-Shirt for president 2016.

With some punk chicks from a younger generation.

The fabric of prophet’s ages old

Drones on and gathers mold

Gets a weekly airing from a fool on high

Who talks and talks till his throat’s dry

The Prayer of a Realist.

GBH ~ City Baby Attacked by Rats

I awoke to an amber moment this morning swirling in my mind and like Kurt Vonnegut’s character Billy Pilgrim from the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, I like to dwell and investigate these moments of experience. See if some golden truth is pushing itself up from my unconsciousness to my consciousness.

It may be similar to a grain of sand irritating an oyster or some wondrous pearl. Maybe only linking up a few different generations of people or friends like butterflies taking their nectar from the same sunflower. Is it all randomly placed in time … maybe not? In truth I do not think so. Which gets an old dame to pondering.

Two bands from Birmingham, a major city in England’s West Midlands, brought forth two of my favorite bands. Each band speaks and supports a different generation. The members of the band walked the same streets and knew the smell of their home. Mothers (music venue) linger in both of their memories.

The Moody Blues and Charged GBH were playing the same week. One at the Greek theater and the other at the Roxy Theater (West Hollywood). They both touched down on southern Californian soil. It was revelatory to me. Just the fact that they were both playing the same week was enough to satisfy my glowing and rebellious soul.

Was this a random event or is there more to the story? What is the possibility of this happening and did anyone else notice this random act of Birmingham music? A mist joining two generations of music ached in my inner being of light and dark particles and both danced and started vibrating to a strange tune.

It was a contrary experience for me. I got two tickets for the Moody Blues. I bugged Ross, bass player of GBH to be on the guest list at the Roxy. This was going to happen … I felt it when they both touched Los Angeles County. I think the best feelings are when waiting for a band to play while they are touring. The element of music and surprise and favorite songs playing is a revolutionary experience… even if I am the only one feeling this.

It was so intense that coming week. It was like when I found out that my ‘great Grandfather was born in Middlesex, a historic county in southeast England. It was important for me because William Blake also was raised there as a child, they both walked the same streets at one time. Both sharing the smell of their home. Though I never met either my great grandfather or William Blake they both left me with stories and share in that pleasurable place of my good imagination.

“Piping down the valleys wild

Piping songs of pleasant glee,

On a cloud I saw a child,

And he laughing said to me:

‘Pipe a song about a Lamb’…”

The “Song of Innocence,” ~ William Blake.

Moody Blues:

Husband could not attend the Moody Blues with me, and I couldn’t find someone else on such short notice. I felt too weak to go alone; the parking, crowds, and being by myself didn’t appeal to me at the time. I regret not going.

GBH:

We hit my old romping punker ground on Sunset. The streets and the alleys of friends, clubs and running wild in the streets. It was different now. My husband and I had a pizza and then a couple of beers at the Rainbow Bar and Grill. When we got to the Roxy, I was not on the guest list and the show was sold out.

Since it was a Goldenvoice event, I spied Gary Tovar, and he got us in the show. There I found Ross Lomas spending time together with Dora Sundoval and Alison Elliott.

Ross: “You must have been bumped off the list.”

Hudley: “Do not worry Gary got us in.”

Giving Ross a big hug around his waist I said.

“It is so good to be back and walk the streets of my youth as a wild young punk.”

Ross gave me a look and that was the last time I talked to him.

The aroma of the event was exhilarating but filled with smoke. My husband had a major asthma attack and we had to leave early. The good news is I met up with some punk chicks from a younger generation. We met up at other shows.

The continuity of them going to see GBH made me happy. I would have to say the band prefer these beauties then the old punker I have become.

There are times in life when one must pursue a dream. Run to it and become one with it. Other times one needs to step back and let it happen without you.

I read about the Moody Blues in the news after their event. I saw the pictures posted on Facebook backstage with GBH. It irritated me a little but not too much.

I made the effort, yet the random act was not complete. At least I can write about it and share my memories.

What would the Tralfamadorians say?

“There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.”

Origin: Aston, Birmingham, England

My youngest son turned me on to this song. He likes Ozzy Osbourne and may he rest in peace. More inspiration from Birmingham … as my son said to me recently,

“GBH are not the only band from Birmingham… “

Courtly love as in the Knights of the Round Table.

Punk Rock Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

“They both laughed and drank to each other; they had never tasted sweeter liquor in all their lives. And in that moment they fell so deeply in love that their hearts would never be divided. So the destiny of Tristan and Isolde was ordained.”
― Sir Thomas Malory

HUD Photo by Al Flipside 1979

I recorded this today. I captured a moment of reflection that needed to come forth. It is in relationship with My Punkalullaby paperback book out on Amazon. As a self-publisher it is rewarding to come out with my own renderings of my memories. My stories are not perfect stories, just real-life moments of life.

I think a good story is like that, it holds mysteries, truth, and often a few peppering errors. Which is OK by me.

I was filled with my feelings this morning about what the early punk scene meant to me. I like trying out things on my cell phone like my Voice Memos Application. I like what I captured.

I was reading and studying King Author and the Knights of the Round Table a lot in the 1980’s while in my twenties. I amplified this and superimposed it upon my life as a young punk rocker involved in a scene.

Yes, the bands and what we did was a kind of Knights of the Round Table experience to me. I do reflect upon these memories or “amber moments” because they still speak to me.

The Knights were the many band members, and their music holds an epiphany of truth and rebellion, eternally youthful in my soul.

Splendor in the Grass

What though the radiance

which was once so bright

Be now for ever taken from my sight,

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendor in the grass,

of glory in the flower,

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind;

In the primal sympathy

Which having been must ever be;

In the soothing thoughts that spring

Out of human suffering;

In the faith that looks through death,

In years that bring the philosophic mind.

~ William Wordsworth

Click on image to purchase

I was influenced, inspired, and shaken-up by these Punk gals. Late 1970 and 1980s.

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

PUNK ROCK Herstory

XEROX TWINS?

The text describes the author’s reflections on the impact of punk women and their influence during the days of falling into the Los Angeles punk rock realm.

The sweltering summer months are depicted as a time for introspection and thoughts about them now.

“Sallie Sallie was a punk monster. She had loud make-up. She was crazy and unpredictable. Waiting at a stop light in my car across from the Whisky a Go Go, Sallie Sallie jumped on the front of my red VW Squareback. She wiggled, going spastic. I secretly loved her and wanted to be her close friend. She soon disappeared from the punk scene. As I said it seems many faded out as new punks came into the punk scene.”

~ MY PUNKALULLABY HUDLEY FLIPSIDE Pg. 29

Donna Rhia (Becky Barton) drove me around to shows. Jill Masters let me crash at her apartment next to the Whisky A Go Go. Hanging at the Masque as the Go Go’s practiced. Going to forbidden parties, such as when Hellin Killer got back from the UK, or hearing Lorna Doom’s comforting droll when Darby wined. Phranc as she showed me her collection of miniature things around her apartment.

The girls of the Middle Class. Dancing to Question Mark and the Mysterians at Hollywood Towers while sucking on lemons with Gabi Berlin. Observing as some punk chick dyed her hair black at the Canterbury apartments. Lois with long red hair like the song Red Rubber Ball who lived in Whittier California. Kat Talley-Jones egging me on and trying to tell me how to spell. I was a naïve fledgling punk journalist.

Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine had Punk Women grace it’s covers too.

My focus is who they were. Fearful, excited, and now addicted I had no ambitions but to melt with the punks I identified with. I am highlighting them today.

I was not popular and just filled space. Yet never did I imagine I would live to reflect on these women in my cave some 40 years or more later.

Kira Roessler and her rain boots as she walked out of the Whisky A Go Go..

I was influenced, inspired, and shaken-up by these gals.

ISSUE #: 8 Alice Bag The Bags

ISSUE #: 13 The Go Go’s

ISSUE 15: Exene Cervenka X

ISSUE # 35: Bangles (ROTR VOL.3)

ISSUE 51:Jula and Ingrid Bulimia Banquet

ISSUE 27: Diah Cancer 45 Grave

ISSUE # 26 Trudie Trudie ~Your Such A Cutey “Greatest Hits VOL.1”

ISSUE 49: Screaming’ Sirens

Songs we listened to on drives to a free San Fransisco… 1979

Click on me babe

Happy Amoeba

Punk Rock Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

Self-Portrait of a Holly MAMA

That’s one thing Earthlings might learn to do, if they tried hard enough: Ignore the awful times and concentrate on the good ones.

~ Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut

Very early Hud doodling…

As an older earthling, at least I believe I am one, in these rather ‘awful times’ I find it easy to ‘concentrate on the good ones!’ Today when the car radio played the song Come As You Are by Nirvana for the millionth time, I had a strange flash back to a similar punk anthem.

Amoeba was the song. One day I drove out to Troy High School in Orange County all by myself. Adolescents and Agent Orange played that day.

The song that I superimposed in my mind over Come As You Are is the song Amoeba. It was so clean, powerful, and moving. The songs feel the same in intensity too. Both knocked my socks off.

I include the live review below from Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 20. (The Circle Jerks, Halloween Issue. October 1990.)

Edward Colver Image

I have other good times too like the days I gave birth to my two sons, riding Sony, the white mustang, freely over the hills of the Santa Monica Mountains on a foggy morning, and the first time I had sex at 15 in my parents’ downstairs bathroom. All new and interesting adventures.

So again, I have posted about life being like a “Slaughterhouse-Five” experience. And though times are very crazy I hope we all can find comfort in our good memories.

Hudley Live Review. Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 20. (The Circle Jerks, Halloween Issue. October 1990.)

She-wolf rode it like a wave.

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

History:

The she-wolf clan worked for the extraordinarily rich at the time of the Inquisition. Working in their fields and farms as shepherds. Living in the woods and sitting in their clans around their campfires. Sometimes wearing the skin of the wolf.

Sacred to them and very ancient, old, and ritualistic. Like many Aboriginal people who lived off the land, sometimes during the colder seasons when hunting and gathering was bleak they had to be creative. A chosen one would put on their wolf skin and go to the rich man’s field and steal one or two of the sheep to feed their families. When caught they were crucified with wolf skin on. Declared,

“Lycanthropy “

The devil she-wolf …

and so, the legend was born.

Every autumn we are reminded of the return of the she-wolf who seeks justice from an unjust world …. especially on the first full moon of Autumn!

Reflection and music:

We heard a loud cry from the second story building and theater and looked up. There was Ross.

“Hudley, in a heavy English accent.

It was a few years ago in Ventura County that GBH came out to greet my family and I. Colin saying,

“We got a real treat for you; we will be playing Lycanthropy live tonight.”

As a fanzine writer I had the fantastic opportunity of meeting all the bands. I became close to Charged GBH. They would tease me by saying that they would play Lycanthropy live. So, on stage the drum, bass and guitar would lead into the song to expand into another. I was not the only one being teased either.

The intensity of physical activity at events has increased compared to the 1980s. In the past, mosh pits were physically demanding but fostered a sense of unity, including support for those who fell or female participants, or she-wolfs.

Topanga to Dumetz

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

“When I was young some wise fool told me
Live & learn but nothing comes for free
So I did what I could when I was able
To keep the truth away from our table”

~ Corrosion of Conformity – Wiseblood

Fuck, fuck, fuck the old hippie dude gave me the two fingers up peace sign. How did he fucking know what I was think’ in!

OK I turned right and headed down to Topanga Canyon Blvd… down the wormhole towards a holograph of memories…. Think’ in,

“I bet I am the oldest person driving down Topanga to Dumetz Rd now?”

A flash of images came to mind…. Lynn, horse, boyfriends, ditch class go to beach, walking home in the rain, hippies hitchhiking.

The cars were racing as well as I in my little number, a green Fiat.

“Yes, I have the most memories here too… from being in my mom’s womb to now… fucking so much to think upon.”

Making a left turn on Burbank I held on to these wild assumptions of honest to goodness old lady punk truth that I was the oldest and had the most memories.

When I reached Shoup Ave., I raised and went with the bump and about flew away. Landing with a loud car zoom… it was bitchin’ too. Then as I raced my little number to the right of me was an old hippie dude with a grey beard looking at me near his car.

He walked toward an old house . He was fucking reading my mind. His eyes gave me a knowing transcendental slowed down pot look… he was telling me…

“Nope I’ve been here longer…!”

______________________________________________________________________

“There’s blood on the street but there’s nothing to steal from me
Cause I walk alone but at least I walk for free
I listen to few and I’m fueled by fire
Guess now I’m old but not much wiser.|”~COC”

COC becomes a banister band.. ick

We must explore!

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

The Naked Grace.

These times are asking us to go within. Over the generations we have taken this journey within. By choice, by accident and spiritually. Through drugs, side effects from prescribed medication or by magic.

A song can amplify this reality. A writer can share the experience. Songs filled with lyrics are poetry put to music. The images come forth and touch us. These three songs came to mind today when I was out in the garden pulling tall grass from the rich soil. It all came together. The dark earth holds things. Pulling on the grass and releasing the soil is a forward effort of movement. The dark moist earth has a relationship with our psyches.

I believe that unless we willfully take this inward journey as an individual it will be forced upon us. On a personal level or a generational level is how it goes. Anytime we suppress our shadow, blame others, or spread hate it is bound to a generation. Are we not observing this right now? Songs can help us. I need them like I need flowers in my garden or kitty cats to hug.

Here are three songs that explain this journey variable. From the 1960s Catch the Wind by Donovan is a peaceful song. From 1985 Dead Man’s Party by Oingo Boingo is an amazing song that shares some interesting historical mysteries. Lastly from 1983 The Forbidden Zone by Charged GBH, one dose and you take their hand into a strange journey of a musician’s psyche.

♦Donovan is an unusual songwriter and folk singer that touches upon the light side of our psyche. He reminds us to remember the beauty in life. It is around us and in us if we go looking for it. Our psyches do often look back at us. We can reflect on this soft beauty from time to time.

“When sundown pales the sky

I want to hide a while

Behind your smile

And everywhere I would look, your eyes I’d find.”

♦Oingo Boingo’s song is remarkably interesting and worth listening to intensely. As a young punk back in the late 1970s I had an Oingo Boingo badge on my jacket. I was approached by a couple of punk chicks who mocked me and belittled me for wearing it. A time when the first signs of punk cultism started to show its ugly face.

“I was struck by lighting, walkin’ down the street

I was hit by something last night in my sleep

It’s a dead man’s party who could ask for more

Everybody’s comin’, leave your body at the door

Leave your body and soul at the door.”

“For English occultist Aleister Crowley, who was a painter himself, the artist ranked above the magician on the totem pole of illumination, and he considered poetry and art as precious tools for transforming one’s innermost psychic visions.”

~ Chapter Spencer Kansa, Pg. 92 Wormwood Star, The Magickal Life of Marjorie Cameron.

♥A wild journey inward to the shadowy psyche is found in the book City Baby from Highgate to Hawaii… Life, and GBH by Ross Lomas.

“This went on for hours. More and more of the same. It was incredibly intense. God and Jimi and Anne Carpenter and the devil and the fucking taxi driver, fighting over my soul right up to the point I passed out in exhaustion.”

~ Pg. 120.

“Take my hand and we’ll explore,

The forbidden zone.

When you’re in your own tree,

But don’t know if anybody’s home.”

Jimi Hendrix was playing guitar while Anne was a nun of salvation, this may show us that his journey was amplified by many elements as a fight for his soul. When the shadow opens to us it is always a powerful trip. Ross is stronger for his experience. A bite like this prepares us for outward tragedies as we are facing today.

Imagine it all coming together again. No

( Sorry to say Covid-19 hit and this event was canceled. 2020 )

Amazingly we are still alive. Punk Rock Bowling with the celebration of 40 Years of the Circle Jerks and Charged GBH this spring. I am besides myself with joy to be attending. Yes, all the bands seem interesting, yet my history also includes Madness.

Madness:

When I was a 19-year-old punk I was looking for a 45 by Prince Buster entitled Madness. This stirred me on a strange journey to a Los Angeles record store. They never could locate that 45 for me. Then the band came touring. At least the name of the band was right. Playing the Whisky A Go Go.

I remember dancing to the band with Kick Boy Face from SLASH MAGAZINE (my first Punk Rock correspondence.) (Slosh and Flopside) It was grand beyond grand. Imagine it all coming together again.

Punk Rock Bowling 2020

Some of my best punk memories.

GBH:

Ross’s bass guitar case. GBH 1980s

I am standing in this image next to Ross’s first bass guitar case. He gave it to me. He bought a new one. I lost it. Yet, my mom had put it in a special place.

After her death we cleaned out the basement and their it was. How happy that mom preserved some wonderful punk history.

I still have it and will give it “will it” to my sons. I love it like punk rock. I hope I am not sucking on Ross’s “tits” when I say I love him too.

Thanks for thinking of me back then. All the best and looking forward to Las Vegas for a week of punk and beyond bliss.

Circle Jerks:

FLipside Fanzine — Circle Jerks Cover by Edward Colver

City Baby from Highgate to Hawaii, Life and GBH by Ross Lomas. One of my most popular posts in ten years…

RIP

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

Pete Shelly’s voice (RIP) was the unmistakable sound that resonated through the airwaves, leaving an indelible mark on the music scene, especially during those early vinyl days and unforgettable first shows at the Santa Monica Civic.

The Germs, led by the enigmatic Darby Crash, were a vital force on the gritty punk streets, their raw energy capturing the spirit of a generation.

By a strange twist of fate, these iconic figures from that vibrant music era come together now, so many years later, as their legacies intertwine and continue to inspire new artists and fans alike.

They don’t seem like they want us to forget them, instead reminding us of the rebel spirit they embodied and the cultural revolution they sparked…. and how can we possibly forget their contributions to music and societal change?

Peter Fonda is the sensitive man and genius in unique ways.

Punk Rock Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside’s

That is a double good thing too. He inspired me to see life differently. As a young girl living through the 1960s and viewing the film Easy Rider to just recently with a film called The Hired Hand (1971) directed by him starring himself, Warren Oates, Verna Bloom.

Both films are amazing films but the second one is a film that speaks to the modern woman today and her wounded psyche. I am speaking about my own. He told me a story that reaches generations. So beautiful and healing too. Truly fulfilling to watch. I am in love with the film.

As a youth he had an accident with a family gun and almost died. He told this story to his friends The Beatles and they wrote a song about his experience.

My heart has been heavy today… now I know why. It is always sad when a free spirit leaves us. I don’t think death was something he feared at all.

A post about the Film The Hired Hand ! A must see unusual western.

https://hudleyflipside.com/2019/03/11/the-wilderness-of-the-wild-west-and-the-gospel-of-thomas/

Song the Beatles wrote about Peter Fonda’s near death experience as a youth.

Rocket Man Review: The Film

PUNK ROCK COLLEAGUE & HISTORIAN AND PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT HUDLEY FLIPSIDE

Centrifuge Going So Swiftly

“And we went to California and up and down the Pacific Coast for a day and a half, settling at last on the sands of Malibu to cook wieners at night. Dad was always listening or singing or watching things on all sides of him, holding onto things as if the world were a centrifuge going so swiftly that he might be flung off away from us at any instant.”

~Ray Bradbury. The Rocket Man

“I’ve been a cunt since 1975.”- Elton John

Rocket Man explained a lot about Elton John that confused me since 1975. I love autobiographical stories and memoirs. What a joy! Elton John shared his psyche with the world. A healed psyche that was given more then a second chance.

The film has that real deal 1970s thing going that sprang forth from the late 1960s. The chance that two genius dudes like Elton John and Bernie Taupin found each other is amazing. So grateful! I enjoyed the integrity, depth and darkness shared in this film. The world of rock & roll was not romanticized.

Fun musical choreographed dance scenes moved through the film. Bernie Taupin’s lyrics enhanced by being sung clearly and slowly made me want to sing and dance along.

I love Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s music especially the years between 1971-1974. I include in this review a conclusion with an early song written 1971 entitled Friends. I think the song Friends was a song of amazing foresight. As if Bernie knew the journey ahead would be a difficult one. Especially for Reginald Kenneth Dwight!

“Friends is a 1971 teen-romance film directed and produced by Lewis Gilbert and written by Gilbert, Vernon Harris, and Jack Russell. The soundtrack, with music composed by Elton John and Paul Buckmaster, and lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, was released as the Friends album, and John’s recording of the title selection charted when released as a single in the United States.”

1970 my favorite

To my two sons … 🌸

The Song Alfie

Punk Rock Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

The Gals and Michael Caine in Alfie (1966)

Here’s a song that had me hooked since 1966 at 8 years old. Now a classic jazz standard. One of those songs that moves through my life and enhances the human experience. Making life lovable in troubling times. The original film Alfie is a sweet but challenging film with major dangerous life lessons learned. Michael Caine’s character is lovely and sad. He grows and develops his conscience right before our eyes.

Shelly Winters’s character is one that I can now relate to more thoroughly in my feminine older years. The song Alfie is a deep and reflective song. Originally sung by Cher when she was a rather unknown street singer/ musician.

“The title song, “Alfie”, written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was sung by Cher over the film’s closing credits in the US release. It became a hit for British singer Cilla Black (Millicent Martin sang Alfie on its British release) and for Madeline Eastman and Dionne Warwick. Numerous jazz musicians have covered it, and it has become a jazz standard.

Here is an interesting example or another jazz standard interpretation that I found lovely of the song Alfie.

Alfie (by David K. Mathews featuring Amikaeyla) from DAVID MATTHEWS — Fantasy Vocal Sessions Vol.1 Standards released 2018.

A song for the heart. Always good to hear.

https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/david-matthews/fantasy-vocal-sessions-vol1-standards

The PUNK HUB MASTERS.

Punk Rock Historian, Colleague and professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

Pat Fear and Other Stories

A few years on, the narrator describes a composed evening at home, enveloped in a soft blanket beneath the gentle illumination of the living room lights. The steady background hum of the news provides a familiar atmosphere during this tranquil time.

A moment of levity occurs as the narrator observes Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken unexpectedly playing guitar at the White House—a noteworthy illustration of how even prominent public figures engage in moments of lightheartedness.

As the broadcast continues, the mood shifts: the familiar figures of friends Bill, Dennis, and Mike appear, their presence lively and encouraging the narrator to “fight for their rights.” This visitation is both reassuring and thought-provoking, merging humor with deeper personal reflection.

The experience prompts the narrator to consider the enduring nature of friendships, as memories of shared conversations and laughter resurface, fostering an environment filled with nostalgia.

This interplay between camaraderie and introspection highlights the continuity of influence that friends exert, transcending physical absence. In this comfortable setting, the convergence of past dialogues with current experience underscores the lasting bonds between those present and those departed.

The evening thus becomes a period characterized by both reminiscence and contemplation, affirming that the pursuit of rights encompasses not only advocacy but also the celebration of relationships that continue to shape individual lives.

Presented December 3, 2017

Hosted by WE GOT POWER! Hardcore Punk Scenes from 1980s Southern California book

Dennis Danell, Pat Fear and Mike Conley

My talk today is a comparison essay about three characters from the early punk rock scene. A punk rock GHOST Special!

Dennis Danell, the original bass player for the punk rock band Social Distortion, Pat Fear, the eminent singer and guitarist of the mockery punk band White Flag, and Mike Conley, the vocalist of the renowned punk band MIA, are notable figures in the punk rock scene.

I call them the PUNK HUB MASTERS

To move my essay into the realm of where I am looking from, I will be using a concept from my favorite psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Now for a short Jungian psychology concept.

“The specific role of the archetype in synchronization-phenomena seems to be to serve as or constellation hub of a situation across time, and to be the factor of [inner order] that gives this distinctive set to the situation.”

Punk rock is a phenomenon which created a situation of order as a constellation or hub. A hub is a focal point a center around which other things revolve from which things radiate. I am applying this concept to the origin of punks and to punk rock…

We were nobodies of the underground, sitting on a youthful explosion, that was a riptide of good-fella punk friends. The early individual punks found each other through the hubs we created. Back in the late 70s and throughout the 80s, as you know the punk scene created a network of hubs that worked independently from each other yet depended on each other to sustain the punk scene. Examples of hubs were Fanzines such as We Got Power or Flipside Fanzine.

Also, every punk band had its own hub. Record labels, music recording studios and record store hubs. The major places to make the scene!

Such as Licorice pizza, ZEDS, Tower Records and Moby Disk Records and our own Whittier Record hub Lovells Records. Without forgetting the college and underground radio program hubs where the innovative music played. These were the greatest of supportive hubs such as Pat Hoed’s Adam Bomb (KXLU), Stella Stray POP and Rodney on KROQ.

The major hub that brought us all together was an amazing force known as gigs. The garage to Club 88, the Masque to the Whisky A go go and beyond. Where the fans, bands and promoters met! The focal point here was the paper flyer. These papers were handed out at gigs. Unique band flyers with local and logo band art. Mostly Xerox copies. Xerox machines a revolutionary major hub for the punk scene. The US Mail and the ring ring telephone press buttons or circular dial extenuated the positive communication hub…remember? Punks spent a great deal of time alone…creating, practicing, and thinking in our own hubs! Coming together via shows, the phone, and the mail.

This is where the hub masters such as Denis, Pat, and Mike were found. They shined there. They masterly brought all the HUBS together. These three punks were genius hub masters. Networking was their punk underground gift, and they are authentic examples of the early punk rock phenomenon. Dennis, Pat, and Mike are a part of the Southern California punk scene.

They influenced a generation of fans and often are not known or acknowledged for their influence. They infected my little hub of a bedroom converted into a fanzine office. I often felt overwhelmed working on Flipside and under a big wave of stuff always about ready to crash. These guys showed me the skills of synchronizing things together. Making it seem easy.

Punk Hub Master: Dennis Danell

Punk Hub Master: Dennis Danell

I first saw Dennis when I was living with my sister in Fullerton Orange County. It was 1978. I was working at a local Dry-Cleaning Business as a cashier. Staffing on Flipside Fanzine on the side. He was riding a sting-ray bike sporting a spike haircut.

At that time, he was unique. We were speaking the same language. I looked similar with my partial shaved hairdo with orange hair color. A year later we met at the scene and became friends.

Dennis taught me loyalty of friendship. I witnessed his expansive heart that made his band stay tight. This is the work of the hub master. Dennis still visits me in my dreams.

Always polite, honest, and his happy Dizzy self. He had the ability of synchronizing punks together in a charming way. He will not ever be taken for granted. He was at the right place at the right time.

I will read some quotes from Flipside 20 A Social Distortion interview. I feel these short quotes embrace his character.

“Dennis: We wanna sound like no one else, We wanna sound like us!!”

“Dennis: Tommie’s chilly burgers. I ate one of those and didn’t have to eat for 2 days and I was shitting for 3 weeks!”

Dennis Danell (rip), Mad Dog (rip), Mike Ness and Tony Reflex

OC Kids image by “The man from MONK” (rip).

Hub Master: Pat Fear.

As you know Pat was a force to deal with. He lived in Riverside which was not far from Whittier Ca where Flipside Fanzine was based. Flipside put out a few music vinyl fanzines on Flipside / Gasatanka Records. Pat was the hub master and helped bring it all together. Was it only a few years ago I argued on Facebook about his hate for Sahara Palin? I would ask him to slow down and redirect his energy.

White Flag played a show with the Simpletons around 2008. They played a Saints Song, Demolition Girl. A nice dedication to me. Yet that was Pat… he always tried to make his friends happy. He was humorous in an irritating and funny way. He had the gift of inclusion. He is a constellation hub across time which brings us all here together today.

I will read some quotes by White Flag Tape 6 Flipside Music Fanzine. I will try to read them the way White Flag said them. Pat Fear’s high degree of sarcasm.

This is a White Flag moment.

“What is the purpose of White Flag?”

“To create an illusion of creativity. Because we are too good to be believed.”

“White Flag is a band that’s done everything done before… but better.” “There are two kinds of people in the world, people who are in White Flag and all those who wish they were.”

“White Flag is more than just a band it is a concept of how to live your life.”

“We look like women, talk like men, and play like mother fuckers. (Twisted sister quote.)”

Pat wrote a theme song for our video fanzines. I would like to share a short description from our catalog describing the beginning of Flipside Video Number Two,

“Now if you want to see the good old video monster in action you just got to catch this video. So, if you get it, and put it in your VCR, you might just die. Because the opening Flipside Video Number Two is the band White Flag. Gutsy and pure, Pat Fear will knock your block off while he plays guitar for the opening theme song called “Flipside” with backup singers including some Redd Kross members and one Bangle member …”

Goldenvoice “30 years” Event.

Pat Fear back to black.

Pat Fear all the way!

What song came up today in my heart was,

“I’ll Blow You a Kiss in the Wind” by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart … seeing Steven McDonald from Redd Kross, who does a brilliant cover, I imagined Pat Fear singing the song on top of the dinning table before us… giving a ghostly performance!

I enjoyed seeing many gathered thinking about a unique wild guy who brought friends and colleagues together today!

Also .. Pat Smear affirmed what I knew but don’t hear often enough that Becky Barton (Donna Rhia) was the first drummer of the Germs. “Where is she now?”

A very enjoyable afternoon/ evening! Thanks Tony!

The Old Spaghetti Factory, October 22/23

Tony. B Band the Adolescents, Cake ( Carlos Numez) 1990s Flipside Fanzine crew, Pat Smear the Germs and beyond, David Markey We Got Power Fanzine and beyond, Don Bolles the Germs and out of this world beyond.

Hub Master: Mike Conley

It was great to promote many bands and enjoy time with friends Mike and Nick. The whole band MIA.

Mike originally came from Las Vegas and then stationed his band MIA in the Orange County beach area. He brought punks tighter together. He did this at parties, gigs or at the Flipside House. He could wheel and deal the punk zone. Back stage Mike would make me laugh. He would follow me around saying,

“Want a cocktail, Hudley,” while rolling his eyes round and around. Just like Groucho Marx.

In 2008 when editing my memoirs about the punk scene I came across some Mike comments in a Flipside Fanzine Interview with his band. Unbelievably I received a call at that moment from Nick Adams, a member of MIA, telling me of Mike’s demise. A week later at his funeral his oldest daughter told us a short story.

She said that when they were traveling in his car her dad always had the music on too loud. She told him he could use headphones like everyone else. He never did. That is punk.

An excerpt from My Punkalullby.

Recently, at a benefit show for the passing of Mike Conley of M.I.A., a slam pit broke out at the Detroit bar in Costa Mesa. After about 19 years my natural feelings of irritation and perspiration filled with moisture above my brow. In the past, the slam pit became a testosterone-filled ring of jock bodies circling round and round before the stage. Bouncers and bands tried to control it. They could not stop this wildfire. I grew to hate it. Yet, the recent show again proved me wrong. There were some women but mostly men dancing around having a great time. Yes, their firm bodies now had become a little soft around the edges, as one middle-aged guy stopped and said to me, as if Mike Conley for one moment materialized,

“…enjoy this moment, it is the best time of your life!”

This guy was beaming with youthful glee.

~ From the Pogo to the Slam Pit, by Hudley Flipside

Flipside produced one of MIA’s albums entitled After the Fact. I will read lyrics from a song that Mike wrote. A Quote from the Song, Whisper in the Wind,

“In my eyes you’ll see a thousand memories, He said stare into my soul, All of me you shall know, Live your life full, live your life free, Tomorrow’s but a vision, Yesterday is a dream…”

Mike had the quality of inner order. A quality of depth and control that was not always easy to access.

Spinning Tires with Mike Conley

This concludes my essay on three punk rockers of the early Southern California Punk Scene. Dennis, Pat, and Mike were extraordinary. They were our friends! SCREAMING,

“They were the Punk Hub Masters!”

Click on image to order my book !

Towards the Zenith today…dragging the lake and letting go.

Punk Rock Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

(Bringing this up from the depth of older posts and recycling it…)

Jupiter / Pater

Last night before I went to bed. Or my routine of earning my right to sleep. I watched my detective shows as candles glow. After a dark night of tossing and turning, I finally achieved the gift of sleep.

Anyway, last night before I went to sleep, I checked my handy device and app on the planets. I noticed that Jupiter was heading towards the nadir not quite past the descent. Jupiter was at peace in the astrological sign of Libra about 29 degrees. I woke up this morning with a curiosity to see that Jupiter had spent the night in the underworld as I did. I speak collectively and personally.

Jupiter is now doing the tango with my friend Scorpio in 00 degrees heading towards the zenith. It is an outward and inward projection on my part. There are the realities that manifest in the physical realm which we all see. Then there are the inner mysteries that prevail within everything and in us as well. And so, it goes.

My reflections and music go hand and hand.

“Watching the Detectives” and “Holding Back the Years” are songs that have made an impression on me at such static times in my life, like these. Profound things are happening but what can I do about it?

Both songs affirm realities today because they are unbearably beautiful, paradoxical, and show a musical rendering of our current times. A time of “dragging the lake” and “letting go!” Hauntingly I move towards the next plateau of life or current events that may be bewildering and filled with change.

George Raft Detective

“Watching the Detectives” is a 1977 single by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello.

“You think you’re alone until you realize you’re in it.
Now fear is here to stay. Love is here for a visit.
They call it instant justice when it’s past the legal limit.
Someone’s scratching at the window. I wonder who is it?
The detectives come to check if you belong to the parents
who are ready to hear the worst about their daughter’s disappearance.
Though it nearly took a miracle to get you to stay,
it only took my little fingers to blow you away.”

Mater

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b3/63/f4/b363f408bf4ea6c44721e00ee9885747.jpg

“Holding Back the Years” is the seventh track on Simply Red’s debut studio album Picture Book (1985).

Pater may refer to as the Latin “father” a title given to father deity. A Roman and Celtic God of the Underworld subsumed by Pluto or Jupiter.

Mater Matuta, in Roman religion, goddess of the ripening of grain (although the Latin poet Lucretius made her a goddess of dawn.)

“Holding back the years,
Thinking of the fear I’ve had for so long.
When somebody hears,
Listen to the fear that’s gone.
Strangled by the wishes of pater,
Hoping for the arm of mater,
Get to me sooner or later,”

they just don’t make songs like this anymore….

Images above https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-jupiter-roman-god-photo-researchers.html

One song to the next pulls me

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

One song to the next pulls me…

I coined the word punk@lullaby. It means that the whole time I was in the punk rock scene, from beginning to end, it was all about a song. One song to the next pulled me though the scene. Once that loud music got into my blood there was nothing like it.

~My Punk@lullaby, Journal One by Hudley Flipside.

Everyone is talking about our loss of Tom Petty. A guy whose songs play on the radio. I mean one cannot go by a day without hearing one of his songs.

It wasn’t always that way. A guy from Gainesville, Florida that made it big. You can read his story. I will be focusing on one song that has magnified my life.

I am sure also too, all the good girl and bad boys of the San Fernando Valley.

“Free Fallin'” is the opening track from Tom Petty’s solo debut album, Full Moon Fever (1989). Ya one can hear it all the time.

It is a strange song because it always makes me embarrassed because he is singing about my life. That is what good song writing does. It is inclusive. I grew up in the San Fernando Valley! I grew up walking Ventura Blvd every day.

I played in the Hills of Mulholland too! Loving Elvis and riding my horse were real! It all happened for me in the 1970s. Somehow this song and the lyrics especially speak of a punk edge, a drug edge… and that wildness.

The conflict between the good girls and the bad boys is real. In my life I did not stay home with a broken heart because I eventually joined the vampires on Ventura Blvd.

I instead, ironically, headed east with the bad boys. Yet I know what he is talking about.

I wonder how he knew so much about the valley for not actually growing up there. I guess some help from other artists he knew. Or found this insight hanging with friends and listening to their stories. He does dig deep into the experience of being a valley girl or guy.

Anyone that grew up here as a kid all the way through to their teens has done some “free fallin’…over Mulholland.”

“I wanna glide down over Mulholland

I wanna write her name in the sky

I’m gonna free fall out into nothin’

Gonna leave this world for awhile”

Ya been there done that!! It is an amazing song for me and I always feel like he is singing about my generation! Us Valley Kids. Kind of like Social Distortion’s song Hwy 101,

“Listen to the boulevard, listen to the falling rain

I believe in love now, with all of its joys and pains

Sick boy, sick girl, looking nice dressed up on a Saturday night

Take a walk downtown for a while and chase the pale moonlight

I can still hear the mission bells and the train rolling’ through your town

Goanna leave this world behind, we’re Southern California bound.”

Chatsworth Tunnel, Chatsworth, California

Chatsworth_Tunnel_27.jpg (936×960) waterandpower.org

I never went to a Tom Petty show or bought one of his records! Social Distortion I knew like the back of my hand once. Both reached a place of musical fame.

We should honor them for their generational symbol of something unique and different in this world.

In music, however, they manifest in our life or culture as something special about a way of life. Both songs hold value in my life and tell a damn good story.

One that we all can relate to personally or collectively. Especially if you have been there and experienced it personally.

Mysteries Solved

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

Deaths occur that take on broad eerie symbolism in the collective pages of social history – think about the passing of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison in 1970 and 1971, or of Kurt Cobain in 1994. Or remember the Kent State massacre? Or the beginning of the murder spree of that iconic dark-Scorpio figure, Jack the Ripper.
All those deaths occurred with Jupiter in the sign of the Scorpio.
– Steven Forrest, Jupiter Enters Scorpio October 10, 2017

https://www.forrestastrology.com/

How many of us have been directly inspired by these musical geniuses: Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain?

I know I have as well as saddened by their deaths. The mystery of losing them at the peak of their youthful talent. Their music plays on.

I know why I am pulled in their direction because I have Jupiter in the 12th house in the sign of Libra.

My birth chart is playing with me now. Telling me why I like mysteries, rebels, and depth psychology. I have viewed my own Doppelganger and such music as theirs, made me more aware of the collective Doppelganger!

Jung teaches us that one can go to the underworld of shadows and join in the collective unconscious but to stay there as an artist is the ultimate big mistake.

If not for Carl Jung, William Blake and James Hillman I may not have made it into the 1990s. So, I am very grateful for their help and wisdom. Also, their knowledge of myths that they share is fun and life changing. Grand teachers.

I think the above quote and the article Jupiter Enters Scorpio October 10, 2017, by Steven Forest is just what I needed and so I am writing about it and sharing it here for others. Also, I am sharing my renderings of ancient images of the moon and sun.

In times of chaos, we only need to go within to seek the light! It is ironic but that is where we can find the sun and the moon. The light that crescendos and ascending takes us out of the too much darkness that we sometimes face.

Happy first day of October…

Slash and Flipside on ROQ late 1970s

Punk Rock Historian, Colleague and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

“Records…..Records….and Records !!!!!” ~ Mike Vallejo

If you lived as a teen in the late ’70s or during the ’80s you were most likely riding the original wave or skating the rebellious cement of the original punk rock scene in some way, shape or form. Mike sent me a CD in the mail, like the good old days, of an early interview with Slash Magazine and Flipside Fanzine on Rodney on the ROQ. I am airing it again today. Mike said it was OK to post this on my blog.

Imagine from Flipside fanzine taken by Larry Lash

Mike sells more than just records and seems to have a lot of music and things that document the early punk scene. I also purchased a CD from him of The Jam playing the Whisky A Go Go. A thrill for me to find. I am delighted to receive this CD. My mentors speak! I was most likely listening to this on my parents’ old WW II German Telefunken radio. WOW!

Enjoy and thanks Mike Vallejo! A friend indeed.

The last audio 7 ends abruptly. I wrote a letter to Kickboy-face after hearing this live back when it was on the air. He wrote back a week later. Also I danced with him at the Whisky A Go Go live to Madness. It is strange but this captures pre Elks Lodge Riot... we all know how that turned out!!

X-8- A Flipside Crew Trip to San Francisco ’79. photo by Peter Landswick (AL, Hud, Pete and X-8)

Rodney on the ROQ Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine and Slash Magazine.

I know that the nasty Slash characters played a song trick or two on Rodney… did you catch it… an utmost synchronicity for me…

Ultimate conclusion !

Stig Stench Interview in Flipside 2010

Hudley Flipside

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

“I am the Chief of my own tribe. I captain my own ship and I fall under no label. I happen to identify and relate to the passion and spirit that is called “Punk Rock.”

_ Stig Stench

Wow! TBT! The interview Hudley Flipside did with me for Flipside Magazine back in 2010. YES! This Texas hick made it in fLipside Magazine.Enjoy!:”

1st quadrant: The Radio DJ:
1. Prior to, Raising Punk Rock Radio Back from the Dead!, where and when were you and DJ?

A: You work for Flipside with a name like “Mr Fuck?” …..Whatever floats your wiener! *LOL* Ok! Well here it goes!……….
In 1983, I got a job as a teenager at a shit-hole Country Music Station in Silsbee Texas. The equipment was very primitive there even by that days standard. By 85 I ended up in Oceanside, CA. Hopped around Disc Jockeying pirate stations *Cocking eye like a pirate* Harrrrrrgh! and hanging around public access radio shows and such.

2. What process do you use now to access the computer airways?

A: I get up…I sit down..Have either a cup of Wheatsville Fresh Ground Coffee or Coke Zero…Put my grubby hands on my keyboard .I turn on my HP Pavillion p630y PC w/AMD Phenom II X4 820 Quad Core Processor and *BAM!* I terrorize the Internet!

3. What has the response been to starting Stig Stench’s Punk Rock Radio?

A: Well to be truthful, I didn’t expect this type of response. I did it because I couldn’t find the type of Punk Rock Radio show on the net I wanted. I mean I found “looped” and shows that are repeated and taped months ago, but not a “live” Internet Punk Rock Radio Show. I figured if I got 2 or 3 listeners, cool! But I have had such a plethora, NO! a cornucopia listeners and incredible supporters! Kevin Seconds (7 Seconds) and Sly-J (Sylvia Juncosa) help put my little show on the map. Since then Greg Ginn (SST/Black Flag), Ed Colver and Ron Goudie (Modern Warfare/Enigma Records) have given me their hand of support. Greg Ginn/SST are now sponsoring StenchRadio.com. Sly-J (Sylvia J) is my webmaster! CRAZY! I have the best audience in the world! Listeners from L.A to Texas all over the US, Belgium,Canada, UK, France, Pakistan, Russia and …..Missouri.

4. What is the best thing about being a fucking punk rock radio man?

A: A “fucking” Punk Rock Radio man? That question, you’ll have to ask Mrs Stench! *Wink*

2nd Quadrant: The punk in a band.

1. So you have been in a couple Black Death Metal Bands?
A:Yes…….*Long uncomfortable pause*

2. What the hell kind of stuff did you do with Negativity Records?

A: I was the vocalist on Evil God’s CD. The very first time I laid eyes on it was when I saw it in the used bin at Cheapo’s Records here in Austin a couple of weeks ago. But seriously, TIM is doing well and he and I are still dear friends.

3. Did you go on tour with a band call the Powerless Flowers in the 1980’s?

A:I did a handful of shows with them there in Covina, CA as their bassist back in 1988. I deservedly was kicked out and came to Austin. I still talk to Abner on occasions. He is a wonderful guy and has a band with his daughter Samantha called Temper Tantrum. I need to call him and catch up.

4. What kind of music do you like best and what is your instrument of choice.

A: Untarnished early 80’s Punk Rock! Obviously, but I have been known to enjoy Early Industrial, Motown and Black Gospel.
Instrument: My voice and my PC….I am reforming my band The STENCHES this month.

3rd Quadrant: The Record Collector

1. How old where you when the record bug bit your butt?

A: In 1975. It was KISS, Black Sabbath,Thin Lizzy and Alice Cooper. I saw The Sex Pistols in Circus magazine and TV! I had The Sex Pistols, Ramones and Dead Boys on 8-Track Tape! *LOL* Remember those? My first punk rock record ever was “Nervous Breakdown” by Black Flag.

2. How many records do you have?

A:I don’t know, I would have many more if my ex-wife hadn’t have stolen some of them.

3. What are you favorite four records?

A: (1) The Damned-Machine Gun Etiquette (2) Black Flag-Damaged (3) The Germs-G.I (4) Dead Kennedy’s-Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

4. Compare records and CD’s?

A: CD’s are more accessible and convenient , but I prefer the audio of vinyl better because it captures the “Live” experience more and it has more soul! They are more meaningful.

4th Quadrant: Who the HeLL are you?

1. Are you a punk rocker?

A: I am the Chief of my own tribe. I captain my own ship and I fall under no label. I happen to identify and relate to the passion and spirit that is called “Punk Rock.” Punk Rock in my opinion is not a genre or fad. It is a revolution and a not to be trite but a state of mind that refuses to be quiet ,but to be a voice of many generations. It is not a shop, a shoe, a tour or even a radio show. It is it’s own true energy and soul. Some people get it! Some sadly don’t. This is the music that stirs my soul and allows me to never die. (Undead)

2. Are you really an evil zombie man?

A: I am part Fulci, part Romero and Louisiana Swamp Rat. …And I look like a Elvis From Hell!

3. What politically motivates you?

A: Amendment 10 of the US Constitution States “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, AND to the PEOPLE!”. The US Constitution originally was to grant Americans the ability to be their own governing voice and the Government was to have very little “hand on” in our lives. Where in the Constitution does it grant for example the IRS to have the power they do over our taxes, property ect? They are a private sector! Can anyone tell me who gave them their power? The Government needs to be totally disassembled. Uprising is what America need! We need to be our own governing voice.

4. Do you believe in love…?

A: Love is what made me start this show. Love is what generates our soul to have passion for whatever it is we love to do. Our Family , Friends, our scene, our music. Love for my Freedom is what keeps me from choking the shit out of anyone who annoys me. I love my wife, my daughter. I don’t like a lot of people, but I love the life that flows through people. Anyone who says “I don’t believe in Love” truly does not believe that. Anyone who does, is either full of shit or six feet under the ground. Ok, that is all you are getting out of me. I am starting to sound like a hippie or a owner of a cheese shop.

Meet The Flopside Family

Friendly Echoes

“Eventually, Echo, too, began to waste away. Her beauty faded, her skin shriveled, and her bones turned to stone. Today, all that remains of Echo is the sound of her voice.”

^{Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3. 493-501}

Hudley Clown party ’83

The echo of music is all that is left of the experience we shared.

Just like Echo, we begin to waste away.

Knowing the melting of my brain towards this reality, is something we all face.

Is there comfort in the echo of music?

Yes there is!

It can be like an old friend that does not age.

It is like an eternal echo from the past that is consistent with the present and beyond.

Lyrics echo this and books echo that.

Memories are echoes in my mind.

I can go over the memories again and again.

I miss so many scenes and groups of people who have gone.

I still hear the sounds of their voices but they are not there.

People, places and things that hold on with an echo.

That eternal echo of music, clubs and beer.

Screaming, dancing and holding friends near!

Dear long friendly echoes.

…reaky deaky…

Punk Rock Colleague & Historian and Professional Consultant

Hudley Flipside

I have never been a record collector. I did have a little cheap tape recorder. I would record the music I liked, taken from a radio program, and play it over and over again. I duct-taped that little recorder on my bike and would play it while riding around the neighborhood, feeling the wind in my hair and the rhythm of the music pulsing through me. It was a simple joy, but it sparked a passion for music that I’ve carried with me ever since.

The Sex Pistols were my favorite. Their raw sound and rebellious attitude resonated deeply with me during my formative years. Everything I recorded was from KROQ when it was still free radio, a station known for its eclectic lineup that brought the freshest hits straight to my ears. It was current and on the cutting edge of what was happening in the music scene at that time, helping to cultivate my taste and broaden my horizons. Each song I captured on tape felt like a small adventure, a way to escape the ordinary and dive into a world filled with energy and intensity.

The music opened some doors for me, shaping not only my identity but also leading me to new friendships and experiences. I remember gathering with friends, sharing our favorite tracks, discussing the latest bands, and feeling a sense of connection through our love for music. Those moments were formative, and I cherish them. Yet, I can list the records I purchased myself from 1978 to 1989 and beyond, each one holding its own special place in my memory. If I could recount the stories of those albums, they would include the late-night trips to local record stores, the anticipation of listening to a new release for the first time, and the nostalgia of revisiting the sounds of my youth. Each record, though not an extensive collection, was a testament to my journey as a music lover, embodying the evolution of my tastes and the ever-changing landscape of the music world.

The Saints, “I’m Stranded,” “Eternally Yours,” “Prehistoric Sounds”
Vibrators, “Pure Mania”
Stray Cats, “Stray Cats”
Ramones, “Rocket to Russia,” “Road to Ruin”
Charged GBH, “Leather, Bristles, Studs, And Acne,” “City Baby Attacked by Rats,” “City Baby’s Revenge,” ” Midnight Madness and Beyond,” “Punk Junkies, “ “Ha Ha,” “Perfume and Piss.”
The Adicts, “Life Goes On”
Avengers, Album

From 1979 to 1989 we at Flipside Fanzine received all our records free. Like many fanzines we performed a service to its readers and to the bands. (of course I will not list the endless supply of thrift store records that came and went for pennies…)

“Any review is a good review,” was my motto. Now I am comfortable with listening to YouTube freely. Any song I want is there for me. I can do what I have always done.

Don’t get me wrong, I spent a good 10 years addicted to the smell of fresh vinyl, but now I am amused by collectors and enjoy their company now and then. Before all this I listened to hand me down records via my siblings.

When I left Flipside I also left all the records, I did love, to the Flipside Record collective.

Records are a small slice of the pie for me and punk rock. Then, I preferred live shows, reading letters from punk fans and making friends.

Another two bits about the BIG PUNK ROCK… there are many stories from the BIG PUNK ROCK, this is just one story.