( 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.
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?
Integrity is in every image, interview, editorial and advertisement.
The project of creating the first Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 54 Ten Year Anniversary issue is a scan of issue one through fifty. Different technology back in 1987 but our HP Laser printer in office and camera, set up in our garage, both helped in the scanned copy layout of images. Both printer and camera made this issue happen. It was Flipside Fanzine magic.
Each issue presents selected interviews and stories that zigzag together vivid accounts and insights from the punk rock scene. Although some readers have expressed nostalgia for the letter and classified sections—once vital hubs for community interaction—the publication prioritizes detailed narratives about bands of the era. This editorial choice underscores a distinctive aspect that captures the passion and intensity characteristic of punk rock. By focusing solely on musicians, their experiences, and the cultural influence they exerted, the publication seeks to give readers a deeper view of the punk movement, ensuring its legacy endures for new generations and honoring its genuine spirit of punk rock.
Our new Commodore 128 computer was a revolutionary thing at the time. I painstakingly did all the layout for the first issue. We took highlighted interviews from each issue along with editorials. I did it then and I did it again with this replica issue.
The only difference being is that the technology for this replica is a hell of a lot better. As well as the programs use to get Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 54 the way that it is. My dream was to come out with a paperback copy of this issue.
I adore this issue, so I preserved it.
The new cover is a picture by Al Flipside. Symbolic of how we bugged the bands and ran a punk rock fanzine together.
It was a sin from AL Flipside’s perspective to have our faces in Flipside fanzines. So, I challenged this sin with my mug on the cover. It is not so much about this. More than that it reflects a time when I was a gal amongst many guy punkers. Which was and is still a turn on for me. Very punk rock.
Subhumans (Canadian Band) and Angry Samoans. Greg Turner, Metal Mike, Wimpy, Hud, Gary and Jim.
This is one of my favorite pics of the early punk scene with…
I am holding Flipside’s tape recorder. Our # one staff … with us the whole time.
We recorded all of our band interviews included in each issue on this tape recorder.
We were always in the middle of bugging the bands. So, to me it is symbolic of us. Al and I as we ran a Fanzine. It also shows you the world through Al’s eyes. We literally had thousands and thousands of negatives and pictures in our office.
The yellow patina is gone, and the pages are all straight. This issue of Flipside # 54 was originally printed on newsprint paper, so the pages did yellow.
I put a great deal of time into making this paperback into the sweet little punk rock number that it is. Some punks have told me that this was their punk rock bible. It is Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine issues one through fifty. A lot of punk voices. The integrity of what punk was at any time during the original punk rock scene is shared here.
Flipside Fanzine # 54 captures the continuity and real experience and thoughtful wild exuberant expression of many interesting individuals. It was a passion of mine to share in this documentation of a scene. It still is which is why I continued over the years with this project to have a new handheld Flipside # 54 for anyone who wants to hold it too.
I think it is incredibly special, in a punk kind of way, I hope you will enjoy it too.
Within this paperback book is our history of the early punk rock scene. We at Flipside covered that scene thoroughly, what we wanted to cover that is. It is best you read the editorial included at the beginning of this paperback to get a real sense of who we were. Ten years of documenting a scene included in issues one through fifty is a great deal to read. A magnifying glass may be needed.
I always say the proof is in the pudding. Shit workers who worked on each issue are clearly defined in each issue. This is what I mean by proof. Always a lot of hands in the cookie jar at the Flipside house. Suffice to say I will let this spectacular punk documentary speak for itself from the giant community of punk voices. The true punk rock narrative.
I recommend my memoir My Punkalullaby as a sidekick to Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 54 Ten-Year Anniversary Issue (replica) 1977 to 1987 because both are my punk rock opus, and I am very proud of publishing these editions through my publishing company The Seminary of Praying Mantis Publishing.
Click on Image takes you to Amazon where this is sold.
Click on Image takes you to Amazon where this is sold.
Both issues are for purchase at Amazon with a click.
Praying mantis shows me her story of life, death, and rebirth. For me she is an image or symbol of the divine in all things. I watch the praying mantis in my garden and have taken her image as my logo. She is an amazing little creature, and I relate to her connection to nature. We are both wild and part of this strange world. She is a part of my mythology as I am part of hers.
Pg 7. ~My Punkalullaby, The Seminary Of Praying Mantis, Hudley Flipside
Paperback…
Click on image available to purchase through Amazon.
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.
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.”
I see how the term Punk Rock is always trying to be defined by many. Yet the real-life definition is not an out their term to read about in academic journals because it is based on the foundation of experience. It is viewed by the action of individuals. As shown by Pudd’nhead Wilson, (1894) the novel by American writer Mark Twain; Punk Rock is as unique as a person’s fingerprints. Mark Twain is the grand Punk Rocker. Think about that.
Punk Rock is based on the foundation of experience and is unique as a person’s fingerprints. That is clear enough. It is not who you know, or what shows you go to, or if you wear the right clothes or sport the wildest haircut. You are a punk rocker who likes to camp out in the wilderness. It is when your deep-down dreams affirm to you that you are a punk rocker, then you know. It does not matter what others think of you either. It is a happy curse of creativity and inward ambition.
W.P. Witcutt authored a book on William Blake entitled Blake, A Psychological Study. He produced a term that explains the artist and visionary William Blake but also what a punk rocker is. A punk rocker has “introverted intuition.” Blake had introverted intuition. Blake took his deep-down creativity and brought it out upon the world in often wild, unique, and creative ways. Yes, he was a punk rocker.
Beatniks identified themselves as: Jane Doe, Beatnik, artist, writer, wife, mother. I too can say I am. Hudley Flipside, Punk Rocker, writer, artist, wife, mother. Alison Braun can be identified as Alison Braun, Punk Rocker, photographer, wife, mother (She may wish to add to the list).
When she took these pictures, being a female was not always the way of the land. Lots of guys in bands, as promoters and running record labels to communicate with and finding another female was not so easy. At least one who was a punk rocker living the life.
Creatively Alison Braun’s photos show unique skills of capturing a time and place in our punk rock history (1981 to 1990). This is especially important for surviving punk rockers to preserve, document and tell our stories. It is a healthy natural flow of our collective unconscious experiences. To take that deep-down creativity and bring it out upon the world again is grand! I am incredibly happy to see punk rock on an individual scale like this.
The Avengers, The Dils and The Alley Cats + many special guests (A Celebration of the Life of Jimmy Wilsey) at Echoplex
Before the show I went to an Italian Restaurant nearby. I sat at the bar and had a Guinness and a plate of pasta.
Part of my DNA
It will be the time to join with punk comrades and celebrate our originators and characters of the early California punk scene. The Avengers, the Dils and the Alley Cats.
Before The Avengers went on a DJ at the event played The Saints – (I’m) Stranded. The sound went on and I swear the earth moved as the song grabbed my spine… an earthquake…. it was a Saints’ Hallelujah “amber” moment.
Just got this from a friend… a nice treat that makes life bearable. (signed copy and 2024 November The Saints Tour)
Once someone dies, their life becomes a story, infinite, Like a song forever more.
Back then it was a tight underground, alternative punk rock scene. Bands were unclassified and their songs unique. I found myself melting into a wild alchemy of youths that had something new to say.
We were finding our voice. All the unknown characters were there. Nobody creates a scene alone. Seeing punk bands during the early Los Angeles punk scene, I was not always aware of all the members in the band.
Instead, the feel of drums, bass and guitar grabbed me into a wild joyful submission. After a few times seeing a band, the lyrics and the vocals brought depth and understanding to any band’s song.
I was shaking to the sounds, wanting to go to all the shows. After getting involved with Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine all the players, in the bands, became focused and clear. I listened to their voices.
I got to know them on a personal level. I went from being a face in the crowd to writing about punk bands and getting to know band members as friends.
The sound of the Avengers was my grounding or anchoring into that early punk scene. Those first days I awoke……
It was fantastic! The Dils I learned about indirectly through other Flipside staff writers.
The Alley Cats was the band, they were the heart of the early punk scene which I got to know the best at that time.
Jimmy was a part of that scene.
I did not know him personally but indirectly. Yet his sound moved me into states of wild frenzy. I am grateful for all the vinyl records that contain that story, song, or sound of our youthful rebellion. Of Jimmy’s youthful rebellion.
Yet a “live” band is always best. It is great to still be here, currently, part of our punk rock history. Thanks to Randy and Penelope for letting me speak today. To show my love and respect.
We were wild and knew all the songs by heart by The Dils, The Alley Cats and the Avengers.
I will be there handing out some badges joining in the event in memory of our youthful rebellion that is still the heartbeat of this crazy continuity of punk rock that still drives our DNA onward.
I never met the guy, nor was he in the secret squirrel club of Flipside Fanzine, but let me tell you, when it comes to interviews, he was like a maestro conducting a symphony of absolute brilliance!
Today I got a nice note from Shredder who wrote for the ‘zine… so I am adding him to this ongoing article….. Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine Staph: Those who worked on Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine 1979 to 1989.
Thanks for the nice words to me… we had fun!!
Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 31 top jimmy & rhythm pigs interviewed by SHREDDER… just a sample…
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.
Turning 65 is all about going to visit the chiropractor. It was the pogoing or the slam pit that done me in.
Sitting in the coffee joint and listening to the retired men talk about how they read the obituary section every day made my dancing john and I laugh. It isn’t funny when it is a comrade from days long gone by.
Like Julie of Sin 34.
I remember asking her once a question when we first met. She was the talk of the town. She was bright, a girl skater and was a singer of a punk rock band.
“So, you skateboard?” I asked her.
“Ha Ha Ha… do I skateboard, yes on a board, but I think you mean do I skate!”
Two generations merging in a scene where terms changed fast. It was never easy confronting and talking to punks.
Julie laughed loud and held her own in a scene that had some tough competition.
Boys everywhere.
I captured her voice in a little article called Feminine Influences we published in Los Angeles Flipside issue 39.
Our six-year anniversary issue.
Rest in skate heaven. Julie!!
Feminine Influences Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 39 Aug/83
It was the year 2038, The old purple haired broad walked slowly down the street. On a big monitor above her she saw that old Flipside Logo. Now part of an advertising campaign for public office. Those people running for office with pig hearts. And she thought it was weirder when she heard the Ramones’ song as part of a bike exercise commercial back in 2018.
After about 14 years of over reflecting, relieving, and watching all the Flipside stuff I help produce become dissected, rearranged bought and sold and resold I can now let it all go. T-shirt logos and documentaries too. I came out with my own D.I.Y. publications to tell my story. It has been out for over a year or two.
Yes, I have been asked to tell my story in other people’s books. Some I did because I felt the need to save the memory of Flipside. Not anymore. I let it go. This is a reality that I had to face, and it was not easy letting go of the need to protect Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine.
“It may be bad, but it feels good.”
I hope others that were part of Flipside tell their own stories in their own way. Who knows if we could put together a blog or book that includes our individual stories as writers, shit workers, photographers, people who caused considerable trouble etc.? That would be fun.
One thing that shines through as a truth that Al and I believed in…. “You don’t have to ask permission.” If you want to do it just do it. “
So, letting it go means just that. You do not have to ask me if you want to use this or that from Flipside’s vast products in anything you are doing. Just do it. I will not be part of that anymore. It is not my responsibility.
Yet, I do have my projects if you need to see what it was like for me as a Flipside punk person. A simple story that I did in my little bedroom converted into an office. Where I do my art, poetry and writing of all kinds, so be it. It took me 2004 to 2017 to finish the Punk@lullaby project. Just like condensed soup but a condensed punk rock story.
To all my old & new friends of the Big Punk Rock @ beyond. ~ Hudley
Mixing the Academy and lived PUNK culture is a concept like a giant punk rocket filled bulging with repertories of sight and sound. A giant punk rocket to the future that explodes into the sky like a fucking loud scream to a new world of fireballs and resistance…. women indulgently included!
UCLA Center for Musical Humanities Curating Resistance 10 February 2018
PhDS Pertaining to Punk & beyond …
“Freedom From Conditioned Trance”
I did not know that this two-day event was the first of its kind at UCLA. Yet I naturally follow Joe Strummer’s advice, which is to move naively into things. I think of this as letting the essence or spirit of an event unfold as it may. This is how I fell into punk rock. The right place at the right time. It was synchronicity and all that unconscious revealing by focus and experience. For me, as others, it was the first note of a song. The guitar riff or bass depth and drums ripping through my spine. It made me wake up!
I wanted to attend the full event but didn’t because of my bad back and family responsibilities. I attended the full event on Saturday. I made as many of the sessions as I was able to. Each session inspired me to see from a different perspective. Some of the panelists are very academic. Their blending punk with thesis was a challenging reality for most of them. Also, the need to archive punk, in general, was something that challenged all of them. I have questioned this one myself. I was hoping that by being here some of my questions might be answered. Their arguments are satisfactory. Over time, I will consider all of them.
Session 2B: Punk Epistemologies.
9:30 to 10:30 AM was my first session to focus my mind on. I listened actively to Sarah Gelbard speak about punk as being “neutralized,” or “ask a punk,” and “ask a punk academia.” She is a PhD candidate. She defines herself as a punk planner and architect.
A punkarchitect! She said the Academy, conformity to institutions or university, does reject her feminist and or punk attitude. The title of her presentation, “Ask a punk: from informality to anti-formality and anti-authority and when to say fuck.” I felt an irritatingly shy stirring in her that filled the room. I have not felt that feeling for some time. Her integrity and honesty moved me. She mentioned storytelling may be a type of approach to her chosen field of study.
Robert Haworth.
Was next, and his theme was on” radical learning spaces.” As an educator and practicing anarchist he shared some biographical stories about his punk rock experience. A theme that ran throughout his talk seemed to focus on building character. How society and educational (Academy) focuses on a type of expendable economic character that forms our children. He mentioned a good book to study by Emma Goldman, “The Child and its Enemies.”
Session 5B: Punk Political Economies.
Presented three panelists. What came forth here is,
“We should consider continuing to support the cracks.”
I enjoyed Kathryn Heffner speaking about women fanzine publishers of science fiction writing. Briefly I can say that I learned about the history of fanzines. She talked about the community formed by fanzines and how they communicated. It is about women and resistance.
My heart about jumped out of my chest. She defined so many elements of what a fanzine is all about. It is about community, friends, and a subject. The punk scene is about friends and the continuity of friendships over time. I did not hear much about this at this conference!
Kathryn did tell a short story about a sister ‘zinester who misspelled a word and made a whole movement out of it. I about jumped up and screamed hallelujah.
The point being that with fanzines the information is current and was often printed up quickly to spread like a good wildfire of communication. I knew this to be true. Her talk gave meaning to my community. We need to keep writing and self-publishing.
The final Session 21B:
Decay, Ruins, Dystopias was very enjoyable and academic. S. Mark Gubb: “God So Loves Decay,” is an unusual perspective on achieving punk material. He is a PhD candidate. Simply put he had a friend read lyrics such as punk poetry, UK Decay, in front of beautiful architecture in London (England… there about)?
This is presented as performance art. My insight into what he said is that the archiving of punk repertories can inspire others to be creative. Taking archived material and recycling its essence to a new generation to use creatively.
The Lyrics of UK Decay, Performed by Russ Crimewave
Michelle Gonzales.
Presentation made a strong comparison between George Orwell and Joe Strummer. Her brief history of punk, music and films as influencing a generation of punks is a bit superficial to me. Yet her argument was sound and interesting. I noticed how she compared their lives and their lifelong intentions. As she suggested, I am going to google the best of Utopian literature and do some reading. An honest look at what can move someone! A book and or a song.
Overall, I did not include everything from this punk academy conference. Yet in general I had a great time. My impression is that archiving punk is a very sound perspective and a reality for some such as Slash Magazine and MaximumRocknroll.
I am not sure If I am ready yet to turn over my stuff. As a friend Kat Talley-Jones said,
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.
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 …”
“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.
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,
(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.”
“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,”
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.”
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.
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
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.
Lewis McAdams: In those days cool was a survival mechanism.
I made a mistake. I thought the cover was of Bob Mould of Husker Du but instead is Ed Crawford, aka ed fROMOHIO from Firehose. Thanks goes to We Got Power: David Markey. Makes sense to me…
Big Frank asked Al if I was on the cover of issue number 50. He seemed a bit bugged. Al said no that is ed fROMOHIO of Firehose, they have an interview in the issue by Jon Mastumoto. It was our July 1986 issue. Purple cover ta boot. I saw no resemblance besides being a Noisy Cat. We were pleased with the cover.
Comrades of fanzine Ink Disease put up their interview with, “the Du” and so I felt a need to join in today. So many bands, fans, and contributors galore. Like I said before, there were many hands in the cookie jar. When we lose a friend from that tight matrix of friends of the punk scene, we naturally mourn our loss, but we also share in their brilliance! When they lived with us on this short earth adventure. Wild music and rebellious dear friends, Grant Hart you are one of the cool guys.
Last Sunday I met up with an author, S. W. Lauden, who told me he became a writer because of his first published item in Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine in the mid ’80s. It is good to hear inspirational stories. I was happy to know that. A nice continuity even though I did not guess that punk rock would find me at an event dedicated to Lewis McAdams in celebration with Friends of the Los Angeles River.
SW LAUDEN: We exchanged our work…
Page One
Page Two
Page Three
People talk about anarchy And taking up a fight Well I’m afraid of things like that I lock my doors at night I don’t rape, and I don’t pillage Other peoples’ lives I don’t practice what you preach And I won’t see through your eyes
You want to change the world By breaking rules and laws People don’t do things like that In the real world at all You’re not a cop, or a politician You’re a person too You can sing any song you want But you’re still the same
I can’t think of anything That makes me more upset People talk all this rhetoric Forgive but not forget I don’t rape, and I don’t pillage Other peoples’ lives I don’t practice what you preach And I won’t see through your eyes
I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.
~Hermann Hesse
My Punkalullaby Journals, one through four, are now included in one paperback book for sale at Amazon.
Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine is not forgotten.
This was my concern in 2004 when I began my memoir about the punk scene I was passionately involved with. That Flipside Fanzine would be forgotten. How many punk rock books are now being sold today that mention Flipside? Enough to satisfy me. My Punk@lullaby Journals, one through four, are part of this memory. As I repeatedly say,
“There are many stories from the big punk rock. Mine is just one of them. Mine is a complimentary edition to read alongside the big punk rock books out there!”
My Punk@lullaby Journals share in the tapestry of the whole worth of what the original Los Angeles punk scene was and has now become! Yes, I have heard the echoes of
“Another old punk rock story.”
This is ok for me to hear now! I can,
“Transform it into something of value!”
It is good for an elder to share stories about life. This is an ancient archetype that I have taken on.
I did approach others to have my book published. I answered my need to publish it by doing it myself. All that I learned from the original punk scene was available to me. My mind and soul, a computer and printer and a bedroom converted into an office. The integrity of Flipside Fanzine shines through these little numbers I call journals.
All four journals I published myself. I am happy! As I move into turning sixty, I have done something of value by completing my project. I now share my journals with the public. I was close to thirty when I left the original punk scene! That terrifying year was 1989. Yes, all that first Saturn return, and second Saturn return jazz is happening as I write this post now. A continuity that I also share for those that study the oldest of synchronicity wise sciences.
My stories are not perfect stories. If you desire to buy one, or all four, I hope while reading and reflecting on my stories you will find some fair value for yourself. It was an extraordinary time, and we were wild free journalists documenting a scene. No one told us what to do.
We were punks publishing a punk ‘zine. We were running with a tight but growing punk scene. Nobodies from an underground culture. All individuals were unique yet part of a community of rebellious friends. I still endure the punk scene and it is my curse to embrace.
Click on Image to buy all four Journals in a Paperback.
