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
Two off-beat women executed. They both managed to live a coarse life remarkable parallel.
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.”
― Walt Whitman
Barbara Graham
Aileen Wuornos
Shunned by society, prostitution to survive and hanging with the wrong types of men! Men who took advantage of their beauty, poverty and hot desperation.
The kind of real life Noir that gets your blood boiling. They did not need to be killed. They were falsely executed.
They were victims of a dark world. Trapped in it. A justice system intrinsically evil which profoundly betrayed them both.
Money and profits from films … was it really to tell their story? I hope so.
I want to live: Actress Susan Hayward
Barbara Graham (June 26, 1923 – June 3, 1955) was an American criminal convicted of murder. She was executed in the gas chamber on the same day as two convicted accomplices, Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins, all of whom were involved in the robbery that led to murder of an elderly widow. Nicknamed “Bloody Babs” by the press, Graham was the third woman in California to be executed by gas.[1]
Aileen Wuornos was born on February 29, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan, USA as Aileen Carol Pittman. She was married to Lewis Gratz Fell. She died on October 9, 2002 in Florida State Prison, Starke, Florida, USA
Wuornos was brought into the death chamber on October 9, 2002. She had Kentucky Fried Chicken and French fries as her last meal and was given a $20 budget. Her last words before the execution were,
“Yes, I would just like to say I’m sailing with the rock, and I’ll be back, like Independence Day with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I’ll be back, I’ll be back.”
[1] At 9:47 a.m. EDT, Aileen Wuornos died.
She was the tenth woman in the United States to be executed since the Supreme Court lift its ban on capital punishment in 1976, and the second woman ever executed in Florida.
“This film pays homage to the American DIY spirit and the diversity of the US musical landscape outside the commercial music industry. While many other music films never make it beyond hero worship, director Nicole Wegner consistently maintains eye level with her twelve interview partners,…”
Director: Nicole Wegner Year: 2017 Duration: 100 Language: English
I got the riding on a swing feeling in my belly! March is here, we are waiting for a rain storm.
Reflecting over the last six years and after 1,000 posts I have come to realize what The Seminary of Praying Mantis is all about. I can break my blog into four parts; Humor, spirituality, punk rock, and free fall.
I do embrace the creative shadow archetype. I like to make humor of culture and politics. For me it is the third path of satire. I do not shy off from it being considered stupid.
I am naturally a spiritual person. I have become more comfortable with sharing this about myself. My favorite books are biographies. So why not share my story.
Humor and honest nastiness is part of my Flopside Comics. Also, in The Daily “FUCK” Gazette and Flopside Bubble Gum comics one can find the absurd. I do admit defeat now and then when it comes to current events.
Punk Rock has cursed me. When I try to escape it, it always finds me. So, I now embrace it as part of my rebellious character. I love to share my history and stay current as shown in my ‘do it yourself ‘ projects.
I like intimacy. friendships and the integrity that comes with the core punk rock experience. I don’t do the festival punk thing.
That is way more profitable for the bands. I can dig that. If one of the many bands, I’ve known. wants to take one of my Punk@lullaby journals and help promote my work that is cool by me. Kind of like we use to do for them with Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine.
My free fall is a merger of all the three parts including my art and poetry. I must create. It is a calling that I cannot ignore. I promote my own work and have true friends help me along the way.
One of my happiest days …
S.W. Lauden, Hudley and Danny Gardner at
“Poems, Songs & Stories-A Literary Lounge by the LA River”,
on September 10th 2017.
A great day !
The Frog Spot photo by Michelene Cherie.
Now to move on to a current event. I like reading Steve Forests’ writings on astrology. His latest post is on Mars, Mars out of bounds !!
You may not believe in the stars but even if you don’t he takes an honest look at what it is to be a male or female this month. A very good read.
Androgyny or the hermaphrodite archetype is part of my perspective on what it is to be a human being. Honesty and integrity are how I frame my world. It sometimes leads me down a confronting and angry dark path. Yet at age 60 I think I can be of service to others by doing my good work. I am walking a new path back to university.
I am interested on where this will take me. Will I be accepted for who I am? I want to help others. I may become distant here blogging? I may change my posts favoring one over the other? I will be more discerningly present !
Therefore, I am sharing the insides of my Flopside comic here. It makes me laugh. Hopefully bringing some adult toilet paper humor upon a heartless subject in current politics. The original Flopside Bubble Gum comic was published as Mr. Trump grappled a hostile takeover of our poor whimpering white house. How it has changed!!
Mr. Fuck the wild card the androgyny person. He is the “satellite of love”. He can help all men and women….with pink hat and hard on. I love the androgynous!
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,
Mr. Dang, Bloody Elbows, Mr. Crap, Hudley, Pee Wee Gutter, Mr. Fuck and Mr. Garbage…..Mr. Shit declined to participate in our Flopside Crew Party dress party… old fart.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
~Abraham Lincoln
The United States, the State of the Union Address… some don’t care and some are going to boycott the event. Others will watch like us at FLOPSIDE Comics. The theater of the trumpsurd!!!
So Mr. Shit came up with this in his sleep.
We listened as he snored and talked in his sleep. Mr. Shit said…
“The State of the Union Address… the Address… a dress.”
We listened.
“The dress… the dump is a dildo… Trump.”
Mr. Shit gave us a cleaver idea while he was deep in his sleep and talking in his sleep! He is an elder punk with dementia. Mr. Garbage listens closely to his wisdom and said it clearly to Mr. Fuck,
“A dildo and a dress…”
We smiled and then went to have a round of coffee. Today we will put on our best party dresses and listen to the addresses….
No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
Marjorie Main playing the character Lucy in the 1939 film The Women
The Women is a film that I adore every time I watch it. It does not have one man in the film. These women spend their time talking about men, competing for men, and divorcing and remarrying men.
All the female characters in this film are delightful. The women are in love and out of love, nasty and catty.
Their current 1939 fashion is wonderful. A very clever film for women from the 1930s. A different culture for sure and some undercurrents that are questionable by today’s standards, but overall a great time to jump in and have some real fun with these gals.
My favorite character from this film is Lucy. She runs a ranch in Reno for women who are in the process of divorcing their husbands. What brought out this little review is a song that Lucy sings in the film and it goes like this…
Lucy: [singing] If the ocean was whiskey, and I was a duck, I’d dive to the bottom, and never come up. Oh baby, oh baby, I’ve told you before, the more I drink whiskey, I love you the more! Oh baby, oh baby…
This morning while cooking up the chili, peppers and more this song came blaring out of my mouth.
I usually call my bursts of activity around the house as taking out little cat Z from under my hat. (Dr. Seuss) Today I was singing Lucy’s song.
“Oh baby, oh baby…”
Lucy sings it with a crescendo and high pitch. My guys and cats were twitching their ears and wondering what the hell got into mama this morning.
“Oh baby, oh baby, I’ve told you before, the more I drink whiskey, I love you the more! Oh baby, oh baby…”
If you have viewed the film, you know what I am talking about!!!
“Those who tune in with its powers will be mavericks who will drag us into the new era…”
~ Uranus the planet insight quote.
Here comes one of those narrowing openings. A flash from my past. All initiated by a song. Youngest told oldest son to play some Bee Gees. Oldest son was driving so he did. The song came on and while sitting in the back of the car it happened.
Lynn 1977. She took me to see Saturday Night Fever in Westwood, CA. The late night showing of the film. A long drive at night. We had the night fervor of youth and freedom flowing through our blood. It was a fantastic time to be young.
Disco, new wave, rock and punk were merged tight as the proverbially creative spark upon the music scene unknown.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, trailblazer and champion of liberal priorities, dies at age 90
Feinstein died on Thursday night at her home in Washington, D.C., her office said on Friday.
September 29, 2023.
Dianne Feinstein Rules
Dianne Feinstein Rules
Dianne Feinstein Rules
Is she a strong woman or is she just a strong human being ?! I say both. We at Flopside COmics don’t like separating the men from the women but in this case just once we agree that she is one hell of a dame. Thank You !!!
The Flopside Comic
Woman of the Century…. here we gave her a Tiara !!
Gasatanka / Flipside Fanzine Vol 2.. with Revolutionary Fetus …
Doing a little reflective researching for my little talk. Always gets my heart beating a little faster. This band insert was one of my favorite ones. My work. But I always wanted to do a newspaper Fanzine. The individuals that made this vinyl fanzine happen are amazing ! What a wild project… a wonder how it ever happened?
Ghoulish is onewhodelights in therevolting,morbid, or loathsome.
Today is a day of terror and disdain in New York. Another violent attack on innocent people. The last month or so has been very revolting, morbid and loathsome. An attack on the soul of humanity…very sad.
I am not one who delights in the revolting, morbid or loathsome. Halloween is about running around and getting free candy. It is a time of parties with friends and family. The graceful time of honoring our ancestors.
Spirits ascend but come to visit us in the wind and in our hearts and our memories.
“The old generation is going. What will the new bring us? What shall we ourselves contribute?
Destiny says to us: “Show what is in thee! Now is the moment, now is the hour, else fall back into nothingness! It is thy turn! Give the world thy measure, say thy word, reveal thy nullity or thy capacity. Come forth from the shade!
It is no longer a question of promising, thou must perform. The time of apprenticeship is over. Servant, show us what thou hast done with thy talent. Speak now, or be silent forever.”
-Henri-Frédéric Amiel, Amiel’s Journal
“I feel as I were disintegrating and “growing up”, whatever that means, simultaneously.”
My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine. ~
The older I get the more I know it is true to expect less from others. Less from others is how it goes.
I also feel I give less to others. The need to support shows , bands and artists is less. I don’t expect others to support me either. When they do I am thrilled.
When I am thrilled and get that feeling in my belly to go and do something it must sustain for a while.
My libido is not what it use to be. I can expect it to become lukewarm quickly.
(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.
Ghoulish is o
