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
I 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.
In memory of Jimmy Wilsey
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. Nobodies create a scene together. 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 another 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 often 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.
Flipside Fanzine Image
I stumbled into the early punk scene. The Australian Saints and the San Franciscan Avengers gave me the courage to go and see any other alternative underground bands on my own. I found myself melting into a wild alchemy of youths that had something to say. We were finding our voices. All the unknown characters were there, nobodies creating a scene together. 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 heart beat of this crazy continuity of punk rock that still drives our DNA onward.
Images from Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine
The Avengers, The Dils and The Alley Cats + many special guests (A Celebration of the Life of Jimmy Wilsey) at Echoplex
Before The Avengers went on a DJ at the event played this song. 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.
Tonight, while watching the news, I saw our secretary of state Antony J. Blinken rocking out at the white house. A flash of light brought three friends who told me “You belong here too.” It was Bill, Dennis and Mike who were hanging in an aura of wonder on me. I started to cry and thanked them for being my friends. And for the encouragement… the veil is so weak now, between the dead and living, this time of the year so keep yourself open… (9/28/23).
Punk Rock Historian, Colleague and professional Consultant
Hudley Flipside
THE PUNK HUB MASTERS
(I presented this at Pat Fear and Other Stories~ December 3, 2017)
My talk today is a comparison essay about three characters from the early punk rock scene. A Punk Comrade GHOST Special.
Dennis Danell original bass player for the punk rock band Social Distortion, Pat Fear singer and guitar player extraordinaire of the mockery punk band White Flag, and Mike Conley singer of the popular punk band MIA.
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 synchronistic-phenomena seems to be to serve as orconstellation 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!”
OC Kids image by “The man from MONK” (rip).
Dennis Danell (rip), Mad Dog (rip), Mike Ness and Tony Reflex
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 constellating 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 …”
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, Cake ( Carlos Numez), Pat Smear, David Markey, Don Bolles.
Hub Master: Mike Conley
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. Denis, Pat, and Mike were extraordinary. They were our friends! SCREAMING,
There are lots of pros and cons about the past solar eclipse. I think it is cool. I did not go to see it. There are plenty of beautiful images online to see. I can think of eclipses in my life though. One of them was Joe Strummer. His voice had an eclipse on my feelings as a youngster. As for many others, he changed our lives! Their first 1977 LP The Clash pushed all the right bottoms and was special for many underground characters. His voice woke me from my slumber. I experienced them at the Santa Monica Civic on their first US tour, Wow!
It has been forty years and he still moves through my heart. All those feelings; to be authentic, real, and alive. To create things uniquely and roughly with your own hands. Forty years of punk rock and I completed my four Punk@lullabys ! My Big celebration! I reached my goal and it worked out as I planned.
It feels good to know that my celebration is more an inward accomplishment for a punk ideology that still pulls through my heart as Joe still does.
I hope you enjoy the coming eclipse. If you are already there or travel the journey to get there…If you need some reading material while waiting or after it is over and back to normal life… here is my stuff for your reading pleasure….
One band I have seen live more then Charged GBH and The Adolescents are The Dickies; how many times,,,who knows but close to the stars in the Milky Way. An excellent band and even if Leonard Graves Phillips blocked me from his Facebook site I will always love his band and one song in particular, You Drive Me Ape.
I remember in the late 70s and early 80s the Pogo, jumping up and down as on a Pogo stick, was still part of the punk rock experience. You Drive Me Ape was the perfect song to Pogo to. The audience, at a Dickie’s show, all jumped up at certain times in the song…it is enthusiastic musical ecstasy. A belly full of beer guaranteed to be sweat-off at the end of a Dickies set.
And even though I have arthritis in my lower spine probably due to Pogoing to songs like this one: I won’t harbor any ill feelings against this band or their songs!! It is.just part of the old punk rocker battle cry…. of wild punks gone by. The Dickiesa San Fernando Valley Punk band adored by a San Fernando Valley gal,,,you big gorilla!!
Sham 69 are playing around. Shows with good and bad reviews. As though my heart does not sense the beating heart of another comrade, from my youthful rebellion, who touches the soil of the land.
Dancing around and around in my room like Rumpelstiltskin around a fire singing these simple words;
“They don’t understand no they don’t understand They don’t wanna understand…”
These are my first dancing memories of punk rock. As I spiraled into the heart of it… I also spiraled out. Seeing with peripheral vision the shadows of days gone by, I am often pulled again into this guilty, responsibility of a musical addition.
As a succubus that pulls at my firmer soul, I pull it off. I hold by conscience, my individual power and resist this. Jumping into the anger of youthful rebellion. I am not her anymore. Reflective and mature and proud… I can take it. Nothing to prove or take with me…but friendship.
No affirmation of great things to hold on to. As the rogue wave of darkness envelops those we love in death. So too the scene that once was is slowly taken away by this same darkness. Happy for the boys in the band that linger on…for now!!
“Everyone keeps telling me I’m gonna be free. We all know we’ll never be free.”
This story needs to be told about what my friend Coyote is doing this year. His story is hounding me to be told and so Coyote blows his ideas in the mist falling as humid drops on my eyelids.
“Coyote how are you and your children handling this hot weather? Are you going to come down and eat our cats and drink water from our drained sprinkler juice?”
“No, we have it good this year!”
“OH?”
“In the Santa Monica Mountains we have found a cave that goes down into the underground earth. We have a fresh running spring there. Sheltered and running clear, but darkly moving among green moss, black rocks and falling into indigo pools for drinking.”
“Sounds beautiful!”
“We stay down here during the day. It is cool. We have amethyst crystals, rubies and green stones growing in some of the caves down in the earth.”
“Rubies that seems a little credulous to take in Coyote? I know you are a trickster!!”
“Just tell my story and let others judge for themselves!”
“Did I hear a bit of a growl in your statement Coyote?”
“There are wild places still, is what I am yawning to you. We go out at night to play under the moon and scratch our backs on tree trunks!”
Originally a 2014 post I was 56 and youngest son was 14. Now I am 64 and he is going to college at 22. The bands are still playing around the massive kaleidoscopeexposition of festivals. I watch them explode and march on from town to town, city to city and country to country. The punk festivals are grandiose to see happening. Fun for the bands yet this little fanzine gal can’t go back to being a face in the crowd during a time of a terrible pandemic with an ‘ebb and flow’ which is rather unpredictable. I am glad I got to see them before festivals became a phenomenon of big and bigger shows with long and longer lists of bands. Or even the weird funky boat cruises. It leaves me a bit perplexed yet I can listen to the music anytime and my “amber moments” are still in my brain as fresh and palpable moments of a once punk scene.
Mockingly and nasty, as we stood in line in front of the Fonda Theater marquee, an older man on a bike wheeled by yelling,
“Ha ha maybe forty years ago!”
Saturday Night 2014 Hollywood,California
My son and I were standing in line. In front of us was a twenty-year-old and in back a couple about my age. These punk shows bring out the underground punk community. The good and disgusting levels. I love it so much my head almost burst.
01 – race against time 0:00 02 – knife edge 2:45 03 – lycanthropy 5:00 04 – necrophilia 7:34 05 – sick boy 9:33 06 – state executioner 12:06 07 – dead on arrival 14:39 08 – generals 12:18 09 – freak 19:37 10 – wardogs 22:06 11 – city baby attacked by rats 23:37 12 – City babys revenge 26:13
Smiling Punk woman and son!!
Last night I could hardly make it through Lycanthropy while fighting off some guy who wanted to continually throw my son up on stage. Even though son seemed to like it. He said,
“I saw Colin’s face flash by me.“
Up front the stage was hot. All were intimated by the solar flares of sun burning in the Fonda Theater. A halo hot sauna of extreme is how it was there. A full house.
The 5th Wave at the Fonda Theater pic by Hudley
The 5th Wave slashed the theater with some questionable lyrics, mixed with saxophone and trombone ska. Excellent! Their fans shining. I was very impressed by the courtesy of the young punk women this evening.
A smile was easily shared and that communal feelings of a punk rock community ran in my heart. Strangely different from my generation. I was very impressed indeed. A lot of women in groups and alone gave me hugs for having a son with me.
I hope son takes advantage of this when he gets beyond my reach, because now he has a silence about him that I respect.
The Ads were so satisfying I cried. I love them and again always superimposed images from over the years blended with the reality of now. Fast songs have matured nicely into longer ones. Remarkable! As Steve Soto was there still playing his original sound.
GBH were wild as they always are. Yet, they were a little rushed. I hear it is an intense tour. Colin’s voice was hoarse, yet it was hard to tell over the audience singing their songs. Colin made a stab at the fans in the balcony who were not moving.
Who were just sitting there as being lazy and with other critiques? I don’t know why so many young punks came up to me trying to exchange my receipt with theirs so they could sit in the balcony. It all was a bit confusing from my perspective.
Fun and eye-opening show with the usual subtle instilled words for those listening!!
We enjoy our punk rock community…so go screw Mr. Bike man over 50! This 50 something year old loves it still!!
“…and those of you in the balcony can just rattle your jewelry.” ~John Lennon
“Posh and Jack both say: Please don’t drink and drive!
Limited Edition On Colored Vinyl
Knowing that True Sounds of Liberty or T.S.O.L. are in Europe having fun NOW…makes it all seem worth while. Jack Grisham has come out with a few books as well. These guys went through many changes through the years…some good and some bad. Regardless time shows no mercy.
Here is another Limited Edition on Colored Vinylas the kids that they once were. Mr. Posh Boy gave them the push they needed and so this is a little bit of THEIR special PUNK ROCK history.
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