Blissful Heart : Sonic Reducer

“Lots of people I know have bootlegged tapes of performances and if they play it I will be transported back sometimes with happiness, sometimes with horror.” ~ Chris Bailey,The Saints

This image takes me back to when I was 17. My eyes are closed with an inward feeling-look upon my face. It is the feeling of a blissful heart. This picture was taken by my first boyfriend who was a semi-professional photographer, graphic artist and print man. It became a romantic nuance when he took my picture. At the time I was young, foolish and in love with him. Looking at the image my face shows reflection, mockery and beauty. Time has taken its toll. I am a survivor of one crazy life, but with continuity I can still call upon the youthful and blissful heart of my youth.

This picture takes me back to a time during the 1970’s when mom and dad were alive. This is when taking a walk with your boyfriend meant something special. I was an open blossom of life fresh as a daisy, rose or yellow dandelion.

I threw away most of all the pictures Mike took of me. This particular image was rolled up in a paper towel container. My mom saved it for me. I found it recently due to spring cleaning, thank you mom. My wild ways and rebellion, that came a few years later, did not get to this image. I destroyed all images from high school and my school books. Today I am glad to see how I once was. My body has changed and beauty has faded but I still feel the same in my heart. A blissful heart is still youthfully present. I don’t deny that anymore, not now, not ever again. As I have learned recently this is the relationship between my Maiden and my Crone.

The song below is what Mike and I listened to at that time with a little help from our friends. In the 1970s pot was everywhere and mostly free. (ya… I am not talking to my generation here but for the youngsters who may not know this..)

As you may well know…this song came later… it was fun too. Maybe punk rock was or is a kinda rebirth or something!? Yet now I can blend both parts of myself together.

Tape recorder #1 shit worker at Flipside Fanzine

Shit worker, staph or staff… what the fuck?

Al Flipside was so stern about not having our, staph mugs, in any issue of Flipside fanzine. He was a fanatic about it. So, it is a challenge for me to do this cover including myself-mug in the world of punk rock. Yet my real focus is what I am holding. #1 staff… a tape recorder. First of the handheld devices.

Photograph by Al Flipside

This is one of my favorite pictures taken by Al Flipside. Why it is so interesting to me, because I am holding the tape recorder that was responsible for recording all the interviews we did at Flipside, at least when I was there. Also, I am wearing my PIL pants.

I loved those pants… DIY silk screening days… and then there is Wimpy’s face… brings chills to my spine! I reprinted this special Flipside issue because it is a history of Punk Voices.

An oral history, with pictures too.

Now available again in a sweet paperback book. 1977 to 1987.

(On Cover Subhumans and Samoans: Greg Turner, Metal Mike, Wimpy, Hud, Garry and Jim.)

The new cover of Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 54 Ten Year Anniversary Issue Paperback (replica) 2019.

Click to purchase this paperback edition 2019 …

The Chanel N°5 Woman

She caught the view of my man

Thinking he did not fit the style

Of the punk rock show

She told him as I listened,

“You do not seem the type

To come to this place.”

I was out of her focus

Then slowly came forth

I think I stunned her conquest

Letting her know he is my man.

She drank shots of Whiskey

I told her I drank Makers Mark

She told me,

“Jack Daniel’s is the best choice!”

She instantly bugged me

I moved my man away,

We started a short friendship

And talked away’

To the pounding of music.

As the slam pit was rocking

Doctor Know blasted on.

She told me she was Jewish

I told her I followed the Goddesses

She was irritated and so was I

Yet we talked about age, religiosity

And being raised and born in the same town.

She spoke,

“Did you know that I am crazy?”

I told her she was not.

As the band played on

And then a slammer knocked her to the floor.

We all helped her up

And I slipped a clear crystal bracelet on her wrist

Then we walked away.

As the show ended

She tossed over on the bar

Some Chanel N°5

In a small, elegant container.

Yes, this was for me.

I guess as a Jew,

She said,

She cannot have tattoos.

“Wondered why I would do that?

Symbols on the skin.”

As I think of her now

I liked her a lot

She was wild and held the boys

That came by

As they rounded the pit.

They smiled

we laughed.

If she is crazy

Then I guess I am too!

2 Jul 2012

A feeling

For me Punk Rock is and was and will always be about how it makes me feel. For me it is not about how you look, not what you collect or who you know. It is about friends that are committed to a way of seeing and feeling life… it will endure as long as it is felt… that wild, focused, rebellious, somethings confrontational and unclassified and as different as the individual.

I just had to say this today…