third

This week has been titled "out of the bunker onto the bike" or "the
bro-dyssey continues" depending on who you talk to. The dreamy Scott
Moore was in town as was Paul Henry, so not only did Limp Wrist have
an intense writing sesh for their next triple LP but the pit at the 5
zillion Fucked Up shows that also occured was taken to the next level
by their delectable presense. Good times! The animals also were at
once saved and oppressed; from the San Diego chapter of the vegan
reich descending on my house millitia style with a righteous vegan
brunch to free day at the zoo with the wolfpack to the aforementioned
Scott Moore feeding a strange vole-like creature carrots out of his
mouth... Totes ridic. This week in Bay Area shows also included
Peligro Social, the Clorox Girls, many Look Back and Laugh side
projects and the second Club Sandwich event, more on that later tho. I
have been formulating an article on growing old and staying punk, and
then suddenly the deadline for getting this thing in looms up and my
well crafted article is uh, still in the "draft" stage so I just write
about random things instead. I am the champion of digression. Anyway
before I launch into the Homer like retelling of my Bro-dyssey styled
week, I got this awesome correspondence from Lance Hahn in regards to
my first column, specifically the thing I wrote about Unit 3 + Venus.
I am such a nerd, I love it when I get fill in the blank details about
random obscure bands I am obsessed with... Like one time my friend
Scott found this single in the dollar bin at Amoeba by a band called
Ama-Dots, it looked punk, plus Ohio in the early 80s? Definitely worth
checking out... We played it and it totally blew our brains out, like
a better Bush Tetras, informed by the ladies of early Rough Trade but
not as earnest dead pan politico, kind of arch and mocking, less
direct, more fucked up even... So I had to procure my own copy, this
was in the days before myspace crust (which I only just found out
about. Mind is blown!) meaning less viper like record nerdage on the
net, a mystical time when bargains were still possible, anyway, I got
the single on ebay for 3 bucks. I think it costs a lot more now. The
seller sent it to me with a huge package of show fliers, radio
playlists... Just the rad ephemera of punk that tends to disappear,
but that really puts bands and scenes into context. Ama-dots, as far
as I remember, played shows with both Bad Brains AND The
Contortions-so fucking rad!! That is the best thing about having
access to the huge pile of zines that Steve Subterranean donated to
the MRR archive, just to have random snotty kid opinions on bands that
are considered part of the canon nowadays. To read about bands and
shows that are legendary now but were just what was happening in that
juncture in time for whomever wrote the article... Also see that
Italian punk zine reprint thing that just came out for a similar idea.
I feel like my favorite contradiction in punk is it's permanent yet
disposable nature, how some things get written in stone and other
things totally evaporate, and what's the factor that makes things that
way? I mean there are obvious ones like access to resources, like if
you are a punk in close proximity to Hollywood you get to be in
Decline of the Western Civ pt 1, whereas if you are a punk in a random
town in TN you get Poison Idea arranging an entire tour around getting
ahold of your 7" of which only 200 made it into circulation ie: KORO.
Also I had this rad conversation with someone who helped put together
that Jim Jocoy book "We're Desperate" that came out a few years back,
with unnamed pictures of punks from LA and NY, and how intially they
were going to get everyone's name onto their image, but then they
decided it would be radder to have everyone in there without
distinctions between the audience and the band members/more notorious
scenesters. I think the names are in the back of the book, but I
think it's so cool that it takes away the legend's status and just
puts them in the context of the kids that helped create the
movement/scene in one big line up.
Anyway, on to Lance Hahn, note the lame introduction of a dreaded
stage mother into my idealistic notion of Unit 3 plus Venus, which
further demonstrates how punk in Hollywood is always going to be
weird:
"When I was a kid growing up in Hawaii there was one punk club called 3Ds. It
was in Waikiki and was for tourists and college kids. They were pretty
fucked but would sometimes bring okay bands over. They would operate like a
'70s club where a band would come over and play a residency for a week or
so. They brought over Agent Orange and the Circle Jerks. It was okay. They
were mostly into new wave. At the height of their popularity, they also
brought over Unit 3 w/ Venus. They actually were sorta popular in the
underground very briefly for two reasons. First of all, I think they were on
one of the Rodney on the ROQ compilations. Those records were the BIGGEST
source for kids not in the know to find out about new bands. It's funny to
think that everyone was so into those comps. But that's how a lot of people
heard Black Flag, The Minutemen and the Adolescents for the first time.
Also, they appeared on New Wave Theater which was a horrible cable access
type show out of LA. It would play late at night and in the era before MTV
it was where a lot of punks got to see bands for the first time. In both
cases they played the song "I Like Boys" and it was sort of a hit.

But the punks hated them. First of all, they were a fake band. The actual
band were her mom and dad and forced her to sing. It was sort of like a new
wave Bonnet-Ramsey situation. I wanna say her mom was something like a
sleazy Hollywood agent. The hardcore punks in Hawaii made fun of them and
Venus started crying. It was actually kind of mean.

The funny thing about her and the kid from Mad Parade is that they were just
kids. The used to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend, whatever that
means. Even though it was totally uncool at the time, the kid from Mad
Parade got REALLY into the second Adam and the Ants record and would show up
at gigs dressed like an indian. It was very cute.

Anyway, just wanted to make a note as it's pretty rare when you get to
communicate with anyone about something like Unit 3 w/ Venus (who I did
like, incidentally)... "

I think Hubbard already said something about this in his column in the
last issue with the rad Hjertestop/Guy Smiley from the Muppets style
cover, but Lance is having some lame medical problems, so you and yr
friends should form a Unit 3/Mad Society style band and do a benefit
for him. American health care is a shitsystem, so weird living in a
country where health care is considered a priviledge for the wealthy
and not a right for all... I think you can read about it here:
http://myspace.com/lancehahn. Also if you want to listen to Unit 3 or
Mad Society both me and Golnar have played them on various MRR radio
shows, so I am sure if you go to the MRR website and look in the
archive section you can download a show and skate to it or somethin?
What else? Not much! I did/used to do a zine called Chimps when I
lived in England and I am trying to locate some back issues, so if you
have any, specifically issues 1-5 and 7, pls send them to me via MRR
and I will xerox and mail them back. Unless you want them banished
from yr life.
You could also write me here but I am REALLY LAME at writing people
back: (c/o MRR) Just a warning.
Summer Jams:
1-Learning that Poison Idea planned their 83 (?) tour around Pig
Champion getting the Fix 7" 2-crucial abbreves 3-going tubing, free
day at the zoo, fucked up live, clorox girls live, peligro social
live. Christy in town... Productive Summer 06 all in one week. 4-Chloe
Puke's Pizza Cab idea 5-Can I say the proper reissue of the Koro 7"
even though I already mentioned it in here at least three times? yes i
can. 6-The Eyes TAQN 7" 7-Mika Miko LP. DUDE. So good, total eternal
top ten material. 8-Chaos-Get out of my pocket 9-Nervous Students and
Hot Tub shows upcoming. 10-Having to pick between a Look Back and
Laugh, Mindless Mutant and Young Offenders show OR a Carbonas show.
Yay areaaaaaaaaa...