Mar 31, 2015 Steal Music, Buy Art
The other week I went to Angel City Brewery in Little Tokyo to check out some photos by Greg Jacobs. Back in the ’90s I was a huge fan of a band he used to manage, Big Drill Car, and somewhat recently found out that his real gig is as a set photographer but he has been shooting punk shows and punker portraiture all along. That’s a print of Pat Smear (Germs) and Lee Ving (FEAR) over Greg’s shoulder.
Steal Music, Buy Art featured a load of heavy-duty artists whose work celebrates underground music. Above are some of Greg’s color prints (Captain Sensible from The Damned, Phil Alvin of The Blasters, Iggy Pop, Keith Morris with OFF!), as well as Descendents artist Chris Shary‘s Sharpie portraits (Joe Strummer and Lee Ving on top, Pat Smear and King Buzzo from Melvins on bottom left…). Below are pieces by photographer Edward Colver including a young Nick Cave and Black Flag’s iconic Damaged cover.
I didn’t stop to chat with many people but had to say hi to my friend Dave Naz (ex-drummer for Chemical People and Down By Law/art photographer), who was hanging out with contributing artist Bad Otis Link (O.G. punk T-shirt and flyer designer), and punk show promoting trailblazer Gary Tovar (Goldenvoice). Outside I saw Lisa Fancher from Frontier Records, and I guess there were probably a lot of other friends other artists milling around as well.
Of course, there were some bands. I missed King Buzzo but arrived just in time to see a special set by Derwood Andrews from Generation X. I’ve played those first two Spirit of ’77 punk albums to death, and these days he performs a raw, stripped-down distillation of slide guitar blues. On the side of the stage is contributing artist and event DJ John Roecker, who I used to see now and then at the You Got Bad Taste store on Sunset in Silver Lake. Pretty sure he wouldn’t remember me.
Sean Wheeler & Zander Schl0ss (they’ve played in Throw Rag, Circle Jerks, Thelonious Monster, Weirdos…) closed out the evening with their broken souled and perfectly executed take on Americana. They started early and ended late, and spent time between songs not really praising the gentrification of downtown and Sean’s sorry state of healthcare. Brutal, honest, and lovely.
To paraphrase Lee Ving, who was apparently at the event, I love living in this city. Where else can events like this happen, where generations of underground musicians who survived the dope, lack of commercial success (even the ones who never wanted it could have used the dough), and heartache will still gather, play, and keep pushing a culture and scene that never got them anywhere in a neighborhood.
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