The Recap, my Substack newsletter, returns today with a focus on abstract art, punk rock, the American flag, the 90s, and more. It adds a little more dimension to what I post on the website and ties things together thematically.
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Alice Bag performing with the Bags for “The Decline of Civilization I”
Ozzy Osbourne from “The Decline of Civilization II: The Metal Years”
Street kids from “The Decline of Civilization III”
From 1979-1998 director Penelope Spheeris made three films documenting the music scene in Los Angeles for the trilogy, The Decline of Western Civilization. All three combine interviews with musicians and their fans with live footage from the shows. Spheeris is able to capture the unique energy of the different scenes and present the participants she interviews without judgment.
The first, released in 1981, and probably the strongest, features concert footage of X, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Bags, and the Germs, among others. Many of these artists continue to perform to this day, like Pat Smear of the Germs who would go on to play with several bands- including Nirvana and Foo Fighters.
It’s also fun to see a young Phranc (pictured below) playing in Catholic Discipline. She would later switch to folk music and creating fun cardboard sculptures. At the same time it’s sad seeing Darby Crash behind the scenes knowing he would die by suicide in 1980 before the film was released.
X (Exene Cervenka and John Doe)
Phranc
Darby Crash
Pat Smear
The second installment, The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, changes tone quite a bit as Spheeris covers the heavy metal scene in the late 1980s. Big hair, big hopes, and lots of makeup mark a big change from the previous punk era, both in attitudes and musical style. Several big names show up along with the lesser known bands including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy from Motörhead, Poison, Aerosmith, and Alice Cooper. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from KISS also make appearances, the latter filmed on a bed surrounded by women.
Two members of Poison
The third installment, released in 1998, returns to punk music twenty years later. It also returns to the style of the first installment, but this time focuses more on the “gutter punks”- homeless kids living on the streets of Hollywood. There are several scenes of them panhandling, partying, and talking about their rough upbringing. These scenes are mixed with band footage and interviews with some of the musicians from the previous punk scene, like Flea and Rick Wilder (of The Mau Maus), who provide their perspective on the changes. Spheeris was so moved by the stories these kids told, she went on to be a foster parent after making the film.
Rick Wilder of the Mau Maus
All of these films were released in a box set with the help of Spheeris’s daughter Anna. They are also available on several streaming sites.
The work of Murray Bowles, a photographer who covered the punk rock scene in the Bay Area, was recently celebrated at Verge Center for the Arts in Sacramento. The exhibition, HAIL MURRAY: Bay Area Punk Photography from 1982 – 1995, showcased a variety of his exuberant photos of punk rock bands and their audiences, giving viewers a chance to go back in time.
From the gallery-
Using the recently published, 270 page monograph as its launching point, HAIL MURRAY: Bay Area Punk Photography from 1982 – 1995, showcases the work and life of Bay Area punk photographer Murray Bowles. Though Bowles came to reside in Sacramento at the end of his life, he spent over forty years at the epicenter of what would become a definitive movement for punk music and culture. Bands like Green Day, the Dead Kennedys, Rancid, and Operation Ivy exploded onto the scene through Bowles lens. Bowles’ documentation captured a sensibility that would come to define the Bay Area aesthetic. Most importantly, Bowles existed in the Northern Californian punk community as a friend and enthusiast motivated by the sense of community the scene afforded. Most weekends found Bowles, a self-taught photographer, developing prints in his kitchen immediately following a show so that he could sell them at the next show for $.25 each or published in the seminal, volunteer run magazine Maximumrocknroll.
A collection of Bowles photographs were as likely to include the audience or a kid getting a stick ‘n poke tattoo as they were a band shot. The photographs depict scenes ranging from University quads and living rooms to iconic locations including Mabuhay Gardens and 924 Gilman. In addition to Bowles’ ability to capture crisp, perfectly exposed shots of stagedivers in low lit clubs and bars, his photos also feature young people lounging on punk house couches and backyards. Bowles’s photographs provide a context for a culture that includes not just the performers, but the friends, fans, and environments that made the scene possible. Most art exists this way but we’re not always so lucky to have an exhaustive archive of not just the performers and their recordings but of the entire moment that made it feel alive.
Bowles sadly passed away in 2019, but the images he made will live on- enjoyed by fans of this time period in music, as well as the members of the communities he documented so extensively.
Depreston- Courtney Barnett
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/4-10/7/18)-
Thursday
Looking for information on the upcoming Midterm Elections? Hammer Museum is hosting a Midterms Primer with Christina Bellantoni, journalist and director of the Annenberg Media Center; Shaniqua McClendon, political director for Crooked Media, home to the popular podcast Pod Save America; and Rick Hasen, Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine, discussing the issues and candidates that define the political landscape. It will be moderated by Jessica Yellin, journalist and former chief White House correspondent for CNN.
Interpol are playing with The Kills and Sunflower Bean at the Hollywood Bowl
Mint Field and Deep Fields are opening for Ulrika Spacek at The Echo
Friday
Courtney Barnett is playing at The Greek Theatre with Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and Waxahatchee opening
Photo Independent opens at The Reef and runs until Sunday
It’s the last weekend to visit the Pasadena Museum of California Art before it closes forever, and today is the last day to visit for free
The Adult Swim Festival begins at ROW DTLA with a preview night that has performances by Open Mike Eagle, Metro Boomin, and T-Pain
Joey Purp is performing at The Roxy with Kami
Kim and The Created and Nani are opening for Shonen Knife at the Bootleg Theater
Saturday
Eagle Rock Music Festival is a free community event with a long list of musical performers that includes Cut Chemist, Billy Changer, and Vintage Trouble, as well as work by several local visual artists
Hammer Museum is staying open late to celebrate the opening of two of their exhibitions- Adrian Piper: Concepts and Intuitions, 1965-2016 and Stones to Stains: The Drawings of Victor Hugo with live music, a cash bar and food trucks to entertain you after checking out the art
The Pharcyde is hosting a festival at The Novo with performers that include Bas, Dead Prez and more
The Adult Swim Festival continues with performances by artists that include- Wavves, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Zola Jesus, and Mastodon as well as standup comedy from Hannibal Buress and others
Saint Sister are playing at the Bootleg Theater with Motor Sales opening
Sunday
Experimental filmmaker Ken Jacobs will be at LACMA to discuss his work and will also show several clips from his 3D work that does not require glasses. This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition 3D: Double Vision (free but ticket required)
WAR STORIES: Tales of 70’s & 80’s Punk Mayhem Told By The Perpetrators Themselves, at The Roxy is a night of storytelling by performers that include Flea, Abby Travis, Keith Morris, Mike Watt and more
Bootleg Theater is hosting a free Launch Party for Feckless Cunt: A Feminist Anthology with readings by contributors and young LA poets
Hammer Museum is hosting a free (but register) all day symposium discussing the work of artist Adrian Piper, coinciding with the exhibition Adrian Piper: Concepts and Intuitions, 1965–2016
It’s the final night of The Adult Swim Festival with artists that include Dan Deacon, Run the Jewels, Big Freedia, and Neko Case, as well a Rick and Morty Musical Ricksperience and performances by standup comedians
All weekend
If you are downtown for Photo Independent, make sure to check out the last weekend of WDCH Dreams, the public art installation at the Walt Disney Concert Hall by media artist Refik Anadol. Performances run every half hour starting at 7:30pm and ending at 11:30pm.
Alice Bag Band- Gluttony
The above video is from the Penelope Spheeris’ LA punk documentary The Decline of Western Civilization and features the band’s 1980 performance.
Lead singer and LA native Alice Bag just released her debut self titled album this month and is having a record release party on Saturday 7/2/16 at The Echo with Generacion Suicida and Fatty Cake and the Puff Pasties opening.
For more information on Alice Bag, check out her website or this excellent article from Remezcla.