Gallery: Click Pic
Masai’s blog – June 2021: Music Selection Changes
My default music taste is Neo-Soul, Jazzy Hip-Hop, R&B, Straight Ahead Jazz and Reggae. In the late 1970's I was exposed to Punk Rock while attending the San Francisco Art Institute. First from local bands that went to school with me, then I started seeing bigger bands in and around San Francisco at the Punk Rock Night clubs and Alternative Art Spaces. This phenomenon lasted about 3 to 4 years and it was so much fun observing this Art Form. If I can remember some of the Bands at school like...Ultra Sheen 500, Tuxedo Moon (also a master puppeteer,) Flipper, The Avengers and the Flaming Groovies. Then we started going to the Mabuhay Gardens in SF which is a restaurant by day and a Punk Rock Club by night headed up by a cat named "Dirk Dirkson".
I saw some of the best bands which had so much theater in that place my 2 years in Grad School. Bands from L. A. like, Crime, The Circle Jerks, The Dills, Bad Brains and the Go Go's. It was so much fun watching Punkers pogoing in front of the stage doing all kinds of wild shit, throwing beer on each other etc.
Before I knew it, I was paying good money to see events like...."Bill Gram Presents"...The Clash, Johnny Lydon’s band "Public Image Ltd." after the Sex Pistols broke up, The Gang of Four, Devo, The Jam, The Buzzcocks and 5 Ska bands. Those bands were, Madness, The B52’s, The Specials, The Beat and The Police when "Roxanne" was a hit. When I went to London in the mid 80's I visited Police's recording studio but Sting wasn't there. I even saw Elvis Costello though later on he started getting on my nerves. I think out of all the Punk bands I saw live, the most fun I ever had was at a Public Image concert where local band Flipper opened for them. Flipper was so horrible, awful and loud that the audience was screaming all in unison...KILL YOURSELVES, KILL YOURSELVESSSS. I was laughing so hard that my side was hurting and I missed half the concert because of the drama. Flipper finally finished and left the stage to a big united sigh of relief in the audience, now super anxious for Johnny Lydon to come out. Well, Nope, Flipper forced their way back onto the stage to force us to listen to an unasked for encore...What the….
Within seconds, ushers jumped on top of the Flipper band members and Man handled them off the stage. Thank God PIL finally came out and it was an incredible concert with everything we expected. Wow! During these days I had so much fun watching all this unfold and experiencing this Music Art Form. I will always have fond memories of Art School and the Punk Rock explosion.
See you next time, stay positive, stay safe.
Masai & Lorrie
Images are of Punk Rock bands Public Image LTD & Flipper
X-Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten turned into Johnny Lydon.
Johnny Lydon (on the right) & Public Image Ltd.
Late 1970’s SF Punk Rock Band “Flipper”
Flipper at 40.
Lorrie's fashion was influenced by IG Model - Kitty Katt Leya
Comments
PIL and J. Lydon incognito
Back when I discovered Punk I was a huge Pistols fan and later also checked out PIL but more because it was a J. Rotten project. A friend of mine was a huge PIL fan.
An ex-gf once told me this story: Her swiss friends, two couples, went on a longer trip to Australia, this was in the late Nineties. They did some island hopping and ev. ended up in a small resort where their neighbour was an eccentric Englishman. I don't remember the details but I think they did a tour together and the British gentleman told them that he was a poet & musician. Turns out it was Johnny Lydon. They had no clue who he was but later looked up pictures and realized it was him and not some imposter with a sense of humour.
Enjoyed the article.
Thank you kindly
Lobotomykid,
For the kudos on my blog of PIL anf the Punk Rock explosion. What an amazing story about your x-gf's associates that ran into Johnny Lydon as an elder statesman. If they only knew who he really was, Wow. That's really cool that you saw some of the same bands I did, the Sex Pistols was like no other. Fortuately I saw the Clash during the "White Riot" tour/album...that was some powerhouse ish, later on with "Black Market Clash" I started to leave them. They became too New Wave for me. I think next for me who I just loved, was "The Jam", "Devo" - (remember Boogie Boy) and the "Buzzcocks". To me, i've never seen anything like it since.
Thanks again
Masai