Cavotuesday

Stoked on a lot of stuff right now, the creative juices are flowing. Might as well take it back to 1995. Classic anthems indeed. F yeah!

Hermosa is beautiful

I have always appreciated the simple black/white designs of the traditional punk rock flyer. I began collecting flyers while I was in high school. I made an effort to always stop by the local South Bay record shops (Go Boy, Off Beat, Scooters) to look for the latest flyers for upcoming shows. Then I usually took my favorites to Kinkos (RIP) to blow them up by 300% and plaster them on the walls of my bedroom.

As I grew older, I began purchasing concert poster artwork off the Internet. I grew fond the artwork by Scott "Speed" Hall and began ordering several prints from his website. I eventually established an email friendship with Speed where we chatted about life and times. I can't help think about Speed when I write about concert posters/flyers. He was a great mentor and if only I could have learned more from him. Rest in peace, I know you are smiling down on me.

So the city of Hermosa Beach is having a Punk Art show tonight Feb 20th. AMI productions and Hermosa Beach Historical Society have put together a 30 year retrospect on the South Bay scene. They will have flyers, album covers, photos and rare merchandise on display. Should be a great event. See you in the pit!

Side note, this flyer below was always one of my favorites. I still have a large laminated copy in my closet. I think this show was in the early 80's but I still dig the design and the fact the show was at the Dancing Waters in San Pedro.

Machine-head

I have been thinking about ways to utilize branding tactics in conjunction with social media and viral marketing in order to better promote Cavotu. In the past, I have used stickers as additional promotional materials, contemplated wheat-pasting- but passed that up in consideration of il(legal) ramifications. As a father, I feel some pulling sense of duty to OBEY the rules.

On Monday night, I ordered a machine that will produce a similar effect as the sticker campaign, but has limitless possibilities.

Hint: it provides you with something you can take with you rather than something you have to leave behind.

The Reactionaires

My friends Bob Archer and Craig Ibarra have been working on this project for the past year. Rather than give my 2 cent version of the story here is the official press release for your reading pleasure. The record release party is going down @ Harold's on February 20, check it out.

THE REACTIONARIES

(1978-1979)

MIKE WATT – BASS AND BACK-UP SINGING

D. BOON – GUITAR

MARTIN TAMBUROVICH – SINGING

GEORGE HURLEY – DRUMS

THE PRECURSOR TO THE MINUTEMEN.

ON FEBRUARY 1, 2010, NEW SAN PEDRO BASED RECORD DEVICE, WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE RECORDS ALONG WITH 45 RPM RECORDS WILL RELEASE A 12-INCH VINYL RECORD DOCUMENTING A 1979 PRACTICE TAPE BY SAN PEDRO’S FIRST PUNK BAND, THE REACTIONARIES. PLUS A VERY SPECIAL BONUS B-SIDE.

The Minutemen Were Reactionaries

By Joe Carducci

For most of the music world – or rather the much smaller rock world – of the early 1980s, the Minutemen seemed to arrive fully formed, as if from some other planet. Questions must have immediately crossed minds: Where are these guys from? What drugs are they on? Are they carbon-based life forms?

Those reactions were understandable, as it was the 45-song, double 33 rpm Double Nickels On The Dime (SST 028) that introduced the band to most folks outside of Los Angeles. If I remember right, the initial sales jumped from the five thousand range for Buzz Or Howl Under The Influence Of Heat (SST 016), to fifteen thousand for Double Nickels. (Of course all those releases sold far more after the day.)

D. Boon, Mike Watt and George Hurley were always deflecting the effusiveness of fans in clubs, or in interviews – it was part of their charm. But think about it, the Minutemen were telling kids that they could pick up instruments and do the same! Nobody who saw them live believed that for a second.

I was at Systematic Record Distribution and got their first record, Paranoid Time (SST 002), from the label and ordered it for distribution to shops around the country. It was hard enough for me to discern how great they were from that and their early follow-up records and compilation tracks. To my ear, I don’t think I really heard what they were capable of until they were playing the Anti-Club regularly in 1983-84. There was just so much music packed into their short, fast tunes. And at each gig a few older, simpler tunes were replaced by new, even more masterful tunes. At their first San Francisco gig at the Mabuhay, Dirk Dirksen (who ran and MC’ed the club), strolled out on stage to introduce them and the first thing he saw was a four-foot long set-list taped to D.’s mic-stand and Dirk said, “What is this, the history of music?!” It was! When we recorded the long tail of the song “More Spiel” for Project: Mersh (SST 034) I joked to D. that he had just laid down a six-minute history of the guitar solo. At SST, hearing guitarists Greg Ginn, Joe Baiza and Curt Kirkwood all the time, it was easy to underestimate how great a guitar player D. was. That radical reformation the Reactionaries performed on themselves to become the Minutemen encouraged that, because it elevated Mike and George to co-lead players.

But their world-historical, musical summation had a history as well. And that was their late-seventies band, the Reactionaries. Mike and D. had known each other since junior high. They met Martin Tamburovich and George Hurley at San Pedro high, although they wouldn’t claim they knew George because in Watt’s words, “he was a happening cat,” whereas D., Mike, and Martin were on the not-so-happening end of the high school social spectrum. As George tells it: “For a long time Mike would ask me to play music with him. He wanted to jam out, but I really wasn’t into it ‘cause I was a Surfer then and he was sort of a geek. I don’t know, we were kids. Finally, I agreed to it.” This kind of transgression of school social hierarchy is common when music brings young kids together in their first band. It’s an under-appreciated aspect of the power of music.

Thankfully the Reactionaries recorded a practice in their attempt to get gigs so we have these 10 songs to contemplate. What you can hear are the rudiments of the Minutemen’s sound, only unlike most bands, they only got rid of stuff as they improved. D. is already a good guitar player with his trebly sound in place. Mike and George play more standard-rock bass and drums parts, and Martin sounds like he belongs on the mic, though the quality of the lyrics varies widely. Chuck Dukowski saw them and reports, “Martin was a cool singer and I liked his style.” They were just out of high school and though they already had their obsessive interests, the lyrics (by Mike, Martin, and friends outside the band) show an awkward adaptation to the punk style as they understood it. Like a lot of lyrics by seventies punk bands, television is of particular concern – punks who were determined to create a music scene thought watching TV was a fate co-equal to Death.

In February of 1979, Chuck and Greg Ginn were flyering a Clash, Bo Diddley, Dils show at the Santa Monica Civic when they met D. and Mike. The flyer was for what would be the second Black Flag gig and it was going to be in San Pedro. D. and Mike were amazed to learn of a gig in Pedro and Chuck hadn’t known there was a punk band there, so he put the Reactionaries on the bill. It was their first gig; they played with Black Flag, the Descendents (their debut too), the Alley Cats, the Plugz and an impromptu mini-set by the Last. A world-historical night, however many paid at the door.

The Reactionaries played only two more gigs, opening for the Suburban Lawns at their practice pad in Long Beach. They made a pass at getting a gig at the Other Masque up in Hollywood, but the band was falling apart. Mike’s description of D.’s loss of interest in the Reactionaries is interesting. Apparently D. didn’t offer his songs to the Reactionaries and then found them another guitarist (Todd Apperson) so he could quit. They broke up around mid-1979. George found a band in Hollywood called Hey Taxi! and is on their 45. Though soon enough, D. and Mike regroup and eventually pull George back into their new, improved mess after their new drummer (Frank Tonche) walked offstage and quit during their second gig. At the Minutemen’s first gig (May 1980), Greg asked them to do a record for SST.

Bend it up

I knew Andy Jenkins lived in San Pedro, but I never realized until this morning, that he lives just up the street from my pad. Although we have not been formally introduced, our paths have crossed a number of times. My wife, just last year, was introduced to his, Ms. Kelley Hart. She happens to run a small business making homemade apparel for children. Sterling used to rock the Play hoody on the daily. I hope to someday officially meet Andy and maybe collaborate on a project. High hopes, keep reachin'.

Andy gets stoked on BMX, Watt, Bukowski and the Halos, just to name a few, hard to go wrong with that combination. Besides heading the art department @ Girl, Andy also dabbles in illustration and creating mix media paintings. A few pieces are up for sale on his site right now.

I'll admit I have not ridden my skate since my children have been born but I still appreciate the skateboard scene/culture. I found this movie trailer for Machotaildrop on Andy's blog, filmed in Hungary and (perhaps) coming soon to a theatre near you. Fun stuff indeed.

Hey Hippy

I know quite a few heads who are involved in the fashion game. Start ups come and go but it's still amazing for me to watch a brand grow from a few stickers lacing the streets to lines down the drive for first picks at a release.

My inspiration often comes from my peers. I get stoked on checking out my fellow comrades to see what they will be dropping in future collections. I have never been the competitive type but I admit, it's awfully motivating by witnessing all this actualized potential.

I first made the connection between Andrew Sarnecki and the Hippy Tree logo while at a house party on the most auspicious of days, 4/20 of 2006. At the time, the label was still in it's early stages but Andrew told me that he was quitting his day job and committing himself full-time to grow the Hippy Tree. Since then, they have expanded their collection from a calendar featuring Andrew's photos to a wide variety of organic shirts, board shorts, hats, and sweatshirts. Tree huggers unite, nature is coming!

Sour Grapes

I met a guy today with a Milo tattoo on the inside of his left wrist. The caption underneath read: I don't want to grow up. It's hard to imagine that at age 29, I am ink-free, yet still find that I appreciate the bodily application of artwork; it's life and the all the decisions that come along with it. I, too, feel I suffer from that same Peter Pan syndrome- both not wanting to grow up, but knowing that the days of Never Never Land have long since past.

The Milo tattoo references a band called the Descendents, early pioneers of the South Bay punk rock scene of the 1980's. I first heard of them when I was in high school and still have those old dubbed cassette recordings in my closet. The band has since broken-up and their lives have all taken different turns. Guess the moral of the story is that we all inevitably grow older and life is a series of choices- you can choose to fish or you can choose to be a doctor.

RIP Frank Navetta, who passed Halloween 2008.

Hella stoops

A friendly couple came into the restaurant today. They seemed a little awkward at first but new customers always tend to act a bit strange. She ordered a glass of house Red and he wanted a Bud. They chatted and laughed as they sipped their beverages. They just drove in from Utah and were visiting the Los Angeles area for some reason. I nodded but wasn't in the mood to play 'hey bartender, can I tell you my story' so I didn't ask any follow up questions but then out of the blue the lady said "Are fitted hats still in?"

I paused and thought about it for a second. My initial response was yes. Yes, fitted hats are still cool but.... Trends definitely come and go. I remember when the Flex Fits took off like crazy. Trucker hats hit hard. The five panel style has always been a staple but hasn't achieved any noteworthy success. Back to the lady, now she had me engaged so the conversation continued. The short version of the long was that she wanted to bring her son a gift from her vacation. She thought he would appreciate a fitted hat. Nice mom, go Utah!

I am not a huge hat guy but I still enjoy rockn a sick fitted from time to time. The last hat I purchased was from the Huf LA back in December. So LA, but totally dig the soft wool and simple color way. The first Cavotu hat project has been in the works for a few seasons now but I have yet to drop the hammer. Stay tuned brother!