Posts tagged punk rock
Alice Bag
No soy monedita de oro.
Ear Drum Destroyer, my old friend and trusty stage microphone from back in the day.
“I always felt connected to the eastside. I think people had low expectations of me because I was a non-English speaker and they assumed that I was less intelligent because I didn’t understand them. I have to confess that I wasn’t always out to prove them wrong, I often didn’t care what people thought of me because I was sure that they were idiots and not worth my time. Outsiders’ expectations of me didn’t have much of an effect on me because my father used to tell me everyday that I was beautiful and really smart; this message penetrated my skin and bones and there is no part of me that ever feels like I’m not at least as good as the next person. - Alice Bag, November 2012 interview.
Photo by Carlos Uribe, 1991 Univision pilot taping.
Terry “Bag Dad” Graham and Alice Bag at the Canterbury in Hollywood, 1978.
“Alice Bag: This photo got me thinking about what it was like sharing an apartment at the Canterbury with Shannon Wilhelm, who formed and led Castration Squad. Shannon and I were also members of the Piranhas, a kind of feminist punk girls’ gang. Shannon had a great sense of humor and was so much fun to hang out with back in the early days. Anyway, I recall one time when Shannon and I had lured Terry into our apartment for a little “Fun With Ropes” (to quote the Go-Go’s). I’m sure that we tempted him with the idea that we were both planning to have our way with him. We tied him to the bed and teased him a bit, then we both left to go shopping for several hours, leaving him trussed up to the bedposts. When we got back, he was FURIOUS and wouldn’t even speak to us. Another traumatized victim of the Piranhas!
Terry Graham: Uh, just to set the record straight, I was lying stomach down with no shirt, tied hands and feet, and Alice practiced using her whip on my back, THEN sprinkled salt on the wound. Shannon just watched, amused.
Alice Bag: I think I covered all of that when I used the phrase “teased him a bit.”
“Punk was a blast, it was insane, it could have killed me if I’d let it, and it did kill some people, yeah.” - Interview with Adolfo Guzman Lopez.
The Bags at Rock Corporation, 1979.
View and download some of my collection of photos and flyers from the LA punk scene of the 1970’s on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicebag/sets/72157594222479143/
If you haven’t seen this new video from Pussy Riot yet, watch it now. Start the Pussy Riot and never stop. Please re-post.
Janet Koontz, Pat Bag, Joe Nanini, Geza X. The Bags, version 1.0
Violence Girl Midwest Tour Dates! Please print it out, stick it up and help me spread the word. Printable pdf format here.
Raw Power Writings: The Bags - All Bagged Up: The Collected Works 1977 - 1980
Thank you for writing this. I think punk rock has saved many lives, mine included.
Alice
Last night I got to see Alice Bag read from her new book “Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage To Hollywood Stage, A Chicana Punk Story” over at the Beauty Is Pain Boutique in Hollywood. She also performed a live musical soundtrack to her readings which was comprised of an older Mexican tune…
Recalling The Orpheum Punk Show, April ‘77
“We had been observing the revolution in progress on the East Coast, enjoying the way in which our punk rock founding fathers and mothers challenged the stale, old, self-indulgent rock establishment. Now we could see our own role in that revolution. The night that Mexicans, Weirdos and teenagers with more courage than musical skill could take the stage and bring the house down was the night we all knew without a doubt that the old, tired, long-haired rock and rollers were about to be ousted, kicked off their gilded thrones and, incredible as it seemed, it was us - the rabble - who were going to do the kicking.” - from The Orpheum Show, a chapter in Violence Girl.
