Okay
Folks,
I have finally been pushed over the hump on this portion of my website, so
in honor of the recent deaths of Joey and Dee Dee Ramone and now the death
this week of Joe Strummer, I have decided to put more up on my website.
This was "yours truly" circa 1983 or so. I was attending Columbia College, concentrating on photography and creative writing. By this point in my life I had seen dozens of the early punk bands. The Clash 3 times, Ramones 3 times, Dead Kennedys, Talking Heads first tour backed up by the A's and the Cramps I believe, quite a show. Sat on the speakers during most of it in a surprisingly unpacked Aragon Ballroom.
I loved my music. I loved the look. I loved the culture. I remember how amazing the Clash was when I discovered them in 1978. My sister had taken me to San Francisco and there were posters all over Berkeley about this album called "Give 'Em Enough Rope." I looked in awe at the posters. I had to buy it.
I didn't quite fit in with most of my classmates. I wanted to become a paleontologist and be off somewhere by myself digging up fossils. I didn't smoke or drink, I was shy and quiet, I didn't listen to Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, I found very little commonality with my classmates. And I worked very hard to find these obscure punk bands emerging from Europe and the East Coast. Now they had a sound! And luckily, I had an older sister who was going to the clubs and she could guide me on groups to check out.
I LOVED the Clash. Absolutely loved them. When I went to their first concert in Chicago in 1979, my friend got back stage, unfortunately I was left behind. But I did have better luck with the Ramones concert that year because Becky had two backstage passes instead of one and I at least have an old sheet of paper that once held Dee Dee's autograph, though the ink has finally faded completely away. As did my autograph from Richard Sohl of the Patti Smith Group when they performed at the Rock Against Racism in Grant Park. He was another great rocker that died and left us way too soon.
These groups provided a release from the isolation I felt as a teenager. I always felt that I was different but this music helped me accept myself better. I was expressing myself and that was the important thing.
Joe,
you will be missed. All I can say is thank you. Thank you for my youth. Thank
you for making me feel not so alone and isolated. Thank you for giving me
a venue to express my anger. Thank you for bringing us such exceptional music.
And thank you for giving me hope and eventually bringing me together with
like minds.
This was me in 1982 with my best friend's ex-husband. Sorry Lauri, I told you I'd crop him out... But I loved Jeff, he was a dear friend and remains in my heart like all of my other friends from that time. I don't know where most of us have gone to, but I do know that we have shed our flamboyant looks and joined the ranks of working adults for the most part. But forever remaining the artists and non-conformists in our souls.
And I must give credit where credit is due, the brilliant hair styles worn by yours truly were courtesy of Robin, my brilliant hair dresser turned computer tech, and war paint courtesy of my young imagination.
