January 24 - 30, 2013
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Punk party brings back ’70 scenesters and memories BY PAUL DERIENzO The book-signing party for “The Best of Punk Magazine” brought together an allstar cabal of artists and writers who were present at the beginning of punk rock in New York in the early and mid-1970s. Their platform at the time was Punk Magazine, which was started by three high school friends, John Holmstrom, Ged Dunn and Legs McNeil, in 1975 and published 17 issues in a short but influential run that came to an end in 1979. A few more issues came out in 2007 and the magazine is available on the Web. The new book collects the covers, articles, cartoons and artwork that defined the age of black-clad punks who turned the music world and American culture on its head, as the hope and promise of the 1960s faded into the jaded conformity of Reaganism. The book is the second attempt by Holmstrom, who did the back cover of the Ramones’ “Rocket to Russia” LP, his first book effort failing to attract its market. This time the “Best of Punk Magazine” sits at the top of the Amazon charts, and hundreds came to the Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO to meet former staff members, many of whom haven’t been together in a decade or more. Among the book signers were writer Mary Harron, who interviewed Sex Pistols front man Johnny Rotten in London in 1976 and returned to New York with a newfound appreciation for the English band’s combination of rebellion and jaded cool. Harron went on from Punk Magazine to direct “I Shot Andy Warhol,” “American Psycho” and “The Notorious Bettie Page.” “We started the movement” claimed Holmstrom. “There was something before punk rock but it was undefined,” he added. “By giving it a visual definition, we brought it to life.” Harron was in the news again as Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association vice president, told followers that “corrupt” video game, movie and music video creators “portray life as a joke, portray murder as a way of life, and then have the nerve to call it entertainment.” “We have blood-soaked films like ‘American Psycho,’ ‘Natural Born Killers,’ they’re aired on propaganda loops called Splatterdays, and every single day.” Editor Holmstrom seemed ecstatic as he recounted LaPierre’s slings at Harron’s work. Punk, he said, has been “attacked by the left and right,” recounting how Jesse Jackson “censored punk rock” by claiming it was “racist, sexist, fascist.” The charges are untrue said Holmstrom, who added that punk’s critics have often suffered from a lack of a “sense of humor.” In a recent conversation, Holmstrom opened up a copy of his book to a 1970sera flier by a leftist group in Madison, Wisconsin, that was demanding a “Boycott of Fascist Culture” claiming that the Sex Pistols “wear swastikas” and that the Ramones had “instigated racial violence in New York City.” The flier went on to
Photo by Paul DeRienzo
From left, Tish and Snooky Bellomo and a friend at the recent book-signing party in DUMBO for “The Best of Punk Magazine.”
accuse punk of reducing women to “sex objects,” offering as proof that “one female group calls itself The Slits.” Holmstrom and Punk artist Bruce Carleton did work for Al Goldstein’s porn mag Screw, which tempered its arrogant sexism with biting comedy. But Holmstrom also worked for kid-friendly MAD magazine, and with Will Eisner, award-winning creator of The Spirit comic character and many other innovative cartoons. Despite the sexism slag, Punk did feature its share of female groups and leads. Debbie Harry, whose music started as punk but soon crossed over to pop and even disco, wrote the forward to “The Best of Punk Magazine.” Blondie was also the cover of Punk issue No. 10 in 1977, with Debbie Harry’s cartoon figure performing live on the cover. A cartoon bust of Lou Reed graced the cover of the new magazine’s inaugural issue. Patti Smith was on the cover of the second edition, with Joey Ramone on the third. The Ramones lead singer, who died in 2001, was a co-editor of Punk Magazine. He was involved in naming the magazine’s “Punk of the Month” and in creating the magazine’s signature photo comics. Gathered in Brooklyn at the Powerhouse Arena party were the artists and performers who came to sign copies of “The Best of Punk Magazine.” Sisters Tish and Snooky Bellomo, who sang backup for Blondie and still perform with their group the Sic F----, posed for photos, while cover artists Bruce Carleton and Steve Taylor signed books. Tish and Snooky also opened the first punk rock boutique on St. Mark’s Place, called Manic Panic, and market their own line of cosmetics. Rock photographer Bob Gruen, who documented punk personalities, was there,
as were visual artists Curt Hoppe, Thom Holaday, Roberta Bayley and Robert Romagnoli. Bayley worked together with Holmstrom
editing a fumetti by Legs McNeil called “The Legend of Nick Detroit.” A fumetti, Italian for “little puffs of smoke,” is a comic strip made with photos instead of drawings and with speech balloons. The story is of a former top international agent and superkiller named Nick Detroit battling the Nazi Dykes and their schemes for world domination. The story appeared in issue No. 6 of Punk and featured Debbie Harry, Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye, and starred punk rocker Richard Hell in the title role. Does punk have a political agenda? Bands like MDC, a.k.a Millions of Dead Cops — later changed to Millions of Dead Chickens because band members were vegan — Dead Kennedys, Tom Robinson Band with their torch song “Glad To Be Gay,” and The Clash among others had a decidedly antiestablishment bent. But Holmstrom adamantly said, “No.” He also denied that the U.S. ever harbored a movement of fascist skinheads like some punks in England. He said instead punk started with a band called The Dictators. Their 1975 debut album was “Go Girl Crazy,” which included two songs, “Master Race Rock” and “Back to Africa” that generated controversy at the time, although most of the band members are Jewish. Holmstrom said that punks actually “were Jews making fun of Nazis.” “Go Girl Crazy” was a parody influenced
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