July 23rd, 1983 to July 22nd, 2019 equals 13,148 days or 315,552 hours or 18,933,120 minutes.  That is a long fucking time in between being around punk rock! Why did I leave the scene?  Well one reason was that the scene seemed to have changed around that time in 1983.  Chuck Dukowski left Black Flag and their sound and style changed and I didn’t like it.  Black Flag was the center of my punk rock universe so when they went “unhardcore punk” it really turned me off.  There also seemed to be a change in the punk rock vibe so I was off to the next chapter in my life.

After I graduated high school, I went to college at Arizona State and begun my life as a non punker.  I joined a fraternity, drank, snorted a lot of coke, and attempted to be student.  My musical tastes also changed…I went metal.  Sorority girls enjoyed AC/DC much more than The Circle Jerks!

During those “metal years” in college I was fortunate to see some killer concerts.  In 1987, the year before I graduated, I was second row for AC/DC at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe , right near the stage for Gun’s N Roses at The Jar in Phoenix, and Motley Crue at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, also in Phoenix.  The concerts were awesome and really fucking loud.  Just to be clear, I NEVER grew my hair long or wore make up or wore spandex

After college it was the usual route…real job…marriage…kids…first house… and still no punk rock.  During that time, there was one music photography experience for Metallica at the Cow Palace in 1983 for a dress rehearsal for their Death Magnetic Tour. I primarily took of my daughters and auto racing.  I guess I still liked to capture things on film and motorsports was a cool place for that.  Why auto racing well that’s a long story and it doesn’t really fit into this blog.

Around 2008 that idilic life changed…divorce…sell the house…ex wife hates me…and still no punk rock.  My mother also passed away at age sixty eight.  Basically my life turned to shit.

Fast forward to Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019 at around 11am in the morning.  I was sitting in my office in Westwood and I received a call from Frank Coiro of Fathom Gallery.  He said “Hi my name is Frank and I saw some of your punk photos online and I wanted to see if we could meet.”  My response was “I can be there in 15 minutes”. 

When I arrived at Fathom Gallery, I really had no idea what to expect.  Frank said “We are having a gallery show this Saturday called ‘Punk: A Culture of Attitude’ and I would like to use some of your photos for the show.  I almost fell out of my chair when I heard that.  My photos in a gallery????? A YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!

TO BE CONTINUED