Here is the direct MP3 download for the EGC clambake for November 8, 2009. I play multiple songs from the 1970s San Francisco punk scene; I talk about why I decided to do NaNoWriMo this year even though I wasn’t really ready for it; I talk about discovering interesting facts about the late 70’s San Francisco and the luck that Gimme Something Better was released just in time for me to write this book; I lay out the plan I think gay activists should use to get gay marriage if they really want it. With that, I skank to the beat on out of here.
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Links mentioned in this episode:
- NaNoWriMo
- Gimme Something Better book site
- Gimme Something Better at Amazon
- Gentle Readers
- My FriendFeed
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Dave just caught up with this episode as I was getting ready for work today and got really excited to hear you talking about SF Punk. That scene has long been one of my favorites not only because of bands like The Avengers, The Nuns, Crime and The Dils, but because of where a lot of those people ended up.
Having listened to your podcast for a couple of years I know that you are a fan of the cowpunk sound. You mentioned adding the band X to your writing play list, I would suggest Checking out the band Rank’n’File (Chip and Tony from the Dils and Al from the Nuns– after the end of the first wave of SF punk) who were in many ways the pioneers of what at least I think of as Cowpunk and Alejandro Escovedo last two albums where he sings about those punk days in SF in the late 70s.
Thanks also for the heads up about Gimme Something Better, I have read and enjoyed both Please Kill Me and We Got the Neutron Bomb (which is the LA story).
I recently watched the Documentary You Weren’t There about the Chicago punk scene and recommend it highly, it’s great to see many of the secondary and forgotten punk scenes getting some kind of coverage before memories fade and the participants die off.
anyway, enjoyed the show, hope to read your book on the era someday.
Eric Reanimator
Eric, glad you liked it. I do love me some cowpunk and I already own some Rank and File. I’m not necessarily adding it to the writing soundtrack for this book as I’m trying to only listen to music from that era, but I do like Rank and File and Escovedo. I saw him on Soundstage or some other PBS thing a few months back and he rocked my world.
I’ve watched a few of the punk docs, and just taped one on the DVR on Monday. The thing I’m trying very hard to avoid is being romantic about the scene. I think Gimme Something Better avoids that trap and I need to as well. The docs can be a mixed bag that way.
Thanks again for listening and commenting.
Dave- I’m finishing up Gimme Something Better, and I think it gives a good overview of the scene. I wish there had been more on the Dils, The Nuns, and VKTMS, but those are small complaints. As is the third oral history account of a punk scene, I hope that there are more in the works. I’d love to see one for London, Boston and DC. Smaller places that had scenes would be cool as well, Rochester NY had an interesting one. Speaking of which there was a Sci-Fi Cowpunk band from Rochester The Jet Black Berries who were a mix of punk, Graham Parsons and William S Burroughs you might dig. Full disclosure they are friends of mine.