Ludicra

Ludicra - Urban Guerrilla Zine b-day show in Berkeley, 2002

Photo by Sam Bortnick

Triad

Urban Guerrilla Zine b-day show in Berkeley, 2002

Photo by Sam Bortnick

East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest

Summer Of No Love

There’s a new UGZ half issue out now entitled Summer Of No Love, which is just a little something that I wanted to get out there before tackling anything bigger.  It’s a theme issue and a personal zine that I worked on alone that contains photos (35mm), a story or two pulled from old notebooks that I used to take with me to cafes back in the day, as well as random observations that I jot down, usually after I’ve had a large cup of coffee and wandered around a bit.  Most importantly, every zine comes with stickers.

As you probably guessed, this was supposed to be a summer issue, but I hit some snags with the offset printer we were going to use.  So as the summer passed, then my fallback plan of an Indian Summer issue began to dissolve, I had to bounce over to a print shop in Berkeley to get a 100 or so photocopied (the same as the last issue).  They turned it around very quickly, and a little over a week later I had a box of zines finally, only they got the print run wrong and the number of zines was half of what I ordered.  I guess what I’m trying to say is, the Summer Of No Love is real.

If you’re in the Bay Area, you can purchase a copy of UGZ #17.5, Summer Of No Love at:

Issues, 20 Glen Ave, Oakland, CA

1-2-3-4 Go! Records, 420 40th St, Ste 5, Oakland, CA

Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA

Bound Together Books, 1369 Haight St, San Francisco, CA

Or you can send $5 (well concealed cash) to: UGZ ℅ Jay Unidos, 1442A Walnut Street #419, Berkeley, CA 94709.  Email me: jayunidos@gmail.com.

Thanks, Jay

IRON LUNG

Iron Lung - full set from the 2005 UGZ Speed Trials at 924 Gilman.  

Filmed by Paul Godstomper

Punk Paparazzi

Last Saturday in Oakland, attempting to photograph Josh and Robin (Black Fork, Severance Package) in front of 1-2-3-4-Go! Records with my old Olympus OM-1, while Pat Libby and Serena were behind me with iPhones taking their own photos.  I have no idea how my photos turned out (yet), but here's one of Serena's pics from that day.

DARK CASTLE

Dark Castle from a show we booked for them in 2011 at 924 Gilman.

Photo Taylor Keahey

Tharp World

Julie and Alison, both former contributors to our zine, got together for an episode of Alison's web series Tharp World, check it out.

SWANN DANGER

Jim Nastic playing drums for Swann Danger at a show we booked for them at 924 Gilman in 2008.

BABYLAND

Babyland - Here’s a full set from a show we booked for them in 2008 at 924 Gilman

BLOWN TO BITS

I snapped this pic of an old Blown To Bits sticker down by the train tracks in Berkeley this past weekend.

Flashback Friday

Poster for day one of Gilman's 20th anniversary, which took place on the last weekend in December of 2006. I was voted in as head booker about two weeks prior to this, and with two weeks left to go we had no show for that night (the two bookers who originally had the night kinda, sorta dropped the ball). Long story short, Ariel Awesome, Nicole Beyries, and myself booked this in about a week, which gave me a week to make a poster and flyer the Bay Area. Of course some of our haters (same 3-4 people that still talk shit today) talked shit on the entire weekend in the weeks following, like we had some kind of agenda with these bills, when in reality we all just felt a lot of pressure to not blow it, which could've easily happened.

Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair 2014

The Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair is coming to Oakland in 2014!

NEEDLES

Needles - full set from last Friday’s show at 924 Gilman.  Needles were easily my favorite band of the night, and I know it’s cliché to say, but every time I see this band they just get better.  Needles new 7” EP is, in my opinion, their best material to date, and you can purchase copies from Bad Skulls.

I Went To Gilman Twice This Past Weekend

I went to Gilman twice this past weekend, and going back to Gilman feels like thanksgiving dinner at the home of your cool uncle, who used to be cooler, but at least he never sold out.  Not like the others… Of course he lives in an apartment that was built in the 60s, and even though his record collection is pretty awesome, it’s hard to hear at times because the speakers are old and dusty, or maybe he just needs to change the needle on that dusty old turntable of his?  Anyway, it’s cool because you can show up after not showing up for a long time, and all that he asks is that you clear the table when you’ve finished eating.  Oh, but it would be awesome if you helped do some dishes after, but at the very least if you could pass the mashed potatoes, then that’s all we ask of you.  To be honest, you could eat, leave your plate, throw your leftovers in the toilet before you leave, and you’d still be welcome back, just apologize before next thanksgiving.  Always remember that even though he refers to them as “little kids tables”, there’s still a space for you.

 The end, need coffee.

NOISEAR

Noisear - full set from the 2007 UGZ Speed Trials at 924 Gilman

DEAD AND GONE

Dead And Gone - "Wires" live at 924 Gilman

Santa Muerte

Santa Muerte t-shirt design for 924 Gilman, based on Brian Stern's limited edition shirts he made for the EXTORTION/IRON LUNG show that we booked, along with Alejandra "Nunca Mas" back in 2009. The Gilman design is basically the same, except for the band names that were removed, and the bottom half which was decided upon after 15-20 minutes of emails between myself and Brian. We raised over ten thousand dollars (for Gilman) selling t-shirts and tote bags of this design. I also like that this Santa Muerte image is synonymous with UGZ, and our involvement with the club.

P.L.F.

P.L.F.'s  crushing set from the 2010 UGZ Speed Trials.  2010 was the last time we held a Speed Trials show at Gilman, which had become home to the event after a couple of short stints at Burnt Ramen and the Slaughterhaus in Oakland.  The economics of pulling off an event like the UGZ Speed Trials finally caught up to us, so we've put it on hiatus until the particulars can be sorted out.  The cool thing about the Speed Trials shows were how completely independent and D.I.Y. they were, with zero sponsorship or even promotional support from the bands' record labels, just two or three people on their phones, computers, and in the club the night before painting, hanging banners, cooking food, and making it happen.  The turnouts were always around 300 paid, which isn't that big for a UGZ Presents show, but it was the perfect size for a UGZ Speed Trials show.  Thanks to Dan and Kill That Cat for filming this.

Very Small Records

The David Hayes Story - "You can’t want the world to change and be narrow minded about music because if you’re narrow minded about anything, you can’t change the world."