Ludicra

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

Photo by Sam Bortnick

Thursday Blog 1.7.16

Here is my first blog of the new year, and even though I’m looking forward to 2016, this is going to be a look back at Urban Guerrilla Zine in 2015.  I attempted to post a new blog every Monday towards the end of last year, which pretty quickly turned into every other Monday, but even so I’ve decided to commit to posting a couple a blogs a week in 2016.  Now, let’s take it back to time not so long ago.

In 2015, I managed to put out two zines, which isn’t that impressive.  On the other hand, when you’ve been putting out a zero zines per year for the last seven or eight years, two’s pretty good.  Urban Guerrilla Zine has never really gone away or stopped being active.  When there wasn’t a new issue of Urban Guerrilla Zine there were over a hundred UGZ Presents shows that I booked and promoted, like the UGZ Speed Trials for example, and when I stopped booking shows there was the internet.  When the internet started to feel a bit too isolating and detached, I decided to make zines again.  For most folks Urban Guerrilla Zine existed from 1997-2006, and that was pretty much it until 2015.

Urban Guerrilla Zine #17 was made to accompany a UGZ themed art show that took place in early 2015 at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in Oakland, at the urging of Pat Libby for which I am grateful.  Urban Guerrilla Zine #17.5 was a half issue entitled “Summer Of No Love”, which was supposed to be out by late summer, but didn’t actually see the light of day until the fall due to issues with the printer.  In fact both zines had printer issues, and in both cases I found myself at Inkworks Press (a worker owned collective) in Berkeley, having to photocopy what were intended to be offset printed zines.  Inkworks doesn’t have the best copy machines, but they are well maintained, so the zines looked pretty good.  The biggest drop off from offset to photocopy would be the photo quality.  In the case of #17 I had to have it done in time for the art show, which we’d also advertised as a zine release party.  As far as the “Summer Of No Love” half issue went, I wanted that out as quickly as possible because I know me, and if I’d waited any longer then it would’ve ended up with all of the other unfinished projects cluttering my work area.

Urban Guerrilla Zine #17.5 is a very personal issue, but not a “personal zine”.  Maybe I should’ve made that distinction a bit more clear when describing it in previous posts.  I wasn’t that concerned with how much the graphics or stories resonated with the reader as much as I wanted to recreate this one summer in Emeryville, standing at a bus stop next to a casino that was in the process of being torn down, surrounded by elderly Asian gambling addicts and crack addicted prostitutes from the stroll a few blocks away on San Pablo Ave.  The vibe I felt while waiting to transfer to the bus I rode to my summer job at a bookstore, where I spent all day indoors when all I wanted was to hang out on Telegraph Ave with my friends.  I didn’t actually write any of that in the zine, but it’s there.

Looking ahead, I plan on doing more zines in 2016, one or two of those will be newer issues of UGZ for what has admittedly become a somewhat limited audience.  On the other hand, I don’t miss printing a thousand zines at a time, and distributing them, then trying to collect the money I’m owed from all the various distributors around the country.  I’m making zines at this point because I enjoy the process, and so I’ll see where that approach takes things from here on out.

If you didn’t get a copy of Urban Guerrilla Zine #17, the only remaining copies I know of are at Needles and Pens, 1173 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA

If you want a copy of Urban Guerrilla Zine #17.5 aka “Summer Of No Love”, then you can still purchase a copy at:

1-2-3-4 Go! Records, 420 40th Street #5, Oakland, CA

Issues Magazine + More, 20 Glen Ave, Oakland, CA

Pegasus Books, 2349 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA

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

Triad

Urban Guerrilla Zine b-day show in Berkeley, 2002

Photo by Sam Bortnick

DARK CASTLE

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

Photo Taylor Keahey

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.

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.

ELDOPA (1332)

ElDopa (1332) - full set from the 2006 December Bastards B-day Bash, which took place in January of 2007 at the Chop Shop (West Oakland). We did two B-day Bash shows that year because of a scheduling conflict with Gilman’s 20th Anniversary weekend the month before. Happy birthday to all the December Bastards out there!

NOISEAR

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

NEUROSIS

I’m back from our short road trip to Portland for the Neurosis, Tragedy, The Body, Atriarch show at the Roseland Theater.  The sun was shining when I arrived in PDX, although the temperature hovered between forty and fifty degrees for most of the day, which is cold by Bay Area standards.  That said, I zipped up my hoody and wandered around as much as possible prior to the show, eventually making it as far as Pok Pok for lunch, which was awesome.

 The show itself was worth the trip, especially for the Tragedy and Neurosis sets. I was so into both bands that I only attempted to snap one or two pics early during Tragedy’s set, which turned out blurry.  During Neurosis’ set I made a conscious decision to just be in the moment and enjoy the show.  Early on though I did notice that there were a couple of guys there with nice cameras taking photos, and I figured I’d just look them up online when I got back to the Bay.  This Neurosis photo is by Al Case, and you can find more of his photos from last Saturday night’s show on his blog: http://traveljapanblog.com/wordpress/

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.

Rampaging Insane Depravity

This dude was feeling it!  Day three of the 2002 R.I.D. Fest, which took place at Mission Records in San Francisco. The lineup for this show was Brainoil, Phalanx (Seattle), Exitwound (reunion), Dystrophy, Voetsek, Black Market Fetus (Iowa), Thretning Verse (Los Angeles), and I'm pretty sure that Skarp (Seattle) jumped on as well.  Photo by Rick P.U.N.K.

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."

NEUROSIS

Here’s some live Neurosis from 1989, which may seem like a long time ago, but when you consider the history of this planet, twenty four and half years is but an indistinguishable blip on the timeline of human existence.

SKARP

SKARP back in 2005 at the Arcadia Skate Ramp Hotel in Oakland, CA.  The Arcadia Skate Ramp Hotel was a short lived venue in West Oakland that we booked shows at between 2004-2006.  We booked SKARP for the first time in 2001 at Burnt Ramen Studios in Richmond, CA, and I'm pretty sure that this was the last time we booked them.  It was a fun night and SKARP were as good as I'd seen them up to that point.  Photos by Murray Bowles

LUDICRA

Today’s ‘Throwback Thursday’ post is a full set from Ludicra, filmed in 2007 at 924 Gilman by Dan Hashthrash (killthatcat.com).

DYING IN YOUR BEAUTY SLEEP

Dying In Your Beauty Sleep playing one of our “Back To Oakland" shows at the Hazmat in 2004.  Photo by Lars Knudson

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT

Here’s a Throwback Thursday photo for you.  It’s Attitude Adjustment playing Fresno in 1988, and in the audience right in front of the stage is Yapple Ruelas (Deathtoll, A.D.T.), who eventually joined Attitude Adjustment 18 years later.  In addition to playing guitar, Yapple is a fisherman, and everyone knows that fishing takes patience.

Back To The Present

Part Four

I decided to check in with a few of the folks that I volunteered with at Gilman during my run as the club's head booker, and more specifically my fellow bookers who were there between 2007 and 2011.  I also threw in a security person or two, and a couple of Stoar workers. This is not meant to represent the entire staff of volunteers during those years, but rather the handful of folks that I personally approached about volunteering at the club with one exception - Pat Libby. 

Pat Libby

Here's an interview I conducted with Pat Libby a couple of weeks ago while he was out on one of his walks around Berkeley with his daughter Harriet.  After grabbing some coffee on Telegraph Avenue we headed up the street to a spot where I was pretty sure we wouldn't be bothered.  I recorded this interview with my phone and while I tried to get the best sound quality that I could given our surroundings, the levels are rough at times (it's not that bad).  Originally the plan was to transcribe this interview so that it could be read, but unfortunately I slept on getting that done, so with 'This Is Not A Stop' starting tonight at 1-2-3-4 Go! I decided to post the interview as a MP3.  This was edited for time and to minimize the repetition that comes with stopping and starting the process several times, as we did.  Additional vocals and sound effects were provided by Harry.

This Is Not A Step: Workshop/Speaker Schedule

In case you missed it the first time, here's a short interview I did with Pat around the time of Gilman's 25th Anniversary.

++++ at 924 Gilman

Harald O.

I'm not sure how Harald O and I met, but if memory serves me right we were first introduced by the late Anarchy Al at Collector's Realm on Telegraph Avenue, where Harald worked when he wasn't on tour.  However the story of how Harald O, bass player for D.R.I. and the guy who photographed all your favorite thrash metal bands before most people had ever heard of them ended up working security at 924 Gilman probably begins at the CR3.  Wait, before we go any further, let's go back to the day I met Anarchy Al.

I remember meeting Anarchy Al for the first time twice,  the first of those meetings taking place at a Wolfpack show in San Francisco.  Al was videotaping the show (mainly for opener) in the corner of the room that my crew and I were hanging out in while Deface (the opener) played.  The official first time took place a year or so later when I stepped into the Collector's Realm, which only happened because I looked in and noticed that Bailey (Smiley) was flipping through some old comic books.  I went inside just to say what's up to an old friend, and we quickly decided to blow that joint and head over to Bison brewery.  As we were leaving a Verbal Abuse 8x10 promo photo for a German tour caught my eye.  It was randomly displayed with some miscellaneous Cal post cards.  Next to that was a pile of used vinyl, and resting on top was the "Them Boners Be Poppin" compilation put out by Boner Records in '85.  I asked the guy working, who turned out to be Anarchy Al, how much for both of them and he said, "Five for the album, two for the photo".  I returned a week or so later and while flipping through some old metal mags I came across a copy of Grimple's "Up Yer Ass" on M&E Records filed in with some old calendars in the back.  It was pretty unbelievable then and now.  While standing in front of the register, Al started to ask me questions about bands I liked, which quickly lead to Al showing off his growing video collection of shows he'd videotaped around the Bay.  Al proclaimed that he was perhaps the best bass player in the Bay Area, aside from Harald O from D.R.I., who had just shown up to start his shift.  At some point I began to put Harald O and Anarchy Al on my guest lists for shows I booked at various venues, including Gilman, so they could videotape them.  From there it gets hazy, but one day I was walking down Oxford in Berkeley when I ran into Harald O. who was devouring a Vanilla Freddo from Peet's.

"Dude, taste it! Madagascar vanilla!!"

Harald and I started to shoot the shit and he asked me if I knew any place cool that would let him work off some community service hours stemming from an incident that took place while he was on tour with D.R.I.  I told him that he could work them off at Gilman.  When Harald showed up the following weekend it just so happened that we needed an extra security person, so Harald began his community service by working club security.  I loved it and later when Harald began to show up with his camera taking photos instead of walking the block and pouring beers out, I loved it even more.  Some volunteers seemed bothered by Harald's non-traditional approach to working security, but it's important to note that he wasn't being paid for a majority of the time that he was active at the club.  Even after he worked off his court ordered hours, Harald stuck around and continued to photograph a bunch of shows, all the while sporting the Gilman security garb.  I remember one show I booked where our security staff for the night consisted of the bass player from D.R.I., the former drummer of Powerhouse, and both the guitar payer and singer from Attitude Adjustment.  Eventually Harald left the Gilman for a security job with Bill Graham Presents, while continuing to tour with D.R.I., and for the rest of the story, lets check in with Harald O.

Harald O:  Well it's been quite a year so far...a couple of successful D.R.I. US tours that were amazing....It always blows me away how dedicated and cool our fans are!  Some of them come to see us literally everytime we play in their area!!  Spike is finally fully recovered from his near fatal bout with colon cancer, but he is still struggling to pay his hospital bills off.  Most people don't know how much medical care costs these daze!  We recently did a fifteen date East Coast tour with our longtime bros in Suicidal Tendencies (and our pals in Sick of It All for selected dates) and the shows were ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!  What a great bill that was!  Mike Muir and company treated us GREAT, and we totally shared a mutual respect for each other!  My book "Murder In The Front Row" has done incredibly well, selling out of the first printing in record time!!  I'm having a blast meeting people on the road who dig the book.  Now, we just played the HUGE Punk Rock Bowling Fest with Flag, Subhumans, Casualties, DEVO, Turbonegro, Bad Religion, etc., and had a GREAT time!  We got a month off and then it's off to Europe where we play a buncha Festivals with Slayer and tons of other killer bands!!  Never a dull moment around here.

Harald O. x Cliff Burton

Harald O. x El Duce

Harald O. x D.R.I.

FREEDOM DENIED

This past Saturday night I stopped by 924 Gilman to check out "Grandpa Fest 2013", which gave me my first look at some bands I was literally clueless about before then.  One of the new bands I was most impressed by was FREEDOM DENIED, who are ex-members of Plutocracy, Agents Of Satan, and the list goes on, with Dorian from Noisear on guitar.  Like I said, I was totally clueless that this band even existed before last Saturday night, but later I was told it was their first show (holy shit!), so maybe I'm only a little out of the loop?  Either way, that's enough typing, watch the video.