Funk Straight Coming

Eves, Hyde, & Gigs - “Meeting of Styles” in the Mission.

Photo by Jay Unidos

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

Monday Blog 11.16.15

One of the things that catches my attention most mornings while watching the news is how bought and paid for our media is, even at the local level since the station I tune into broadcasts from Oakland, California.  At this point anyone who’s reading this is probably saying something to the effect of, “yeah-yeah, you’re preaching to the choir”, but just because many of us are aware that most media in this country is basically owned and controlled by a small number of conglomerates, it’s still interesting to note the bias in the way certain items are reported.  In particular any stories involving the police beating and tasing innocent people (yes innocent because that’s what you’re presumed to be until proven guilty in a court of law), and in some cases killing innocent people.  Incidents that are increasingly captured on video.  The pro-police stance of my local station shouldn’t surprise me, and it also shouldn’t surprise me that they appear to be pro-gentrification, and extremely uncritical when reporting on local politics and elections, and I’m not surprised, but taken aback at times by how blatant their establishment bias is.  It’s another one of those things that we shrug and shake our heads at, but accept as a reality of the world we live in.  

Instead, we should be asking, what are we doing to break the cycle that has lead us to this place.  One of the big mistakes we’ve made and continue to make is that we tend to be reactive instead of proactive.  The political system that governs us (even on the local level) is just that - a system.  By the time you’ve reached the point of being angry about affordable housing being demolished in the Mission to make way for $3000 dollar a month micro lofts, it’s too late in the process.  When across the Bay Area you see a trend of only 50% of eligible voters being registered, and only 25% actually voting, you’re going to end up with mayors and city councils being elected almost by default.  Who do these politicians serve if a majority of the citizenry didn’t vote them into office?  

That’s only the beginning, and if you need a quick education on how things work in government, even at a local level, attend a city council meeting.  It’s as simple as that.  I do want to leave off with my personal belief that politicians are not to be trusted, even at a local level, but if you’re going to vote anyone into a position that could influence the lives of those living in your community, make sure they’re from that community.  That doesn’t mean you moved here to work for Google or to attend law school at the local university, but that you are actually from the community you want to make decisions for, ideally born and raised there.  

MY RULES

Glen E. Friedman & Ian MacKaye discuss some of the photographs in MY RULES (2014)

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.

UGZ Speed Trials

Here’s a Larry Wolfley photo taken at Burnt Ramen, and in the background you can see the top of a UGZ Speed Trials poster from 2002, the first year we did one.