Monday Blog 11.30.15

After watching several videos of people losing their minds at Walmarts and Best Buys around this country last Friday (Black Friday), my initial response was to shake my head and immediately put on an Om album to bring me back to center.  Later I thought about how the level of mind control these corporations have over so many people in the country is equally impressive and disheartening, depending on your stock portfolio.  Also depending on whether you have a stock portfolio.  It’s to the point that human beings will trample other human beings just to get a deal on a flatscreen television, which is more disturbing when you consider that many of these same deals can be had by simply staying home and shopping online.  The fact that all of this takes place the day after Thanksgiving seems to some an even sadder commentary on the state of things in this country, while others might argue it’s actually an appropriate response based on the history of the holiday in question.  

Thanksgiving to me, back when I actually ate turkey and all that stuff, was always more about food than anything else.  This was especially the case when I was a kid because there were times when we were so poor that we were barely eating enough to sustain us from day to day.  My mom’s uncles, aunts, and cousins still live on a reservation in New Mexico, so we definitely were not celebrating Christopher Columbus or any of that nonsense.  It was, like any holiday where there’s food, an opportunity to eat as much as I could without drawing too much attention to myself.  Play it cool, and make it look like you’re casually going back for seconds when it’s actually your fourth serving of mash potatoes and gravy.  Being one of the youngest of the cousins, I looked forward to sitting around afterwards in a relatives backyard, listening to my older cousins tell us stories about all the crazy stuff they got into.  Their stories were funny, violent, exhilarating!  It was a lot to live up to, but I tried my best for years before I had to accept that I was growing up in a different time than they had, even though they were only a decade older.  

I’ve spent many Thanksgivings since by myself, walking the streets of the East Bay with a coffee in my hand, lost in thought.  I like to go back in my mind and play choose your own adventure with history, then try to imagine an alternate reality where there is less dumb shit obscuring the good stuff.

Postscript: I wrote this using a notes app while walking the streets of the East Bay with a coffee in my hand, lost in thought.

Angela Davis

Angela Davis speaks at a Black Panther rally in DeFremery Park, West Oakland.

”Justice is indivisible. You can’t decide who gets civil rights and who doesn’t.”

East Bay Alternative Book & Zine Fest

Task Switching

This photo was taken about half way through a very caffeinated hang out session with Pat Libby.  Pat is the manager and head booker at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records in Oakland on 40th Street, about two blocks from the old UGZ headquarters.

"Summer Of No Love" aka Urban Guerrilla Zine #17.5 is currently available at both the Oakland and SF store locations.

IRON LUNG

Iron Lung from the first UGZ Speed Trials at Burnt Ramen in Richmond, 2003.

The following year we held them at the Slaughterhaus in Oakland, and then a couple of years later we held a few at Gilman, but even then I had to come out the pocket at first for posters, decorations, and trophies.  Thankfully Will Rutherford (who also painted the walls behind the Gilman stage for us) stepped in as treasurer at some point and I was able to get reimbursed for some of that stuff.  The trophies were from a spot in Fremont, and I used to drive out there from Berkeley to pick them up, usually a day or two before the shows.  Gilman was never that supportive of the UGZ Speed Trials, but there were always enough of us to win the vote.

Viva La Raza!

CORRUPTED

Corrupted from their 2008 show in Berkeley, which was one of the highlights from the 4 years that I booked at that club.  The night before Corrupted, Asunder, Amber Asylum, and Stormcrow, we had a show headlined by an Industrial Dance band from Sacramento, complete with laser lights and fog machines.  It had the smallest draw of any show I ever booked anywhere, but I took a chance knowing there was a Corrupted show the following night.  Not that Corrupted was the biggest show of the year, even though it was big enough to feel packed in the club, and the draw was large enough to justify the money we spent on things like posters (2 designs), homemade food for bands and volunteers (vegan and non-vegan options…no Lanesplitter pizzas), not to mention the guarantee for Corrupted, which I was personally responsible for if for some reason the show had bombed.  This was back when they were still doing 50/50 splits at that particular venue, and before bookers could pocket money on the sly by circumventing the traditional payout process.  That stated, we were able to cover the guarantee, posters, food, equipment to heat and serve the food, etc. because we’d raised door prices earlier in the year.  The basic door cost went from $5 to $7, but if it was a local band night you could still charge $5, and if it was Subhumans (UK), then you could charge $12.  It was all about being reasonable and open to discussing the reasons for wanting to charge more for a particular show, keeping in mind the history of the venue and the the principles on which it was founded, but not being bound by them.  

All of the food and the equipment used to prepare it was a byproduct of Thursday Night Booking, which started as a booking night for planning art shows, spoken word nights, and acoustic music events that would take place on Thursday nights (a dead night at the club prior to 2007), but it was also our way of kickstarting the food idea for shows, and we ended buying a lot of equipment that we later used to feed bands, volunteers, and patrons between 2007-2011.  I think the first time we went all out after asking the club for money was when Karen and Ale made homemade tamales for a Thursday night show.  They didn’t just make vegan tamales, but there were cheese and meat options as well.  I don’t remember the show, just the tamales, if that tells you anything. Thursday Night Booking was myself, Alejandra Nunca Mas, Karen O'Brien, Russell, Ariel Awesome, and Pat Libby.  From that crew, Pat helped me paint and prepare the club for Corrupted the Thursday before the show, and by prepare I mean we removed almost all of the lights and covered the remaining ones with red and blue gels.  Karen made food for the show, and I’ll always remember running into her on San Pablo Ave in Berkeley the day of the show.  I was out flyering and she was on her way back to the club with groceries from Mi Tierra.  Ariel and I worked the door together, and I remember at some point that night she leaned over and told me, “Nights like this make it all worth it.”

Alejandra is currently one of the organizers of Punks With Lunch in Oakland, providing lunches along with hygienic packs, female hygienic packs, laundry detergent and dog food to those in need.  For more info click here.