I Learned In My Punk Rock Days That Action Was My Own Responsibility

Recently I came upon a collection of fliers promoting shows at the great Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky.

The Jockey Club, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, was the best punk rock club in all the midwest. It closed in 1988. There is a Jockey Club Facebook page you can join.

You can read a series of Jockey Club recollections in Stories for Shorty. I have an entry in this book that was published by Cincinnati’s Aurore Press.

One of the best things about our punk rock scene in Cincinnati is that we did stuff ourselves.

We made our own fliers, staged our own shows, formed our own bands, we printed fanzines that had interviews with touring bands and we had our own radio show on a local station. I co-hosted a punk radio show on Cincinnati’s WAIF-FM 88.3 for three years.

This was—and still is—the way to go. Working by ourselves and working together, we made our own scene no matter how moronic and narrow the world around us might be.

Whether it is getting on the Mayflower to exercise your beliefs in a new place, Occupying something in the name of economic fair play and a more just society, finding the internal resources to fulfill a creative vision, or working with others who share your thoughts and hopes to make something of value—It is in the end your responsibility to do the work to accomplish what you hope to accomplish.

This does not mean that luck and circumstance do not matter. These things matter a great deal. It is possible that you will get sick or be hit by a truck.

Yet in the end, here is what I would say—

Make and print your own fliers, start a blog, form a band, occupy something, be part of your local and national scene, take responsibility for your own future, generate your own content so somebody else does not generate it for you, help out those on your own side of the aisle, and don’t just hang around when there is work to be done. The ways to get these things done may change over the years, but the underlying concept does not shift.

Cincinnati Punk Rock Legend Seeks Bandmates For New Acoustic Protest Band—Find A Use For Your Talents In The Big Political Year Ahead

This is from my longtime friend Robert “Jughead” Sturdevant of Cincinnati, Ohio—

“I am looking to form an acoustic guitar-based jam band where all members sing left wing protest /labor/progressive songs in the alternative scene/occupy protests/coffee shops/and places they won’t let my hardcore band play. I have an excellent practice space and I want to get out and play on the weekends.”

Jughead is a king of the Cincinnati punk rock. Above you see Robert front and center performing at Newport, Kentucky’s legendary Jockey Club at some point in the 1980’s. The odds are decent that I was at the show in the picture.

Robert’s band is SS-20. They are mainstays of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky music scene.

Robert also does spoken word performances in Cincinnati, and has written for Cincinnati’s great local publishing house Aurore Press.

If you’re interested in joining the band Jughead is looking to form in Cincinnati, please leave a comment at the blog. I’ll make sure he gets in touch with you.

There is always something that you can take part in to help bring about a better and more hopeful world.

If you’re not looking to join a band in Cincinnati, then please consider some way you can be part of the action in the big political year of 2012.

This blog will in 2012 be focusing on ways that everyday people can make the best use of their talents, and about how everyday people can assume responsibility for their futures in our democracy.

The work of democracy and freedom is up to each of us.

Jockey Club Reunion Punk Rock Blast In Newport, Kentucky On Saturday, November 12.

There will be a big punk rock blast this upcoming Saturday at the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky.

Newport is just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.

I’m sorry I’ll not be able to attend this fine event.

This concert is another Jockey Club reunion concert being put on by Cincinnati’s Aurore Press.

The Jockey Club, which closed in 1988, was the best punk rock club in all the midwest.

Aurore Press is Cincinnati’s leading forum for dissenting views.

I’ve been fortunate enough in the past few years to contribute to three Aurore Press books and to host one of the Jockey Club reunion shows.

Here are my best punk rock moments.  

Three Thoughts About Twitter

Three thoughts about Twitter—

1. The two largest groups of my Facebook friends come from either people I’ve encountered through blogging about politics in Houston and Texas, or are people I met 20 or 30 years ago in Cincinnati during my well-spent punk rock youth. I’ve probably got about 200 folks from each of these groups on my Facebook.

Many of my Texas blogger and political friends use Twitter based on the Twitter feeds I see that are automatically set to be posted on Facebook. On the other hand, I’m not aware of a single punk rock friend who uses Twitter.

2. I am increasingly convinced that all those hash tags on Twitter and the abbreviations required to meet the 140 character limit, are somehow part of an evolutionary drive to use language and symbols to drive group cohesion and exclude people who are not in the know. I read that Twitter stuff and I’m just not always sure what people are talking about.

This drive may well reside in the subconscious. Though you can never overstate the cliquishness of both political life and social media. When you combine political life with social media, it seems almost incestuous.

3. While I’m not saying I won’t someday sign on to Twitter, I have not done so to this point. I guess my inner Sid Vicious from my punk rock youth prevails on this matter.

(Below–The Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky from back in the day. Maybe not so many future Twitterers in that picture.)  

This Post Means Nothing To You

Here I am on a late June afternoon at what was once 633 York Street in Newport, Kentucky. Now it is a parking lot.

633 York Street in Newport, Kentucky was the site of the great punk rock bar The Jockey Club.

There were other establishments at this address at various times. There was the 633 Club and the Flamingo Club. Local lore had Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis visiting this spot over the years. And given the history of Newport, it is possible that these folks did visit these now defunct clubs.

For me, however, this is where a great punk rock club was one time.

Punk Rock Brings Us Together—Encourage Your Children To Be Punk Rockers

A punk rock band in Massachusetts has both Hindu and Muslim members. This band is called The Kominas.

People don’t have to fight because they were born one way and not another or born in one part of the world instead of some other part of the world.

People can join up in bands together or do whatever it is they wish together.

Why should it be otherwise given the brevity and brutality of life?

From the Associated Press story about this band—

“Artwork from the Punjab state of India decorates the Ray family home. A Johann Sebastian Bach statue sits on a piano. But in the basement-cluttered with wires, old concert fliers and drawings-25-year-old Arjun Ray is fighting distortion from his electric guitar…For this son of Indian immigrants, trained in classical violin and raised on traditional Punjab music, getting his three Pakistani-American bandmates in sync is the goal on this cold New England evening. Their band, The Kominas, is trying to record a punk rock version of the classic Bollywood song, “Choli Ke Peeche” (Behind the Blouse)…Deep in the woods of this colonial town boils a kind of revolutionary movement. From the basement of this middle-class home tucked in the woods west of Boston, The Kominas have helped launched a small, but growing, South Asian and Middle Eastern punk rock movement that is attracting children of Muslim and Hindu immigrants and drawing scorn from some traditional Muslims who say their political, hard-edged music is “haraam,” or forbidden….The movement, an anti-establishment subculture borne of religiously conservative communities…The artists say they are just trying to reconcile issues such as life in America, women’s rights and homosexuality with Islam and old East vs. West cultural clashes.”

Here is the full story.

Here is the My Space page for The Kominas.

Punk rock is an excellent thing.

If you have a son or daughter, encourage them to become punk rockers.

At any age, it is good to know that there are people who feel the way that you do about the world.

Here are my greatest punk rock moments.

(Below—Newport, Kentucky’s famous Jockey Club on the last night back in 1988. It was great to be a young punk rocker in Cincinnati with the Jockey Club just across the Ohio River.)

Cincinnati’s Aurore Press Has Many Fine Holiday Gifts

Cincinnati’s Aurore Press has many fine holiday gifts.

Above is the chapter book godLess. The book is a series of short essays about God and the absence of God in the lives of the contributing writers.

I have an essay in godLess.

This book would be an excellent  gift for whatever holiday it is that you observe or do not observe.

Also available at Aurore is a recording of the Jockey Club reunion concert from November of 2008.

The Jockey Club, located just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati in Newport, Kentucky, was the leading punk rock venue in all the midwest in the 1980’s.

Click here to see all that Aurore Press has to offer.

Be sure to visit the Aurore Press site often to see what is new.

I’ll Be Hosting The Biggest Punk Rock Show Of 2009 On August 15—Please Attend If You Are Able

This is going to be a great show. Please attend if you are able.

Top Texas Blogger To Host Nation’s Biggest Punk Rock Blast

I’m glad to report that this upcoming August 15 I’ll be the master of ceremonies at Newport, Kentucky’s Southgate House for America’s biggest punk rock blast of 2009. 

Newport is just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.  

You’d think I’d be content with being the top blogger in Texas and with being a member of the Academy of Political Science.

Nope–That’s not enough.  

The event is a release party for the CD of last year’s Jockey Club reunion concert at the Southgate House. The Jockey Club was the greatest punk rock venue of the 1980’s. 

( Above–Another excellent night at the Jockey Club back in the late 80’s. Please click here for some more Jockey Club pictures.  The Jockey Club can also be found on My Space and on Facebook.)

This concert is being put on by Cincinnati-based publisher Aurore Press. Aurore Press is the forum for dissenting views in Cincinnati. Please click the link and see what’s going on at Aurore Press.

Below are the details as they stand at the moment.    

Roast/Benefit for “Handsome” Clem and his Family—

You can’t have a CD release without a party and Aurore Press knows this so with the help of The Southgate House, we’re putting on another Jockey Club inspired shindig to benefit our friend and Cincy punk legend “Handsome” Clem Carpenter and his family. Clem has had a few rough years as of late and his friends want to thank him for everything he’s done over the years with a benefit/roast in his honor! The show on August 15, will feature: Gang Green, SS-20, Libertines US, and Human Zoo. We’re working on one more JC era band to top off the bill and we’ll let everyone know when that comes together–so, 5 bands in all coming together again for a night for the scrapbooks hosted by “Hockeypunk” Neil Aquino, so come early and stay late, get yer CD (proceeds from the CD will also be donated to the Carpenter family) and have a ball!

I hope to see you there on August 15.

The Bars That I Visited Most Often

What could be more important than the bars you hung out in when you were younger?

Not much.

There were three bars I spent the most time in when I lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. All my good bar days were in Cincinnati. I’ve lived in Houston for ten years and I don’t go to bars at all. In Cincinnati, I went all the time.

I enjoyed seeing my friends. And often I brought a book to read. Many places I went had a band playing and I rarely cared about the bands. I’m sure many of them were good. The local acts were often comprised of people I knew, and I’m sure they were good bands. It just never interested me. When the bands were playing and I could not talk to people, I would read my book.

There were three bars I visted most. One was a bar- laundry mat called Sudsy Malone’s. There were washers and dryers in the back of the house.  It was Short Vine street in Cincinnati. Below is a picture of Sudsy’s from the outside.  

And here is a picture from a show at Sudsy’s.

Now that’s entertainment!

Sudsy’s is now closed. The pictures came from a Sudsy’s Facebook group. 

Another bar I was a regular at was just down the street from Sudsy’s. It was, and still is, called Sub Galley. I can say in truth that I was for a time “Mayor” of this place. Below you see a picture of Chris the bartender. This picture is also from a Facebook group. 

I never could figure out the full story with Chris, but he was always a decent enough guy as far as I was concerned. Sub Galley was seen by some as a hangout for low lifes.  I think that view had some merit. 

The guy with the beard in the photo was Karl.

My last hangout was The Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky. Newport is right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. I’ve written about the Jockey Club before on the blog. It was the greatest punk rock club in all the world. The Jockey Club closed in 1988. The picture is from the club’s last night.

I like my life today and I miss my places from the past.

I hope you have some hangouts where you once spent your nights. It’s fun!…at least to some point in life it was fun.

Top Texas Blogger Now America’s Most Beloved Published Author

 

Already the leading political blogger in Texas (Note–This view is not shared by anyone else.), I’m now also America’s most beloved published author.

Cincinnati’s Aurore Press has released Stories for Shorty: A Collection of Recollections from the Jockey Club 1982-1988. This book details the famous Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky. The Jockey Club (photo above.) was at one point the finest punk rock club in the United States.

The book is a series of reminiscences by patrons of the Jockey Club and by the members of the bands that played there.  My contribution to the book is on pages 188 and 189. I’m now a published author.

On this past November 22, a book release party and Jockey Club reunion concert was held at the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky.  I was lucky enough to be in Cincinnati for the concert. Northern Kentucky University Professor Ken Katkin, a leading academic in the Cincinnati area,  has written a review of the show that you can read by clicking this link. Mr. Katkin is a professor of constitutional law at NKU. 

Also, please allow me to note that Cincinnati punk legend Robert (Jughead) Sturdevant of SS-20, will be talking up his new Aurore Press release ” A Pardon’s Prism”  at the Mount Washington Creamy Whip and Bakery at 2069 Beechmont Avenue in Cincinnati. This limited release chapter book discusses the history of presidential pardons. The event will be Saturday, December 27 at 8 PM.

It is great to have old friends that we can see from time to time and keep in touch with over the years.

It is also great to be the leading political blogger in all Texas and to be America’s most beloved published author. What will really be great is if someday I can make my first dollar off of these distinctions. If you’d like to send me that dollar please leave a comment here and I’ll get back to you.

Aurore Press To Release Jockey Club Book—Old Punk Rockers To Have Reunion Concert

 

Cincinnati’s Aurore Press will soon be releasing Stories For Shorty: A Collection Of Recollections From The Jockey Club 1982-1988. 

If you were lucky, you spent some time at Newport, Kentucky’s Jockey Club in the years mentioned above. 

The picture above from inside the Jockey Club above captures the essence of the place well.

Stories From Shorty will feature remembrances from Jockey Club patrons and performers. I think the book will be the publishing sensation of the fall.

Also, a Jockey Club reunion concert will be held Saturday night November 22 at Newport’s Southgate House. The doors open at 8. November 22 is the day of the release of the Jockey Club book.

Local giants such as The Thangs, SS-20, The Reduced and BPA will be just part of the musical lineup for the reunion show.  

Stories For Shorty will be released earlier in the day on November 22 at Shake It Records in Cincinnati. This event will take place at 5 PM at Shake It.      

I’m glad to report that I’ll be at the Southgate House for the show. I hope to see you there.

( Please click here for my greatest punk rock moments.)

Book Being Written On World’s Finest Punk Rock Club—The Jockey Club

I got an e-mail a few days ago with news of a book being written about The Jockey Club. This was a punk rock club in Newport, Kentucky that operated from 1982 until 1988.

It was a lot of fun.

I hope you have a place you recall fondly from a well-spent youth of hanging around with your friends.

The Jockey Club book is being compiled by Aurore Press of Cincinnati. Newport, Kentucky is just across the river from Cincinnati.   

I will write something for the book. Hopefully whatever I submit will be included.

In those days I was the Hockeypunk. I was known in punk rock circles from Dayton to Louisville and a few places in-between.

20 years later I’m Texas Liberal.

It’s all the same act.

Please click here for the time Johnny Rotten spoke to me and my other greatest punk rock moments.

1980’s Austin Punk Rockers “The Dicks”

A great 1980’s hardcore band was The Dicks from Austin, Texas. I saw them at least once, and I think twice, at the Jockey Club in Newport, Kentucky. 

In 1983, they played on a bill with Fang at the Jockey Club. What a lineup!

The Dicks album I have is “Kill from the Heart.” I have the vinyl album and someday I’ll play it again.

I can still hum “Rich Daddy” and “No Nazi’s Friend.”  

The Dicks were politically to the left. I liked that at 17 and I like it today.

And they put on a great show. 

The picture above is from 2005.

In the show I saw, the singer was wearing a dress.

Punks grow older like everybody else.

I’m proof of that fact. 

I’m glad The Dicks are stiil around in one form or another.

Please click here for my greatest punk rock moments.

I’ll be hosting a giant punk rock blast in Cincinnati on August 15, 2009.