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.

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.)