The degree of cool in this post from Open Culture is so beyond cool . . . . If you lived through the punk era or just like the ethos and the music, these short documentaries are awesome. By the way, that's Joe Strummer of The Clash in the image above.

The Art of Punk, MOCA’s Series of Punk Documentaries, Begins with Black Flag

June 18th, 2013

First you set out to smash all institutions, but then you find the institutions have enshrined you. Isn’t that always the way? It certainly seems to have turned out that way for punk rock, in any case, which vowed in the seventies to tear it all up and start over again. Now, in the 2010s, we find tribute paid to not just the music but the aesthetics, lifestyles, and personalities of the punk movement by two separate, and separately well-respected, institutions. We recently featured the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Punk: Chaos to Couture. Today, you can start watching The Art of Punk, a series of documentaries from MOCAtv, the video channel of Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art. Its trailer, which appears at the top of the post, emphasizes its focus on, literally, the visual art of punk: its posters, its album art, its T-shirts, and even — un-punk as this may sound — its logos.

The series opens with the episode just above on Black Flag and Raymond Pettibon, designer of the band’s well-known four-bar icon. It catches up with not just him, but founding singer Keith Morris and bassist Chuck Dukowski, as well as Flea from the Red Hot Chili peppers, who grew up a fan of the greater Los Angeles punk scene from which Black Flag emerged. The episode concludes, needless to say, with Henry Rollins, who, though not an original member of the band and now primarily a spoken word performer, has come to embody their punk ethos in his own highly distinctive way. In the latest episode, just out today, The Art of Punk series takes you inside the world of Crass, the English punk band formed in 1977.

Related Content:

• Punk Meets High Fashion in Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition PUNK: Chaos to Couture

• Henry Rollins Remembers the Life-Changing Decision That Brought Him From Häagen-Dazs to Black Flag

• Malcolm McLaren: The Quest for Authentic Creativity

• The History of Punk Rock

~ Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture and writes essays on literature, film, cities, Asia, and aesthetics. He’s at work on a book about Los Angeles, A Los Angeles Primer. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall.

Via Rolling Stone, The Meat Puppets have a new "real blown-out folk" music album. A short blurb below is followed by a track by track listening opportunity. The album, Rat Farm, was officially released April 16 (yesterday) - it is reviewed at Consequence of Sound.

The Meat Puppets Create 'Real Blown-Out Folk Music' on 'Rat Farm' - Album Premiere

Arizona punks are set to release their 14th LP

By Jon Blistein
April 14, 2013

Arizona punk luminaries the Meat Puppets have been making music for 33 years, and on April 16th they'll release Rat Farm, their 14th LP via Megaforce, which you can now listen to in full here. Frontman Curt Kirkwood described the record as "real blown-out folk music," and it's easy to hear what he means. On tracks like "Sometimes Blue" and "Waiting," both of which amble forward with ramshackle melodies and the lithe, dry simmer of Kirkwood's vocals, while the sun-drenched "You Don't Know" is laced with the crackle of electric guitars. Throughout the album, the band shows their knack for melding styles and sounds to fit their liking, like on the opening title-track, which flips between a dub-y verse and wide open, alt-rock chorus, and the delightful "Time and Money," which sounds like a lost Allman Brothers rambler channeled through a Superfuzz pedal.

Documentary: Punk’s Not Dead

This cool documentary, Punk's Not Dead, follows the evolution of punk music from its roots to its acceptance into popular culture with The Adicts, Bad Religion, Black Flag, The Damned, Green Day, Minor Threat, NOFX, The Ramones, Rancid, Social Distortion, and many more.

Punk’s Not Dead



Punk’s Not Dead is more than just a tribute documentary. It takes you on an era-by-era journey that puts punk rock’s non-conformist reputation under the knife.

Officially sanctioned by the bands in the film who donated personal photos, fliers and home videos, Punk’s Not Dead follows the evolution of punk music from its anarchic roots, to its use as a corporate marketing tool and acceptance into popular culture, to its reinvention in today’s underground scene.

It is self-financed, independent documentary true to the D.I.Y. spirit of punk culture and combines intelligent, insightful commentary with live performances, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and a killer soundtrack.

Punk’s Not Dead takes you into the sweaty underground clubs, backyard parties, recording studios, and yes, shopping malls and stadium shows where punk rock music and culture continue to thrive.

Watch the full documentary now - 97 min

The First Live Performance of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)

As a Nirvana fan, it's really cool to see the first live performance of one of their classic songs, nearly two years before the song would propel their major label debut album to #1 on the music charts, knocking Michael Jackson from that spot.

Here is an MTV article on the 20th Anniversary of the song's debut on that network.

As a non-Nirvana fan, this probably sounds like noise.

The First Live Performance of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991)

December 26th, 2012


It’s over 20 years ago now that Nirvana’s video for “Smells like Teen Spirit” debuted on MTV’s 120 Minutes and, for better or worse, inaugurated the grunge era. The video arrived as a shock and a thrill to a generation too young to remember punk and sick of the steady stream of cheesy corporate dance music and hair metal that characterized the late-80s. For everyone outside the small Seattle scene that nurtured them and the tape-trading kids in the know, the band seemed to arrive out of nowhere as a total angst-ridden package, and the MTV video, by first-time director Samuel Bayer, seemed bracingly anarchic and raw at the time.

But a look at the first live performance of “Teen Spirit” (above) makes it seem pretty tame by comparison. The video’s a little grainy and low-res, which suits the song just fine. Live, “Teen Spirit’s” disturbing undertones are more pronounced, its quiet-loud dynamics more forceful, and the energy of the crowd is real, not the thrashing around of a bunch of teenage extras. Not a cheerleader in sight, but I think this would have grabbed me more than the pep rally-riot-themed MTV video did when it debuted a few months later. Despite their anti-corporate stance, Nirvana was a casualty of their own success, eaten up by the machinery they despised. Their best moments are still the unscripted and unpredictable. For contrast, zip back to 1991 and watch the MTV video below. Also don’t miss Nirvana’s Home Videos: An Intimate Look at the Band’s Life Away From the Spotlight (1988).


~ Josh Jones is a writer and scholar currently completing a dissertation on landscape, literature, and labor. This video makes him feel old.

Secular Buddhist Episode 138 - Brad Warner: Hardcore Zen Strikes Again

This week's episode of the Secular Buddhist Podcast features Ted Meissner (your host) in conversation with Brad Warner, one of the most controversial and popular young Buddhist teachers in America. Warner began life as a musician in bands such as Zero Defex, Dementia 13 (I loved the punk psychedelics of Mirror Mind and Disturb the Air, on vinyl no less), and others, and as an aficionado of B-grade horror film monsters (especially those from Japan).

Here is a little history of his training in Zen, from Wikipedia (edited and condensed):

He began practicing Zen Buddhism under his first teacher, Tim McCarthy. Warner later studied with Gyomay Kubose. When music failed to earn him a living, he moved to Japan. While in Japan he met and trained with Gudo Wafu Nishijima, who ordained him as a priest. In 2007, Gudo Wafu Nishijima named Warner the leader of Dogen Sangha International which Nishijima had founded. Warner dissolved the organization in April 2012.

Warner is an interesting guy - and while his background and context is very DIY, his Zen teachers, to me, have seemed very traditional and faithful to the structure in which he was taught.

This is an interesting conversation for those reasons and many others.

Episode 138 :: Brad Warner :: Hardcore Zen Strikes Again

Hosted by Ted Meissner | October 13, 2012

Brad Warner

Zen teacher Brad Warner speaks with us about his new book, Hardcore Zen Strikes Again.

Zen stories are filled with teachers doing odd things. Their behaviors, their words, can often rub people the wrong way as the softness of social constraint gives way to pointing out the realities we often lose sight of, and the profound nature of our practice. By their very example, these teachers have historically called us out in our lack of questioning the urgent need for looking at life differently, and changing it.

Fast forward in time and to the left geographically, to modern day America. How might the words of some contemporary Zen teachers have that same impact on our social attitudes? It can be said that it challenges us to rethink what we’re really responding to, and what that can tell us about our priorities. Interestingly enough, punk does the same thing, so to find the radical hardness of punk in alignment with a coarse zen teaching shouldn’t be very surprising.

Our guest today is Brad Warner, Zen monk, writer, bass player, and film-maker. He wrote the books Hardcore Zen, Sit Down And Shut Up, Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate, and Sex, Sin, and Zen. He received Dharma Transmission from Gudo Nishijima Roshi, who received his transmission from Rempo Niwa Roshi who, at the time was the head of the Soto Sect in Japan. Brad was also a student of Tim McCarthy, who was a student of Kobun Chino Roshi.

So, sit back, relax, and have a nice Oyama cold sake.

Podcast: Download

 

Books

 

Web Links

• Hardcore Zen Site
• Episode 45 :: Brad Warner :: Sex, Sin, and Zen
• It Gets Better Videos
• Fans and Haters Can Now Send in Video Responses to be in Brad Warner Documentary 

 

Music for This Episode Courtesy of Rodrigo Rodriguez

The music heard in the middle of the podcast is from Rodrigo Rodriguez. The track used in this episode is “Shikantaza” from his CD, Shakuhachi Meditations.

Big Think - Back to School with Punkle Henry (Rollins)

Henry Rollins has become a regular feature on Big Think, and that is a very good thing. In this post, Rollins suggests that kids today might want to consider developing a set of moral beliefs, some personal ethics for how they want to live their lives. 

That may sound funny coming from the Icon of Punk, but Rollins has always been sure of his ethics and forceful in sharing his ethics, either through music, or spoken word, and books, or on the radio. With all the rage he had as a young man, had he not had some ethical foundation in his life, he may easily be another dead rock star.

Back to School with Punkle Henry (Rollins)

Jonathan Fowler and Elizabeth Rodd on September 17, 2012

Henry Rollins says he thinks he's starting to sound like "a cranky old man." His advise to young people today is to develop "a moral and civic backbone, to have a moral and civic true north." That means young people need to develop a heroic altruism, or, to put it another way, "almost Boy Scout-like." These might be qualities that young people might want to rebel against, which is ironic considering that Rollins himself is the ultimate rebellious role model. 

And yet, Rollins is remarkably consistent in his rebelliousness. He says rebellion should not involve chest-beating or flag-waving but merely upholding a sense of decency, which is itself a rebellion against all of those who would put you down. 

Watch the video here:



Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Documentary - Joy Division

Joy Division, whose singer and songwriter, Ian Curtis, suicided before they ever played a gig in the U.S., was one of the most influential punk/post-punk bands of the late 1970s. Like many talented people who die young, Curtis has become a cult icon. Joy Division influenced bands like The Cure and U2, who were contemporaries, as well Bauhaus and other "goth" bands, and even the post-punk revival bands Interpol, Bloc Party, and Editors. 

As a young, disaffected punk kid, the sense of doom and bleakness in their music spoke to the suburban angst I felt. Something about their music feels claustrophobic to me - my peers, who were less miserable apparently, described it as "music to slit your wrists to." There's a "dark night of the soul" feel to their lyrics and music, maybe owing to Curtis' depression.

Joy Division

Great documentary on the revolutionary British punk group Joy Division, and about lead singer Ian Curtis, whom committed suicide before the peak of their popularity. Joy Division later went on to become the popular new wave group New Order.

Here is a recording of a live show, including the sound check songs. No video, but it's a good clean recording.





Set List:

Soundcheck:
01. Heart And Soul 0:00
02. Incubation 5:10
03. Komakino 8:23
04. Isolation (Instrumental) 12:53
05. Isolation 15:37

Gig:
06. Incubation 18:38
07. Wilderness 22:12
08. Twenty Four Hours 25:15
09. The Eternal 29:50
10. Heart And Soul 36:21
11. Love Will Tear Us Apart 41:17
12. Isolation 44:34
13. Komakino 47:57
14. She's Lost Control 52:24
15. These Days 57:44
16. Atrocity Exhibition 1:01:55