Thursday, July 7, 2011

Punk and Poverty: One Helluva Week

I am really hot and tired. I am also really really poor. My phone got disconnected because I couldn't afford my bill. I can't drive my car because I can't afford car insurance. I keep getting "alert" e-mails from my bank because my credit card payment is way past due and I'm maxed out to the max. I have about $25 to my name.

But all of this is inspiration for me, because, in the midst of everything I am curating an art show called "Suburban Nightmare: Punk in OC" where I try to tell the story, through art, music, and words, of the punk scene in OC from the early days of The Adolescents, Social Distortion, etc to the present day with Burger Records and all the awesome bands that are coming up right now.

As a gallery owner, I have curated my fair share of art shows, but I have never worked harder or more passionately than I have on this one. I have spent the past couple weeks researching punk bands, venues, records, artists, and trying to tell the story as honestly as I can.

I have some amazing artists in this show: Edward Colver, the iconic punk photographer, Rikk Agnew who was in Adolescents, Social Distortion, and D.I., William Zdan--OC's gothic geniius, Mike Atta of arguably the first hardcore band in California--The Middle Class, the dudes from Burger Records, Russ Pope, and many more.

The opening is tomorrow and I am waiting for Tracey to pick me up because I have to hang the whole show tonight. I am anxious, tired, poor, and really hot. But I am true of heart. I think this is gonna be something special.

Here is the facebook page for the show @ The Artery tomorrow: Suburban Nightmare: Punk in OC