Ready to stage dive into The Punk Rock Museum

The Punk Rock Museum intro fanzine featuring Milo of the Descendents in 1983. Photo by Kevin Salk

By Andy 

While we were raging the night away by wedging our way up front at raucous, sweat-soaked and mind-blowing gigs beginning some four decades ago, it never crossed our minds that these unhinged, tempestuous activities transpiring in front of us would be remembered copious years into the future. 

We were often ridiculed and given the stink eye nearly everywhere we roamed back then for walking the jagged punk rock path. We loved it and didn't give a shit what anyone thought.

We'd hop into cars and drive to the Whisky, Florentine Gardens or the Palladium in Hollywood. There was Godzilla's in the armpit of the San Fernando Valley. Dancing Waters was the spot for your punk pleasure in San Pedro. The Barn at Alpine Village in Torrance hosted some of the best shows of that era, notably a Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, MDC, Zero Boys and Detonators stunner.

Sometimes, things got gnarly like when the owners at Bob's Place in Watts made us all stay inside because some locals were looking for punk blood outside after a Misfits, Necros, Social Distortion, SVDB gig. 

We straddled the line between euphoria and danger on some nights. It was our time — and we made the most of it.

But clearly, and thankfully, a multitude of punks wouldn't let it die, and here we are in 2021 talking about The Punk Rock Museum, which is slated to open next year in Las Vegas. According to an old-school fanzine-type-thing I just received in the (actual) mail, the museum will be located at 1422 Western Ave. and will contain punk artifacts and paraphernalia from all over the globe, including Darby Crash's record collection, and heaps of other punks' photos, flyers, fashion, set lists, instruments and more. It's a fucking gold mine!

Hell, you can get married at the museum, and afterwards you can play Fletcher Dragge's guitar or Fat Mike's bass through their own amps that blasted out Pennywise and NOFX tuneage. Want a tattoo? The museum's your spot. They'll probably even allow stage diving and some creepy crawling in the pit.

Speaking of Fat Mike (Burkett), he's the founder, and Dragge is one of the operators. Now, there's no way those guys saw this coming 40 years ago, right? I used to attend gigs with Dragge back in the day, and all we were concerned about was guzzling some beers before TSOL or the Stains tore it up and left us in tatters. Speaking of getting in on the action and fully embracing the moment (seen in the top photo), check out my pal John singing away with Milo during a stellar Descendents set at Mi Casita in Torrance in 1983.

Also on board the museum's team are Lisa Brownlee (general manager and lead curation supervisor), Melanie Coffee (museum director), Alison Braun and Lisa Johnson (both punk photo historians and photo curators), Colin Robert Smith (CEO) and many more.

For more information, visit www.thepunkrockmuseum.com.