Sunday, June 11, 2023

Hanging out at The Punk Rock Museum with an Avenger, a Germ and more


Penelope Houston with a photo of herself. (Andy photo)



By Andy

A few weeks ago, I had a flashback moment to when I first heard the jagged punk riff and searing vocals of the Avengers' formidable classic "The Amerikan in Me" on the Rodney on the Roq radio show in SoCal some 40-plus years ago.

That's because on a recent visit to The Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas, there was singer Penelope Houston strolling through the massive display of artifacts, fliers, photos, instruments and more at the two-story, 12,000-square-foot building two days after her club gig at the Punk Rock Bowling Music Festival.

After passing by a late-1970s photo of Houston by Jenny Lens adorning a nearby wall, I asked Houston if she would pose for a modern-day picture in front of the back-in-the-day one. She agreed, and there you have the lead photo in this entry.

During our three-hour stay at the museum and in the adjacent Triple Down bar, our crew tagged along with Fishbone's Angelo Moore on a guided tour, absorbed a few punk stories from Agnostic Front's Roger Miret and CJ Ramone on their tours and checked out a mini-acoustic set by Me First and Gimme Gimmes' Spike Slawson playing some yacht rock. 

While taking a break outside on the patio, I discussed glam rock with the Germs' Don Bolles, and later I strummed guitars in the jam room that belonged to Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise and Chett Lehrer of Wasted Youth. Funny thing, I used to hammer out a few riffs on one of Dragge's axes after watching his old band Con 800 practice in Manhattan Beach, CA, in the days of my youth. Another full-circle moment. 

In the bar, Cat imbibed a drink named the Fletcher, which features rum and coke poured into a Pringle’s can with those very chips on the side. She's still waiting for him to repair her Love and Rockets cassette that he ruined one night after a Pennywise gig in Hermosa in the band's early days.

Bonus points for me spotting a flier of my old band Sorex for a gig that was unfortunately cancelled.

And... I even answered a Minor Threat question when two fellows were checking out a photo. Not bad.

So, here's some photos mainly taken by me during our visit to the museum, including one of me manning Dragge's guitar by McHank, a colossal Bad Brains photo originally taken by Naomi Petersen and snapped recently by Lisa Johnson, a Moore tour group image courtesy of Kevin Legnon and Alison Braun with her GBH photo. Special thanks to Braun, a member of the museum collective, for getting us on the guest list for our visit. 

https://www.thepunkrockmuseum.com/




Bad Brains and DC display.





David Arnoff photo of the Damned's Dave Vanian.





Angelo Moore tour.





Sham 69






Alison Braun and GBH.





Me on guitar.





NYC stuff.





Canadian punk kicks ass.





Crass for Cat.






Scream lyrics.





I spy Sorex.





Zero Boys rule.





Yay, Chixdiggit!


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