I Took the Picture

It’s always exciting to see notices from Substack telling me I have new subscribers and followers. If you paused to read the welcome message, yes, it is true, this place rants, raves, and remembers a past you may have been part of or wished you could have lived through. I wasn't just a witness, I was a PARTICIPANT and INSTIGATOR with pictures to prove it!

I use Substack as a discipline, as I am putting together my memoir, which is a cross between a photo book and Andy Warhol’s Diaries. Because people subscribe, and some pay, I feel an obligation to regularly deliver something worth the time.

There are origin stories and all the stories behind the photos, including sometimes how much it cost to fill the gas tank (in 1977!) or how much a meal or plane ticket or concert ticket was.

As late as 1980, you only had to pay $5.50 to see Stiv Bators and the Latter Day Dead Boys. Jimmy Zero and Johnny Blitz were in this lineup, but Frank Secich, Stiv’s childhood friend, and founding member of Blue Ash (Northeastern Ohio power pop legends!), Frank Secich had taken over the bass duties as Jeff Magnum had left the band. George Cabaniss of Akron’s Hammer Damage was recruited to play lead guitar, as Cheetah Chrome had also left. The summer before, Stiv and Frank had recorded some power pop singles with Greg Shaw, who released them on his Bomp! label. Those singles were the harbinger of Stiv’s solo album, DISCONNECTED, which was recorded in the Summer of 1980, for by that time, The Dead Boys as we knew them called it quits. David Quinton Steinberg, the teenager from Toronto, and drummer for The Mods stepped in when Blitz left, and a power pop unit was born. Jimmy Zero stuck around for some tracks on that album, but he, too, went his own way.

One of the posts I created a year and a half ago explained how “back in the day,” you could buy tickets by mail order (and sometimes only by mail order). Here’s that read, where you can see from the advertisement for The Who’s 1976 stadium tour, the tickets were $10 !

Monopoly Money

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March 5, 2025

A full page ad in the Los Angeles Times Calendar section dated February 15, 1976 announced the upcoming March 21, 1976 concert by THE WHO.

So, my memoir is also an inadvertent contemporary history class. I’m old and I saw all the good bands (and didn’t have to pay a ransom for a ticket). It’s full of pictures, because I am a photographer.

If you are a paid subscriber, I want to remind you that one of the perqs you enjoy is a discount on the photos and merch I sell ! When I post a commerce-related story, the paid subscriber links will be below the paywall barrier. Otherwise, I will remind you to send me a message for your link to the discounted PayPal shopping cart.

Just this past weekend, I started using Zenfolio as a platform for people to order PRINTS ON DEMAND, which ship directly from a print vendor.

I have two galleries up there right now, and I am adding more images every day.

Punk Rock’s Greatest Hits (although I haven’t put that many Ramones shots up yet)

Rock and Roll (where else are you going to place Tom Petty?)

I still offer direct service on Fine Art Prints, photo books, and posters.

When you go to directly to my feed using punkturns30again.substack.com, you will see this header:

The drop-down menu under Buy Photos Here will take you to the various places where you can in fact Buy Photos.

In addition to the origin stories of the photos, I do in fact rant and rave about music and culture, two of the most subjective topics on which EVERYONE is correct in their conclusions about any given topic <sarcasm font>.

Recently, The Cramps announced new releases of old recordings that have been sonically cleaned up by Ian McKaye and Henry Rollins. They are featured in just about every magazine and newspaper right now, and one of my pictures, a signature piece of my work, is on the cover of England’s SHINDIG! this month.

I am also scanning every frame I’ve ever snapped of The Cramps because of this.

I made a nifty solarized photo from that photo session that I am selling and fulfilling on my own → here ← The technique is an homage to one of my favorite photographers, Lee Miller, and to Surrealism. Miller was an apprentice to, and consort of Man Ray, and a distinguished artist in her own right. It was Miller who pioneered this technique while she was working in Man Ray’s darkroom.

I have written about Lee Miller and other women artists here.

Welcome to Punk Turns 30 Again. I certainly am glad you are here!