Dionysus Records - Dionysus Records, Bacchus Archives, Garage, Surf, Exotica, Punk, Rockabilly vinyl and CD mail-order and art / event blog
  • Home
  • Store
  • Events
  • Artists
  • About
    • About
  • DJ Lee
    • DJ Lee Joseph
    • Desert Soul Club
    • Over Under Sideways Down
  • Videos
  • License Our Music
  • Contact
Home
Store
Events
Artists
About
    About
DJ Lee
    DJ Lee Joseph
    Desert Soul Club
    Over Under Sideways Down
Videos
License Our Music
Contact
  • Home
  • Store
  • Events
  • Artists
  • About
    • About
  • DJ Lee
    • DJ Lee Joseph
    • Desert Soul Club
    • Over Under Sideways Down
  • Videos
  • License Our Music
  • Contact
Dionysus Records - Dionysus Records, Bacchus Archives, Garage, Surf, Exotica, Punk, Rockabilly vinyl and CD mail-order and art / event blog
'77 Punk Legends, Book reading, Contest, Events, Free Event, Hollywood, La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles area events, Los Feliz, Stuff We Like

9/10: Mick Farren’s “Speed-Speed-Speedfreak” book release party at La Luz de Jesus

“Speed – Speed – Speedfreak: A Fast History of Amphetamine” by Mick Farren
Book release, reading, signing and story contest


Friday September 10,  6 pm – 9 pm
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
(Wacko / Soap Plant)
4633 Hollywood Blvd.,
Los Angeles CA 90027
323-666-7667
www.laluzdejesus.com
www.soapplant.com


Elvis Presley, the Hell’s Angels, Hunter S. Thompson, Truman Capote, the Beatles, Judy Garland, Hank Williams, the Manson Family, Jack Kerouac, Johnny Cash, JFK, and Adolf Hitler. All of the above were, at one time or another, to put it bluntly, speedfreaks. Speed – Speed – Speedfreak: A Fast History of Amphetamine” traces the criminal and cultural use of amphetamine and its growing use through each new and destructive cycle. The book will be printed in rounded pill capsule form, like the vaunted “black beauty” of pharmaceutical history


Photo by Wendy Phillips

Author Mick Farren is a pillar of the counterculture and one of the last Bohemians standing. He is the author of close to forty books both fiction and otherwise and has released some 20 albums. His lyrics have been performed by Hawkwind, Motorhead, Metallica, Brother Wayne Kramer and others. The exhaustive research on “Speed – Speed – Speedfreak: A Fast History of Amphetamine” was helped by his own youthful taste for what was laughingly called the devil’s dandruff. For the reading part of the fun, he will be accompanied by master guitarist Andy Colquhoun.

Attendees are encouraged to come up to the microphone and share their favorite stories and tales involving amphetamines: real, imagined, personal, anecdotal, second-hand, historical, nightmarish and/or cautionary. While no one involved in this event advocates the use of narcotics, we recognize their pervasiveness–at a time when an estimated 40% of Montana’s youth is on speed, for instance, it is blatantly apparent that a great number of adults have either taken speed or know someone who has. Prizes will be awarded for the most popular stories told!

“Speed – Speed – Speedfreak: A Fast History of Amphetamine” by Mick Farren – Die cut paperback, 175 pages 8.4 x 4.3 x 0.4 inches, published by Feral House, www.feralhouse.com, English, ISBN 13: 978-1932595826



September 5, 2010by Dionysus Records
'77 Punk Legends, Book reading, Dionysus Records, East Hollywood, Events, Free Event, Hollywood, La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles area events, Los Feliz, News, Silver Lake, Stuff We Like

Feb 20: I Slept With Joey Ramone book event at La Luz in Hollywood

“I Slept With Joey Ramone” book reading and signing
Featuring Mickey Leigh, Alan Arkush, P.J. Soles, Howie Pyro and other surprise guests


Saturday, February 20, 2010, 6 – 9 pm

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-666-7667 Fax: 323-663-0243
www.laluzdejesus.com


I SLEPT WITH
JOEY RAMONE
A Family Memoir
by Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil


“While the Ramones remained an underground band, they are regarded today as a huge influence on the entire punk rock movement. Joey’s brother, Mickey Leigh . . .  recreates that electric era, striking all the right chords in this dynamic biography. With skillful writing, he finds Joey’s musical roots in their dysfunctional family life . . . Leigh’s and Legs’s mashup of memories with solid research makes for revelatory reading in this compelling portrait of a musical misfit who evolved into a countercultural icon.”  —Publishers Weekly

“Joey Ramone is feted with tough love in these cradle-to-grave memories
from his kid brother Mickey Leigh.”  —Kirkus Reviews

“Funny, sad, shocking, surprising, and best of all, brutally honest.” —John Holmstrom, cofounder of Punk magazine


“Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Rockaway Beach,” “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.” With humor spiked lyrics, a shockingly unique delivery, and backed by the fast, frenetic music of his band, Joey Ramone gave voice to the disaffected youth of the seventies and eighties while defining punk rock in America.  I SLEPT WITH JOEY RAMONE: A Family Memoir (Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster; December 1, 2009; Hardcover/$26; 978-0-7432-5216-4) is the story of the turbulent life of one of America’s greatest rock icons, revealed for the first time by Joey Ramone’s brother, Mickey Leigh, with “Resident Punk” Legs McNeil.

Mickey tells his fascinating, though sometimes troubling, tale of growing up with a rock star with honesty, humor, and grace.  Before Joey Ramone’s signature sunglasses, face obscured by a mop of hair, and towering height became the personification of punk’s early image, he was simply Jeffry Hyman, born on May 19, 1951 in Forest Hills, New York.  Rock ‘n’ roll gave the lanky, awkward teen a sanity-saving outlet for his anti-social behaviors—which included the crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that plagued him throughout his life.

In 1974 Jeff co-founded the Ramones with friends John Cummings and Douglas Colvin.  “Joey,” “Johnny,” “Tommy” and “Dee Dee Ramone” were soon regulars at CBGB’s, honing the brief, rapid-fire concert style that would soon become the stuff of legend.  The Ramones’ 1976 debut album, replete with hooky, three-chord songwriting, cheerfully dumb humor, and boundless energy, heralded the true birth of punk rock and created the blueprint that countless bands would follow to the top of the charts.

Despite their enormous musical and cultural influence, a career spanning two decades, and a handful of undisputedly classic albums, the uppermost levels of fame were always just out of reach for the Ramones.  The infighting, romantic betrayals, and addictions that tormented the band also strained personal relationships along the way.  As these pressures peaked, Mickey saw them take their toll on the kind, caring boy he once shared his bedroom with in Queens, who began to periodically display an uncharacteristically malicious persona. After forty years of extreme closeness, the two brothers engaged in a conflict that had them pushing and pulling at each other throughout much of the 1990’s, though, in the end it was Mickey who was again closest with his brother during Joey’s battle with lymphatic cancer that ultimately ended his life in 2001.

To ensure the story was balanced, complete, and told fairly, Mickey and Legs interviewed dozens of family, friends, colleagues, and industry professionals who were there as Joey’s life unfolded.  Both a tribute to the rise of punk in America and an intimate look at a journey filled with music and challenges, I SLEPT WITH JOEY RAMONE is an enduring portrait of a man who struggled to find his voice and of the brother who loved him.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS


MICKEY LEIGH has been an influential player in the rock & roll world since the late seventies.  After forming Birdland with Lester Bangs in 1977 he became the lead singer/guitarist/songwriter for the Rattlers and Stop and was a contributor to the music of the Ramones.  He has written the monthly column My Guitar is Pregnant for the Lower East Side-based newspaper the New York Waste since 1996; created and published the Coney Island High Times, a monthly magazine for famed rock club Coney Island High; and written reviews for magazines including Audio Review and Time Out New York.  This is his first book.  He lives in New York City.


LEGS MCNEIL is the coauthor of Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, a book widely hailed as the definitive work on the subject.  The cofounder of the seminal magazine that gave punk its name, he is a former editor at Spin and editor in chief of Nerve.  He divides his time between New York City and his home in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania.

Los Angeles Times review: http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-book28-2010jan28,0,3973540.story

I SLEPT WITH JOEY RAMONE: A Family Memoir
By Mickey Leigh with Legs McNeil
Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
On-sale December 1, 2009
$26.00 / hardcover
ISBN 978-0-7432-5216-4

February 11, 2010by Dionysus Records
'77 Punk Legends, Art, East Hollywood, Events, Free Event, Hollywood, La Luz de Jesus, Los Angeles area events, Los Feliz, News, Stuff We Like

Feb 19: Ruby Ray “First Wave Punk Photography” at La Luz

Ruby Ray
“First Wave Punk Photography“

February 19 – 28, 2010
Reception for the artist: Friday, February 19, 2010, 8pm – 11pm


La Luz de Jesus Gallery

4633 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-666-7667 Fax: 323-663-0243
www.laluzdejesus.com

Friends, collectors, and strangers know Ruby Ray’s work –even when they don’t. Ruby Ray’s iconic portrait of Beat author / Punk Avatar William S. Burroughs’ vibing, serene, Interzone menace can be seen on MySpace.  Her photo of late punk rock legend Darby Crash is the cover of Darby biography Lexicon Devil. Other photos appear in magazines, on book covers, album covers, posters. Her punk rock photography pops up uncredited on fansites and music history websites. Ruby Rays’s esoteric studies and close collaboration with musicians and artists helped spawn a current that became trance music.

Photographer, artist, and journalist Ruby Ray entered the shock wave that was the punk rock underground in 1977. Ruby became a member of seminal San Francisco punk culture magazine, Search & Destroy, documenting and fostering the emergent scene.  When Ruby criss-crossed continents on a trip to London and Egypt, S&D’s in-your-face music and culture inflammation went global. Ruby ran London-based Rough Trade Records’ San Francisco store, and sheltered their traveling bands from England.  In 1980, she co-founded with v.vale the more deeply focused alter-culture publication RE/Search magazine. During this first San Francisco era, the RE/Search studio on Romolo Street in San Francisco’s North Beach became an international locus of cross-pollination, one of those places where artists feel the freedom and compulsion to redefine themselves and their genres.

An early multi-media artist, Ruby found inspiration in haunted post-industrial cityscapes, insect wings, and the golden thread of the mystic. Investigations compelled her to lie in the sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh…read widely…decipher hieroglyphs…work with a Gurdjieff group.  Meeting up with industrial music mavens Factrix, she added live, multi-image projections to the influential industrial band’s performances. In the first exhibition of her original anti-art, Nart, shown in 1980 at San Francisco’s Target Video, Ruby would project new work in a new medium: stereo slides. That same summer she helped create the flaming “debutante ball” summer solstice celebration, held under a freeway near the railroad tracks, and shut down by police.

In the early 80’s, Ruby Ray migrated again, becoming part of the next international art explosion –New York City’s East Village. In the East Village, she exhibited photographs and continued experiments with live, multimedia projections of her growing body of work. Joining with musical collaborators to create the group Saqqara Dogs, Ruby’s lightshows mixed her multi-image photography with collaged found materials. Investigating how altered states are evoked with colors, symbols, and sonic instigators, the Saqqara Dogs performance introduced a novel music and visual experience fans claimed generated powerful synesthesia. Saqqara Dogs combined psychedelia with Middle Eastern rhythms to produce a new music event which later morphed into rave culture.  While SDs’ hallucinogenic music and visual onslaught was presented in dives and museums across the U.S., the band gained a notorious fan. In 1987, Andy Warhol featured an interview and performance of the group on his New York-based TV series, Andy Warhol’s 15 Minutes.

After the birth of her son in 1988, Ruby took sabbatical for subtle energy and consciousness studies, learning the healing arts.  She returned to photography with a trip to the Indian ruins of New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, and had her first solo exhibit in 2004.

For those who lived through it, for musicians and musicologists, culture critics, anthropologists and anyone who takes their inspiration with a non-sterile, extra-pointy edge, Ruby Ray is completing her photographic memoir of First Wave punk rock in California. The collection of 250 images reveals the raw, amazing California punk scene, 1977-1981. And now, new large digital photo works and a visual blog, Songs of Nart, are in progress. Ruby Ray sustains her original-issue profile:  high-functioning cultural enzyme who shows us how to keep surprising ourselves with non-virtual living.  She continues her search for mind altering images.

-Debra Xit 2008


February 11, 2010by Dionysus Records
'77 Punk Legends, Art, Events, Free Event, Los Angeles area events, Santa Monica, Stuff We Like

2/6: Desensitized and Link closing party w/ The BillyBones at Copro Gallery

Dan Quintana, Brian Viveros “Desensitized” and Bad Otis Link “You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead” Closing Party with live music from The BillyBones. New art prints available.


Saturday, February 6, 2010, 6 – 10 pm
FREE!

CoproGallery
Bergamot Station
2525 Michigan Ave. T5
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-829-2156
www.copronason.com



Dan Quintana, Brian Viveros’s “Desensitized‘ & Bad Otis Link’s “You’ll be Sorry When I’m Dead“ exhibitions end next Saturday, February 6 with a closing party from 6:00 – 10:00 PM, featuring live music from the The BillyBones and more of the same excitement from the “Desensitized” opening reception. Come have one last look at this great art exhibition and all the films that were shown on opening night. All the giclee prints and the “Desensitized” poster will also be available. For those that can’t make it, the gallery now has the prints available online while they last and some great photos from the opening: www.copronason.com


The BillyBones at The Masque reunion, courtesy of the Artifax Records website

The BillyBones is a punk rock band from Los Angeles, California and features Steven Williams “Billy Bones” Fortuna, formerly of The Skulls, guitarist Alex Mack, bassist Drew Milford, and drummer Alex Gomez, formerly of U.S. Bombs, The Mau Maus, The Livingstons.) The BillyBones will be premiering new material from the upcoming “The Complexity of Stupidity” album produced by Steve Fishman (Deadbeats, Bent, The Stranglers) along with Skulls favorites.

Bad Otis Link has collaborated with Billy Bones on several projects. He directed the “Night of the Living Skulls” and The Skulls “On Target” video, and Billy acted in his award-winning film “The Sugar on Top.” Link also plays sax on the new The BillyBones record.  www.myspace.com/thebillybones

Bad Otis Link “The Hunter“

February 3, 2010by Dionysus Records
Page 3 of 3«123

Follow

Sign up for the Newsletter!

Like

Shop at our Online Store!

Check out our Ebay store
for one of a kind items!

Categories

  • '60s Television
  • '77 Punk Legends
  • Art
  • Atwater Village
  • Bacchus Archives
  • Bay Area
  • Benefit
  • Big Sandy
  • Bigfoot Lodge
  • Book reading
  • Booze and mixology
  • Burbank
  • Contest
  • Country Music
  • Creepxotica
  • Culver City
  • Dance Club
  • Desert Soul Club
  • Desert Soul Club
  • Dick and Jane
  • Dionysus bands
  • Dionysus mail-order cart
  • Dionysus Records
  • DJ Lee
  • downtown Los Angeles
  • Dukes of Hamburg
  • Eagle Rock
  • East Hollywood
  • East Los Angeles
  • eBay
  • Echo Park
  • European Tours
  • Events
  • exotica
  • Fashion
  • Film
  • Florida
  • Foodie
  • Free Event
  • Fundraiser
  • Garage Music
  • Geza X
  • Graphic Art
  • greasy R&B
  • Heather Watts
  • Hell Yeah label
  • History of Recorded Sound (HRS)
  • Holiday Event
  • Hollywood
  • Jason Lee
  • Jesika von Rabbit
  • Joshua Tree
  • Josie Cotton
  • La Luz de Jesus
  • Las Vegas
  • Latin Jazz
  • Lee's Blog Post
  • Lorenzo Surfer Joe
  • Los Angeles area events
  • Los Feliz
  • Lounge Music
  • Lounge music events
  • LuxuriaMusic.com
  • Mod
  • Musical archives
  • New Dionysus release
  • New Years Eve
  • News
  • Obituary
  • Orange County
  • Orchestra Superstring
  • Over Under Sideways Down
  • Palm Springs
  • Photoblog
  • Pirate
  • Psychedelic
  • punk rock
  • Radio and Podcasts
  • Record Meet
  • Redondo Beat
  • Reissues
  • Reunions
  • Robert Drasnin
  • Rockabilly
  • Ruby Dee
  • San Diego
  • San Fernando Valley
  • San Francisco
  • Santa Monica
  • sculpture
  • Shag
  • Sidebar Photoblog
  • Silver Lake
  • Skip Heller
  • Soul
  • Spindrift
  • Stereophonic Space Sound
  • Street Art
  • Stuff We Like
  • Surf Guitar 101
  • Surf Music
  • Surfer Joe Lorenzo
  • SXSW
  • Tattoo Art
  • The Boss Martians
  • The Creatures of The Golden Dawn
  • The Creepy Creeps
  • The Dogs
  • The Dollyrots
  • The Martini Kings
  • The Satelliters
  • Thorazine
  • Tiger Bomb
  • Tiki
  • Tiki Oasis
  • Tours
  • Uncategorized
  • Vinyl Records
  • Vinyl reissues
  • Vinyl Vendors
  • Voodoo Organist
  • Websites and Blogs
  • West Los Angeles

Archives

  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • November 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008

© 2019 copyright Dionysus Records, Inc. All rights reserved.