Hot garbage summer

My Damage, New York & OFF!

Nuvia was down in the garage doing some belated spring cleaning when she came across a sealed tub of first edition hardcovers of My Damage: The Story of a Punk Rock Survivor, the book I co-wrote with Keith Morris. I was super excited because I’d sold all my copies and haven’t seen one in the wild in a very long time.

The timing couldn’t have been better because later that afternoon we were vending with our friends Enrique and Selina Lugo, Ricardo Islas, and a few others at 3 Punk Ales in Chula Vista. It was a beautiful summer day, and I was able to sell a bunch of copies right away.

We’ve been vending with the Lugos for what feels like forever and it brought back many happy memories. The Lugos were two of our creative partners in Golondrina, a shop we operated in Barrio Logan for five years before the pandemic shut us down. The Lugos are examples of artists who are always creating new work, collaborating with new artists, exhibiting their art, and giving back to the community. I’ve learned so much from their example over the years and their insight and inspiration has helped me embrace the idea of approaching all of my work artfully.

During the early days of Golondrina we’d all spend a day at the shop with our kids, and then hang out and talk about what went well, what we’re working on, and what we want to do next. Well, now Itzel is 13, Damian is 15 (and one of my training partners at House of Boxing), and Annie just turned 21 last weekend if you can believe it. I’m not sure I do.

It just so happens that Nuvia and Enrique are colleagues and will be working together in Kingston, New York next week, and me, Selina, and their two kids, Damian and Itzel, are going with them. We’ll spend the first half of the week in Kingston and the second half in Brooklyn, culminating in the penultimate OFF! show at Le Poisson Rouge. Yes, there are still tickets. You should totally go!

Dr. Keith Morris

I’m looking forward to hanging out with our friends and being a tourist in New York. I know it’s hot as hell in NY right now and I’m sure there will be times when I feel like hot garbage and then I’ll walk by some actual hot garbage on the street, but I can’t wait to get pizza grease on my clothes and melted chewing gum from 1977 on the soles of my sneakers and have someone be rude for no apparent reason because that’s how New Yorkers show their love and affection.

Or something like that.

I’m also going to see OFF! again—maybe for the last time. It’s the end of an era for my friend Keith.

Bittersweet?

I don’t see it that way. I don’t think I’ll ever take my friendship with any of these people for granted, but I often lose sight of the fact that everything we do in life we do a finite number of times, including hanging out with the people we respect and admire and who always have our backs no matter what.

In that spirit, I’m offering free shipping on those My Damage hardcovers to readers of Message from the Underworld THIS WEEK ONLY. Now through July 14, send $25 to my Venmo @jimruland or reply to this message for my PayPal deets and I’ll put the book in the mail. Make sure you include your mailing address and if you want me to sign it to you or someone else, I’d be happy to do that too.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you in the pit.

If you liked this newsletter you might also like my latest novel Make It Stop, or the paperback edition of Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records, or my book with Bad Religion, or my book with Keith Morris. I have more books and zines for sale here. And if you’ve read all that, consider preordering my latest collaboration The Witch’s Door and the anthology Eight Very Bad Nights.

Message from the Underworld comes out every Wednesday and is always available for free, but paid subscribers also get my deepest gratitude and Orca Alert! on most Sundays. It’s a weekly round-up of links about art, culture, crime, and killer whales.