Let's live it like we mean it

Notes from a music festival and the ghosts of San Pedro

Aug 16, 2023

Last weekend I took a bit of a break and headed up to San Pedro1 for the Recess Romp at The Sardine. Three summer nights of punk rock fun sponsored by Recess Records. Just what the doctor ordered.

I started the day by driving up to Long Beach to interview one of the greatest artists of the 21^st century. That sounds coy but not for the reasons you’re probably thinking. I really do believe this artist’s work will be celebrated fifty years from now and beyond. The coy part is that I can’t tell you who it is—yet.

I then met up with Nolan Knight. Last week I told you how much I enjoyed his new novel Gallows Dome so I went up to Long Beach and asked him to show me some of the spots that are featured in the book. Best of all, he only charged me $40 for the tour, including tacos. I’m kidding, of course, but Nolan is meticulous about place and it was an enlightening tour. He also keeps a mental checklist of writers who write bout LA and commit the sin of saying “the PCH.” You don’t want to be on this list.

We headed over the bridges to San Pedro and made our way to The Sardine, which has a big new performance space. That was the good news. The bad news was it was hot AF in there. Like a boxing gym with the doors closed and the fans off.

I checked out Weird Night but then took in some fresh air on the patio during Treasure Fleet. There were a ton of Razorcake folks in attendance, including Todd, Daryl, Jen, Sean, Toby, Joe, Chris, Sharon & Ever, and it was great to catch up with so many friends. Razorcake por vida!

For most people reading this, San Pedro is synonymous with The Minutemen. The band came from San Pedro, sang about San Pedro, and Mike Watt and George Hurley still live in San Pedro. For me, the band San Pedro is most closely associated with is Toys That Kill.

They formed after the break-up of F.Y.P. and in between 2001 and 2006 released a trio of bangers: The Citizen Abortion, We Control the Sun, and Shanked. I used to go to shows at the punk house on 4^th Street in Pedro where they’d play with Tiltwheel and other bands I can’t remember. There was a skate ramp in back and bonfires and you could smell the chicken grease from the KFC down the street in the maritime air.

They say the Pacific represents the end of the west but driving to where the 110 finishes and finding yourself in a ramshackle town surrounded by industry is its own peculiar feeling. There’s nowhere else to go, like a mining town in a cheap western. You just know some shit is going to go down and you are there to take part in it.

Toys That Kill have been broken up for longer than they were together and they still sound tight as hell. The same can’t be said for Dillinger Four, who at this point have to be considered a nostalgia act whose best days are behind them. Nevertheless Civil War, which came out in 2008, is one of those records that means everything to me. If D4 is playing anywhere in my vicinity I will go see them if only to sing-along to this all-timer and shed a few tears when no one’s looking.

Recess Romp Day 2

I spent the morning working in my hotel room and met with Sean Carswell for lunch. We talked about the books we’ve been reading, the books we’re working on, the books we’d like to be working on, and the impossibility of making art in a capitalist society. You know, what old punks talk about over bowls of raw tuna.

I drove up to Hollywood to spend some time with an old friend who’s dealing with some medical issues and watch Fernando Valenzuela get his number retired. Keeping me company on my drive there and back was Sinead O’Connor reading from her astonishing memoir Rememberings. Holy fuck. More on that soon.

After I parked my car near the taco truck across the street from The Sardine, I found myself at a street crossing with Jack Brewer.

“You’re Jack Brewer!” I said and introduced myself.
“You’re that guy that wrote that book,” he said.
“I am!”
“I haven’t read it yet.”

Jack Brewer is, of course, the singer for Saccharine Trust and a massive part of the early SST days. (We also share a birthday. July 22 in case you’re wondering.) It was Saccharine Trust that went out on the road with Black Flag and Jack Brewer was one of the handful of writers at SST that Henry Rollins could look to for literary inspiration.

Saccharine Trust sounded even better than when I saw them last year at the first D Day, which was also at The Sardine. Speaking of which, I saw Craig from Under the Bridge Records and we briefly discussed adding a literary component to the next D Day so stay tuned.

I missed Four Letter Word and Berzerk from Portland, whom I’m told were great, but caught F.Y.P. and Dwarves, and then Underground Railroad to Candyland closed out the night in the intimate “old” room.

Recess Romp Day 3

Nuvia drove up to Long Beach Friday night and the next morning we went to see her mom in Paramount where I promptly fell asleep in the garden.

One thing I always forget about the South Bay is how few freeways carve up that part of the coast. Nuvia was born in Torrance but I don’t think we’d ever been in Torrance together until Saturday.

On the way back to Pedro, we stopped at the taco truck across the street from The Sardine. We ordered some food and were about to dig in when Nuvia recognized someone sitting at the next table.

“Dante?”

Dante plays in Very Be Careful, that night’s headliners, but more importantly to this story, he was present on the night Nuvia and I met. Short version: Nuvia and Dante were having a drink at the HMS Bounty on November 29, 2004. I popped in before going to see Social Distortion at the Wiltern down the street and sat down at the only empty stool, which happened to be right next to Nuvia. We started talking. She offered me onion rings. I bought her a whiskey shot. And nearly nineteen years later here we are.

We reconnected and proceeded to have a blast watching Bastidas!, Lenguas Largas, Clown Sounds, The Spits, who actually had their shit together, and Very Be Careful.

We danced under the portrait of D Boon. Were we living it like we meant it? Oh yes, but also our feet hurt.

On the way out of town we stopped off at 7-11 for some water for the hotel room and the parking lot was like a scene out of a zombie movie with emotionally disturbed people and addicts too fucked up to string a sentence together while a teenager on a bicycle turned circles in the parking lot. A lot of people having a bad night at the same time. I had my head on a swivel so I didn’t notice that I was standing behind George Hurley until he went up to the register to pay for his midnight Modelos.

By the time I made it outside Hurley had vanished into the marine layer like a ghost of San Pedro. Even the street people seemed more subdued though they were powerless to articulate why.

Upcoming Events

All of a sudden I’ve got a bunch of events coming up: two in LA, one in Chicago, and a virtual reading wherever you are or want to be.

Sunday August 20 at 4pm

Roar Shack at the Echo Park Time Travel Mart

I was stoked when David Rocklin brought back his reading series after the lockdown and even more stoked when he invited me to take part in it. I’ll be reading with Dayna Lynn North, Traci Kato-Kiriyama, Dinajreeah, Kate Maruyama and Susan Hayden. I think I’ll read something from Make It Stop and will have copies to sign and sell.

Monday August 21 at 8pm

Harvard and Stone 5221 Hollywood Boulevard

Movie Club is doing a month of Mondays at Harvard and Stone and they’ve asked me to participate. I’ll be reading a lost counterfactual episode from Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise & Fall of SST Records with accompaniment from Movie Club. You don’t want to miss this one! I’ll have books to sign and sell at this event, too.

Saturday September 9 at 12:30pm CT

Anarchy & Ink at Printer’s Row 638 S. Dearborn

I’ve been invited to take part in Printer’s Row in Chicago. I’ll be on a panel with Heather Augustyn, Kyle Decker & Jen B. Larson, with whom I shared a stage in Cleveland what seems like ages ago. We’ll be talking about, what else, punk rock!

Saturday September 9 at 6pm PT/8pm CT

Chicago Public Library presents Jim Ruland, Daniel Weizmann & Kyle Decker

I’ll be participating in a virtual reading with punk rockers turned novelists Daniel Weizmann (The Last Songbird) & Kyle Decker (This Rancid Mill). Please note: the link won’t be available for another week or so but check out the Facebook invite for details.

Starlite Pulp Podcast

If you want to check me out right now, you’re in luck. I was recently a guest on the Starlite Pulp podcast and had a blast chopping it up with the host and wearer of many hats Brian Townsley. We talked about Make It Stop, Corporate Rock Sucks, and the unspeakable horror of the literary life.