Though we got a lot of submissions this week, I dug into some older submissions before they slipped to the dark depths of my email Inbox. This week we have a handful of photos from Stephanie Kiewiet, from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Amoebas @ the Meat Mansion, Ann Arbor, MI, 11 April 2010 (photo by Stephanie Kiewiet)

Guilt Trip, New Brunswick, NJ, 3 April 2010 (photo by Stephanie Kiewiet)

Culo, in Philadelphia, PA, April 2010 (photo by Stephanie Kiewiet)

Culo @ the Movie Loft, Boston, MA, 2 April 2010 (photo by Stephanie Kiewiet)

Positive Noise @ Oddfellow's Hall, Albany, NY, 1 April 2010 (photo by Stephanie Kiewiet)

Stephanie sez: “Note: Culo is from West Chicago, Positive Noise is from Michigan. Those pictures were from a mini-tour they were on together.”

Thanks Stephanie!

I know a lot of you saw (and shot) some killer shows this summer. Did you go on tour and get some awesome pics? We wanna send photos!!!

If you shoot shows and have photos you want to submit for the MRR Blog, send to: markmurrmann {at} gmail(.)com. Be sure to put “MRR Photo Blog” in the subject. Include your name, the band, where and when it was shot. Just send your best photos – edit tightly. Three to five photos is plenty. We will be exercising a little quality control here…not everything sent in will be posted. Please size your photos so they are 500 pixels (72 dpi) at the longest side.

There are a lot of awesome photographers out there shooting shows…and there are a lot of unseen archives of old shows. Show us what you’ve got!

I have decided to pull Maximum RNR out of sponsorship of the MPLS bowling tournament. It was my decision to involve the magazine so it will be my decision to deal with this matter the way I see fit. I personally still support the event and have paid MRR for the merchandise sent, along with the postage, so that the donation is directly from me and not the magazine… MRR has never taken money from any corporate entity and while this situation is not even close to that scenario, having our name along side a corporation is not where we want to ever be. Thanks to Brian for understanding and I hope punks will think twice before they consume.
—Mariam

Australia’s own UV RACE and TOTAL CONTROL are here to annihilate US shores! Both bands feature Maximum Rocknroll columnist D X of “All Foreign Junk” and Distort fame. The Bay Area shows  are all supported by other MRR miscreants: Needles feature Martin Sorrondeguy, former distro coordinator and current reviewer, Young Offenders has got two reviewers, Tim Brooks and Dougie, and Wild Thing contains the one and only last punk, Brace Belden!

Aug 26- San Francisco, CA @ the Eagle Tavern w/ Needles, Arms & Legs, Once They Were Human
Aug 27- San Francisco, CA @ the Hemlock w/ Kelly Stoltz, the Young Offenders
Aug 28- Oakland, CA @ Sugar Mountain w/ Wild Thing …
Aug 31- Sacramento, CA @ the Hub
Sept 01- Portland, OR @ Black Water w/ Nerveskade
Sept 02- Portland, OR @ The East End
Sept 03- Ballard, WA @ the Sunset Tavern w/ the Intelligence
Sept 04- Seattle, WA @ the Black Lodge w/ Walls
Sept 05- Seattle, WA @ the Fun House
Sept 07- Olympia, WA
Sept 09- Minneapolis MN @ tba w/ Formaldehyde Junkies, Condominium, Much Worse
Sept 09- Minneapolis, MN @ Hexagon w/ the Blind Shake, Voytek, Teenage Strangler
Sept 10- Chicago, IL @ Lucky Gator Loft w/ Raw Nerve, Population
Sept 1…1- Cleveland, OH @ Now Thats Class w/ Homostupids, Civil Victim, Anal Warhead, Flying Trichecos
Sept 12- Buffalo, NY w/ Brown Sugar, Rational Animals
Sept 13- Albany, NY @ Valentines
Sept 14- Boston, MA
Sept 16- Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio w/ Pink Reason, Super Wild Horses, Home Blitz
Sept 17- Brooklyn, NY @ Acheron w/ Crazy Spirit, Wild Thing
Sept 19- Bethlehem, PA @ the Burners w/ Pissed Jeans, Black Tar
Sept 20- Philadelphia, PA @ the Ox w/ Pissed Jeans, Home Blitz
Sept 21- Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter w/ Southside Stranglers, Wasted Time, Slugz
Sept 22- Pittsburgh, PA @ Gooski’s
Sept 23- Columbus, OH @ Legion of Doom w/ Vile Gash, Human Boys
Sept 24- Memphis, TN @ Goner Fest
Sept 25- Memphis, TN @ Goner Fest
Sept 26- St Louis, MO @ Apop Records w/ Sweet Tooth, Medical Tourists, Shaved Women, Egg Chef
Sept 27- Milwaukee, WI
Sept 28- Detroit, MI??
Sept 29- Chicago, IL @ Crown Liquors

One of the less-cited-in-lazy-reviews (never in MRR, natch!) ’77 lady singers, Pauline Murray of PENETRATION handles herself here with graceful aplomb, despite the infernal rain of what we can clearly assume to be Newkie Brown being hurled at her by the amoeba-brained goofs in the crowd from this video shot in Manchester.

The importance of the punk flyer surely can’t be overstated, but they’re getting increasing sidelined for internet-only gig spam, often to a would-be promoter‘s disappointment.

So is it really worth the effort? Regular faces at the gigs that I put on are routinely shocked at where all these ‘new’ people have come from, and I can only respond along the lines of ‘actual hold-in-your-hand flyers!’

Don’t be complacent — if you live in a big city, there is always someone who’s gonna be interested that you don’t personally know. It might seem hackneyed, but copying flyers and posters and getting them up around town, and beyond the eyeline of yer regular messageboard / Facebook cognoscenti is the key to busy and fun gigs!

The only limit is your imagination. If anyone asks you make a flyer, you should jump at the chance! The most fun job in punk, arguably, where you get to write mini-reviews of bands, pick images and take the theme of the gig wherever you want. What’s not to like? If you’re stuck, a good fail-safe is to use topical images with resonance to those who are gonna see it, so you could lampoon a shamed politician or make a visual link to local campaigns/concerns.

Otherwise, why not subvert the enormous graphical goldmine of the last 40 years of punk and hardcore to promote your night? The book Fucked up and Photocopied is one of the many chronicles of our rich outsider art history when it comes to punk rock flyers, and makes a great resource for scanning and fiddling with. Request it at your local library, do some scanning, and get cutting and pasting.

The ultimate harsh rhetorical ‘Would we force this mutant child to walk a mile to see…INSERT BAND HERE’ works a treat too! Or, If you’ve no computer and you’re handy with a ballpoint then do as they do in South Wales and light box that shit. Every town has a building which could, when squinting, be morphed into the Capitol Building for purposes of a lightning strike Bad Brains rip off!

When the internet eventually explodes, your Photoshop archive will be long gone, so make real life paper flyers and you never know, in thirty years your work might be hanging in some Auction house, too.

This week Ross Adams checks in from the home of power pop heavyweights 20/20, Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour…OKLAHOMA! The scene has changed a bit since those guys struck out for LA in the mid-70s.

Blanche Devereaux @ Sauced, Oklahoma City, OK (photo by Ross Adams)

Dead Friends @ the OKC Infoshop, OKC, OK (photo by Ross Adams)

The Vivian Girls @ the Opolis, Norman, OK (photo by Ross Adams)

Furnace @ The Monolith, Tulsa, OK (photo by Ross Adams)

I know a lot of you saw (and shot) some killer shows this summer. Did you go on tour and get some awesome pics? We wanna send photos!!!

If you shoot shows and have photos you want to submit for the MRR Blog, send to: markmurrmann {at} gmail(.)com. Be sure to put “MRR Photo Blog” in the subject. Include your name, the band, where and when it was shot. Just send your best photos – edit tightly. Three to five photos is plenty. We will be exercising a little quality control here…not everything sent in will be posted. Please size your photos so they are 500 pixels (72 dpi) at the longest side.

There are a lot of awesome photographers out there shooting shows…and there are a lot of unseen archives of old shows. Show us what you’ve got!

If you’re in the Bay Area this week, you’re in luck. Punk artist extraordinaire, Avi Spivak is on town for two events that you shouldn’t miss — one in the East Bay and one in SF. Check out Avi’s work on the cover of MRR #326 and in his fabulous zine Humanbeing Lawnmower… We’ll see you there!

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MRR Radio is a weekly radio show featuring the best DIY punk, garage rock and hardcore from the astounding, ever-growing Maximum Rocknroll record collection. You can find the MRR Radio podcast, as well as specials, archives, and more info at radio.maximumrocknroll.com. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned!

THIS WEEK: Rotten Ron and a slew of killer guests kill Evil in the MRR kitchen

Download here

Intro song:
STAINS – Sick and Crazy

Dave Dave Dave – Back to Texas
BIG BOYS – No
THE MARKED MEN – Wait Here, Wait Here For You
THE HEX DISPENSERS – Lose My Cool
AK 47 – The Badge Means You Suck

Wild Thing

Mike Jo – Oi Oi Oi
CROWBAR – Hippy Punks
THE TEMPLARS – Waiting for the Blood to Flow
GLORY STOMPERS – Here to Stay
THE BROADSIDERS – Southern Identity

Rotten Ron Kills Evil
IDI AMIN & THE AMPUTEES – Nasty Nazi
WILD THING – Now I Wan’t to Die in a Nuclear War
CONSERVATIVES – Suburban Bitch
STONE VENGEANCE – To Kill Evil

Hal – Eric Manor’s Requests
PLUGZ – Infection
RHINO 39 – Night in Watts
PARIAH – Our Voice

Adam – Hot Dog Music
THE INCREDIBLE KIDDA BAND – Radio Caroline
REAL KIDS – Bad to Worse
DICTATORS – Pussy and Money

Outro song:
TEX AND THE HORSEHEADS – Go West Young Man

From the latest issue of MRR, here’s Robert Collins’ demo review of a great new Midwestern band to watch out for!

Robyn of Street Legal (photo by Justy Betterton)

I pulled this out of the demo box at MRRHQ and knew I had to review it. Not because I thought it would be good, but rather because one look at the cover and I knew how awful it would be, and I reveled at the thought of hiding anonymously behind these newsprint pages and ripping to shreds the painstakingly crafted work of some punk kids thousands of miles away (news flash folks, that’s really why we do this, we get our jollies saying that your precious bands are horrible) and leaving them with shattered dreams and ink-stained fingers. Well, the joke’s on me this time, because that demo featuring the crudely drawn middle finger with two butt cheeks on the back of the hand and the title: Butthand AKA Street Legal… the demo fukkn rules! Male/female vocals (mostly female, and she sounds like Ivy from ALLERGIC TO BULLSHIT/MIAMI minus the rasp — totally bad ass), totally melodic, but fast as shit and with fukkn killer guitar work that will make you question why you ever bothered playing in a band — cause chances are you ain’t writing hooks like these, kiddo. I bet that live STREET LEGAL (or is it BUTTHAND? I really hope it’s BUTTHAND) has the same energy that NECRO HIPPIES did when they passed through a few months back — in fact the sound is not dissimilar, though STREET LEGAL/BUTTHAND are a bit more melodic. “Knocked Off My Feet Again” is a total classic, and the way the bass rushes in afterwards to start “Ode to You” is perfect… My only negative observation is the demo quality of the recording, but fukk me, it’s a demo and all the power is there so I’ll shut up. As I wipe the egg off my face, I strongly encourage you to drop them a line, and hopefully we can expect a slightly more high fidelity recording from them in the near future.

Adventures in Nonfiction

Mimi was in town. It had been three years. We went out for Indian food and then coffee. Her dashing girlfriend Fiona was there too, in a vintage vest and tie. I had forgotten that Mimi was left-handed and that she didn’t drink coffee. She still had asymmetrical hair but now she grew herbs, she said, with a shrug, and did bodywork to take care of her fucked-up shoulders. She and Fiona were working on their respective books. Mimi said she was tired of hers, she wanted to write a different book, a series of essays about NGO-sponsored beauty pageants in which landmine victims were awarded solid-gold prostheses, and the for-profit marketing of women’s-prison-made handicrafts to consumers, and other confusing and/or obscene intersections of fashion and oppression. I told her I wished she would hurry up and finish the first book so she could hurry up and write the second.

We talked about how to get these things done when there’s no one around to tell you to do them. No TV, no video games, we agreed. At one point Mimi said that if she were rich she would probably just stay home and play World of Warcraft. We talked about teaching: Fiona presents key points of feminist thought to her students by showing them slides of cute boys. Seeing Zach Braff or whoever floating on-screen beside important tenets of post-colonial theory made them feel less anxious about taking Women’s Studies classes, she said, especially from someone who looked so queer. We talked about binge drinking, grade inflation, and the Midwestern post-adolescent’s lack of affect.

I told Mimi and Fiona how lately I’ve been tiptoeing into a local grassroots literary circle, a place I might someday like to belong. It’s mutually supportive and DIY and otherwise similar to the punk scene in many ways, but I still feel like a kid at my first show, or writing overconsidered letters to zine editors, all awkward and fumbling around with my wings folded behind me and dragging a little on the floor in front of the stage. It’s a strange place to find myself, after having stuck around long enough in punk publishing to have my name scratched on the walls, and to be accepted by people like they accept the walls. We talked about writing zines and blogs and books. I laughed because I had left MRR to attend a top-tier journalism school and now here I was, back again. I said it felt right, I missed it, I needed a smaller feedback loop than the huge film and book projects provide. They take so long and can be so lonely. Mimi shrugged again and said she needed to keep writing too — why did I think she hung on at Punk Planet until Dan Sinker took her off the masthead without even an explanatory email? And that’s also why she does the wonderful threadbared fashion site that’s of course about so much more. I asked, but what is the compulsion to share about, anyway? Why so first-person all the time? Is it some kind of disease? One we share with everyone on Twitter? We’re not 25 years old anymore, clutching Xacto blades, but we haven’t changed. We still keep courting the dynamic terror of creative self-doubt.

Fiona and I finished our coffee. I bragged about touching the Rosetta Stone. Then we talked about what was hot in YA fiction. Mimi recommended a series called Monster Blood Tattoo.

Notes!

1. Check out San Francisco’s Doomed this week. Yes. All ages. Yes. Maximum plus Thrillhouse plus bands plus baseball. Yes.

2. Surrender is still on tour. Go see them when they come through. OK, they’re peace punk, but they’re also doing…theater. I don’t mean like high school thespians exchanging lines from “Les Miz” in the cafeteria. I mean that they don’t just play, they perform, and they don’t break character, allowing you to fall under their spell. The blindfold still bothers me, but in a good way.

3. I am interviewed by the rejectionist about my film on Ursula K. Le Guin.

Arwen Curry and Ursula K. Le Guin (photo by Andy Black)

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