This Video of the Week submission came from MRR reader Tyler Bonam. You can contribute to the MRR website too! Just send text, links, and images to webzine {at} maximumrocknroll(.)com. No guarantees that that we’ll post everything we get, but we appreciate any and all submissions… Now take it away, Tyler!

RAW NERVE may be dead, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch this video of their last show. Plenty of bass drum/refrigerator/wall dives to keep even the most jaded punk interested. Filmed in Chicago at The Mousetrap back in April.

One of the first rules of storytelling is “show, don’t tell.” Jordan E. Lopez adheres well to that rule, and so will we… So sit back watch this nice little 5-minute film about Carbondale, IL‘s long-running punk house, Lost Cross.

“Rock ‘n’ roll has always borrowed from the past and threatened the present.”

Whenever you come across these old TV news clips about punk/new wave on the interwebs you can always expect them to be ridiculously ill-informed and sensationalistic. While this one doesn’t paint a complete and 100% accurate picture of what was going on at the time (and who can say anyone has ever painted that picture?) it gives a surprisingly respectful and well-researched account of the state of the scene — at least the part was accessible to the general public at the time.* Considering the audience for this was Middle America 1979, the music actually seems pretty radical. Hopefully, it turned a bunch of kids on to something beyond their cloistered little worlds. As it says, “There’s always something going on you don’t know about”…

*MRR is anti-corporate rock and always has been. But we know that punk rock as it exists today owes a great deal to its forebears, many of whom were on major labels, so we’ll deal with it.

Here’s a super fun video of New Jersey’s NIGHT BIRDS performing live on public access TV in NYC. There’s some great between-song action and whole lotta dancing! The band can be seen all over Canada and the us (including Hawaii!) over the next few months…see their tour dates here. And check out more of the Chris Gethard Show while you’re dorking around on the internet — it’s highly entertaining. And then get off of the internet and read the Night Birds interview in MRR #346!

If you want to dig into some early history of punk rock behind the Iron Curtain it will worth your time to check out this documentary on the band KUZLE. It’s an interesting look at an early, Clash-influenced Yugoslavian punk band from the mining town of Idrija, Slovenia, and their short but rich time together from 1979 to 1981. While KuZle wasn’t the earliest Slovenian punk band (that title probably goes to Pankrti) nor the most challenging politically (at one point they seem to be making excuses for playing some kind of pro-Tito event), it’s still fascinating to hear about and imagine what one would have to go through to be punk in an obscure communist mining community in the ’70s, and then become pretty big fish in that very small pond. Find out more about the band on their website here.

Sometimes, someone comes along and says perfectly what you feel in your heart, but can’t articulate. Check out this video interview with the sagely Erin Yanke, punk drummer, KBOO/MRR radio personality, roadie, audio documentarian, ad infinitum, from Portland, OR, as she explains the beauty, allure, and value of punk better than anyone yet. In nine minutes, while wearing rubber gloves! Video of the week! and well worth nine minutes of your precious time.

Here’s a wonderful mini-documentary on Hazard, Kentucky’s Adam Brewer of the one-madman band GLOBSTERS, who is featured in the current issue of MRR magazine. “Memories of a Lifetime: Adam Brewer” is a surprisingly poignant portrait of a dude trying to make his own art and inspire others in a corner of the country that few have ever visited. This video was sent to us by Eagle of Appalachian Media Institute, who told us, “It would mean a lot to the young producers of this film who worked very hard on this project and also really like Maximum Rock N Roll magazine.” We hope you dig it…

Well, between our “discovering” this and getting around to posting it, this video has gone wicked viral.  Over 37,00 views in just over four days. There’s even a blog that wrote a lengthy (very poorly written) piece on how much this video sucks. When that kind of shit happens you know you’ve really hit the big time!

Anyway, we had a little correspondence with Pat Thielges, co-creator of this funny-cuz-it’s-true gem. He told us that this is the first video that he and his daughter, Leah Maldonado, have made together, but that she is an accomplished YouTube-ist, having made a bunch of silly videos including this one in which Leah plays him! She also plays in the band Dr. Loomis, who totally shred.

Pat says that “Shit Record Nerds Say” is “inspired by almost three decades of rubbing elbows with some of the nerdiest and at the same time coolest people on earth… punk record collectors!!” Clearly he is a record nerd himself, and not out to disrespect anyone, just to poke fun at the more “backstabbing, moneygrubbing” aspects of the collector nerd scene. “Basically, I think punks need to have more of a sense of humor, cos punk is for the most part pretty humorous…and humorless.”

Some nerd facts: Pat is wearing two pairs of tighty whiteys, “so I am not technically in my undies.” The video was shot in Portland, Oregon, at Crossroads Records, Green Noise, and Everyday Music on Sandy. Pat and Leah promise to put out a “part two” soon!