Hello from Mofoland

Ed Lin is a persuasive guy who will not be denied. Back in 2018 when my friend and prolific novelist was promoting Ghost Month, he wouldn’t stop asking if The Linda Lindas would play his event in Pasadena. As if that wasn’t enough, he had the gall to request that they play a Joy Division song because his book’s antihero loved the Manchester band so much he called his noodle stall Unknown Pleasures! I hemmed and hawed, and said “Why would you want a bunch of kids to play your grownup event?” and “They haven’t even played a proper show yet!” But Ed was relentless. And now he is a trivia answer for the hardest core fans of the band: Whose book release did The Linda Lindas play a couple weeks before they made their official debut at the Save Music in Chinatown show with Phranc, Ford Madox Ford, LP3 & The Tragedy, and The Horseheads?

But when Ed asked me to write an introduction to his new book, there was no convincing necessary. He explained that his friend who ran the BooksActually shop in a Singapore wanted to print a story that was serialized on the old Giant Robot website. And Kenny was a big fan of the magazine that I helped start and spawned the site. Wow. Who gets asked to write a forward to a book? Who even gets a couple bucks out of it? That would be me, and I immediately told Ed I was going to blow all the money on the Bad Brains reissues.

Here’s what I submitted, and hopefully they fixed all the typos and mistakes:

I am honored to not only re-introduce Motherfuckerland to the world but be part of its first proper presentation in dirty, grainy, foldable, and Post-Itable print. It was first serialized by my friend Ed Lin on the Giant Robot website in 2012––a couple years after the zine that I edited published its final issue. But the saga of Sean Kerry is the opposite of slick cyber content. Not having eye-catching art to make it skimworthy, not being a listicle of bite-sized sketches of pop culture, and pretty much the opposite of erotic fan fiction, I wonder how many people actually read it online?

Although Motherfuckerland was a humble effort shared with the handful of loyal weirdos in the Robot Lounge, the pages you are now holding are packed with everything I love about Ed’s writing. A reporter by day and writer by night, one might look for and find unflinching, hyper observant slivers of Sam Quinones or Joan Didion. But to me his work is closer in spirit to DIY punk zine publisher and novelist Aaron Cometbus­­––stripped down, straightforward, low-key punk, and free of bullshit with poetry coming not from clever wordplay but the swirling undercurrents of just plain life.

I could swear there’s some Repo Man in there. Our hero is a suburban kid in a dead-end job surrounded by other oddballs with dead-end jobs but set in Lin’s sleazy New Jersey boardwalk instead of cult film director Alex Cox’s mutation of early L.A. punk. As Sean smokes out, just gets by, and is eventually forced to choose a path, his peers provide glimpses of what it means to be an actual outsider instead of a slacker. There’s also a brief-but-important (to me) conversation contrasting local products The Boss, Glenn Danzig, and Bon Jovi that compels me to imagine what the soundtrack to Sean’s story might include. In addition to being one of my favorite living writers, Ed has excellent taste in music.

Don’t get your hopes up. A movie won’t be coming any time soon or ever. But at least we have this book to put on the shelf alongside our favorite paperbacks, magazines, videotapes, records, and everything else that celebrates the lowlifes, badlands, and bittersweet truths of Motherfuckerland.

Martin Wong
Los Angeles
January 2021

Thanks, Ed! Thanks, Kenny! I look forward to hanging out when the pandemic is over. Everyone else, buy Motherfuckerland straight from the source at the link below for just 25 bucks. If you are a high roller, get the signed copy with an obi for 50 and let me know what it looks like!

https://www.booksactuallyshop.com/products/motherfuckerland.

Save Music in Chinatown 20 recap with WÜRM, Fur Dixon, Slaughterhouse, and Otniel Y Los Condors

Henry and Otniel from Otniel Y Los Condors with The Duke at SMIC20

As news trickled through Los Angeles about the shocking and violent death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and other victims of a helicopter crash, a handful of us were in a beautiful bubble. Quivering and doomed to pop, but beautiful nonetheless.

Otniel Y Los Condors at SMIC20

At the Grand Star Jazz Club, just three or four miles away from the shell-shocked Staples Center, we were celebrating our twentieth Save Music in Chinatown all-ages matinee carrying on the punk rock tradition of the neighborhood’s old Hong Kong Cafe to raise money for music education at its public elementary school. So pardon me if you’ve heard this 19 times before, but maybe it’s new to someone else. And the facts probably mutate every time I look back. 🙂

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@otnielyloscondors learned "Life of Crime" just for #savemusicinchinatown 20. ¡L.A. punk por vida!

A post shared by Martin Wong (@martinkendallwong) on Jan 27, 2020 at 5:41pm PST

The shows were born when Wendy and I received a flyer from Castelar, where our daughter just started attending Kindergarten, asking families for donations to support the school’s excellent-but-underfunded music program. We knew they wouldn’t get a lot of dough from the community’s largely immigrant and working class households (one of the things Wendy and I love about the school because that describes her parents and my grandparents) and wondered what we could do.

Eddie, Veronica, Taylor, and Nick from Slaughterhouse with Wendy and me at SMIC20

Wendy and I went to Chinatown when we were kids, ate dim sum at Golden Dragon with my in-laws almost every weekend when we started dating, and had our wedding banquet at the Empress Pavilion before our daughter started going to school in the neighborhood. And we also dug that The Germs, X, Bags, Go-Go’s, Black Flag, and other cool bands played right there at the Hong Kong Cafe during the first wave of punk. We thought it would be interesting to build a bridge between the overlapping-but-never-really-connecting subcultures, which we happened to be parts of, to help kids.

Slaughterhouse at SMIC20

Somehow, our DIY matinees have kept going for seven years now.This time around we had our new friends Otniel Y Los Condors opening up the show, carrying on the East L.A. punk tradition of The Plugz, The Brat, and Los Lobos with their fully realized and rocking bilingual cuts. Rock solid rhythm section with Henry and Edgar, ripping leads by Luigy, and the killer melodies of OT–they have it all and brought a ton of friends and family, too. My type of band. And they learned a Weirdos song just for us!

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@sslaughterrhouse bringing the Hong Kong Cafe vibes to #savemusicinchinatown 20!

A post shared by Martin Wong (@martinkendallwong) on Jan 27, 2020 at 1:01pm PST

Slaughterhouse went on next, with dark and heavy vibes that recall early TSOL and X. I love how Veronica prowls the floor while Taylor, Eddie, and Nick blow up the stage with their energy! So cool to catch bands like them and Otniel Y Los Condors while they are on the cusp of taking over the world.

Fur Dixon at SMIC20

Fur Dixon was next, and I still can’t believe that she actually approached us about taking part our humble benefit show. Wow. She played bass for The Cramps the first time I saw them at the Hollywood Palladium in 1986! These days, she’s playing in a raw, stripped-down blues style with gorgeous riffs to go with her punkerbilly snarl.

Fur Dixon with The Linda Lindas at SMIC20

A few days before the show, I asked Fur if she would be into The Linda Lindas (kind of our house band, featuring our daughter Eloise (11) and her cousins Mila (9) and Lucia (13), who have been coming to our shows since they were kids, along with their friend Bela (15)) singing backup vocals on “Don’t Tread on Me” (the a-side of her 7″ single and my favorite song by her). This escalated to Mila playing drums, Eloise playing bass, and Lucia and Bela singing backups. Fur was cool with everything and even dropped by their band practice the day before the show to teach them the song. They worked on it for about 40 minutes that afternoon, practiced one more time on the day of the show, and then nailed it on stage.

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Ex-Cramp roots punker Fur Dixon playing "Don't Tread on Me" with special backup by The Linda Lindas at #savemusicinchinatown 20!

A post shared by Martin Wong (@martinkendallwong) on Jan 27, 2020 at 9:15pm PST

I still can’t believe WÜRM headlined our show. One week after The Last played our previous Save Music in Chinatown show in November, I went to see them at the Hermosa Saloon and was hanging out with guitar slinger Philo. During small talk, he mentioned that he had started playing with Chuck Dukowski, and I said, “No way! WÜRM?” He went on to say that Chuck’s newly reborn pre-Black Flag band was going to play with No Age and Milo Gonzalez at The Smell, adding that it was really important to Chuck that they play all-ages shows.

WÜRM at SMIC20

Having fond memories of the Chuck Dukowski Sextet playing our third benefit show, I reached out to The Duke the very next day and the show was confirmed by that evening. Wow. The first WÜRM show since 19895! What an honor, and a real cool preview for next month’s big show at The Smell. In addition to Philo with original members Chuck on bass and Loud Lou on drums, a younger guy German handled vocals and was a beast. What a combo!

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First WÜRM apoearance since 1985: Chuck Dukowski, Loud Lou, Philo, and German ripping through "I'm Dead" at #savemusicinchinatown 20!

A post shared by Martin Wong (@martinkendallwong) on Jan 27, 2020 at 12:53pm PST

In addition to killer songs off their album and “I’m Dead” single, they played two great new cuts that happened to be engineered by my buddy David O. Jones, who kindly accepted the show’s sound duties after our sorely missed friend and longtime sound guy Nate Pottker moved to Washington, D.C. I love how our shows make the big city we live feel like a small community.

David O. Jones from Alice Bag Band and Carnage Asada, Lora from Chuck Dukowski Sextet, and Dave Travis from Carnage Asada and Cafe NELA at SMIC20

I also love that not only do my favorite bands play for the cause, but that the crowd is full of family and friends, including members of bands that have played for us before, local activists, Chinatown locals, and punk lifers. And kids. And many of the bands’ families with kids! Seeing this multigenerational and intersectional scene grow in our space has been a very cool and unintentional byproduct of these shows.

Photographer Zen Sekizawa, Atomic Nancy, and artist Mario Correa at SMIC20

I was too young to attend the Hong Kong Cafe back in the late ’70s and early ’80s but these days are pretty great, too. Not only do we have a potent mixture of legends and cool newer underground bands that carry on the tradition, but we have cookies, coffee, and children dancing around in front. And for them to support the cause of public school, music education, and kids in an underserved community is even better.

Eloise from The Linda Lindas with Kristen and Jim from The Crowd, The Stitches, and 16 Again at SMIC20

Thanks to the bands, the raffle donors, the bake sale helpers, everyone who helped set up and clean up, everyone who came to the show, and all the supporters who spread the word. Walking out of the show into the sad Los Angeles skyline lit in purple and gold underlined the truth that nothing lasts forever, including these shows. We appreciate that so many of you out there have helped us last this long, continue to make a difference, and have a blast.

With David O. Jones and members of Otniel Y Los Condors after SMIC20

Our 21st show is shaping up to be on May 3! Hope to see you there.

Save Music in Chinatown 4

One week from today, my wife Wendy and I will be throwing the fourth Save Music in Chinatown DIY punk matinee/fund raising gig at Human Resources gallery to pay for music education at Castelar Elementary, where our daughter goes to first grade. This an unplanned and awesome extension of my days of writing about music and hanging out with artists when I edited Giant Robot mag. Getting to share and push culture on the printed page was a real gift. But to do something that happens in real life and try to make a difference in the community where my immigrant grandparents and in-laws have spent time is a different type of radical. Especially since Eloise goes to school there now.

The harebrained idea was spawned last year when our daughter started attending kindergarten. Her inner-city campus looks like a prison but it’s an excellent school with passionate teachers, bright kids, and a kick-ass dual-language Mandarin program that Eloise is thriving in. Then, in the first week, we parents received a flyer stating that the music program had been defunded. Could the households help pay the $50 thousand bill? In that particular mostly immigrant and blue-collar neighborhood, probably not.

Wendy wondered what we could do, since we’re not loaded and don’t do bake sales. It occurred to us that Chinatown has a punk rock heritage that can’t be beat (X, Zeros, Weirdos, Black Flag, Dils, Germs…) and a lively art gallery scene (post punk) as well. Although the scenes don’t overlap much with the locals outside of bars and restaurants, of course they’d help kids if they could. Especially for music. And since Wendy and I have ties to all three cultures, we decided to have punk matinees in art galleries to help the local kids. Wendy came up with the name: Save Music in Chinatown.

I was fortunate that my old friends Gabie from KCHUNG and Wendy from Ooga Booga Store introduced me to the crew at Human Resources right off the bat. The gallery’s vibe is perfect with its past lives as a kung fu movie theater, porno theater, and sweat shop before it was abandoned and was reborn as a gallery that specializes in difficult to show or sell art. Eric, Grant, Luke, and everyone else there have been nothing but super cool and supportive.

Save Music in Chinatown 4 flyer by Louis Perez III

And how awesome is it to have punk rock back in Chinatown. In the afternoon. I have a lot of friends who don’t get out as much as they used to because they don’t like staying up late or dealing with getting a babysitter. These all-ages matinees are a perfect way to get everyone out but also expose kids to cool music.

At six, Eloise has seen the likes of The Chuck Dukowski Sextet, California (with Jason from Green Day and Adam from Jawbreaker), Channel Three (with guest appearances by Maria Montoya and Tony Adolescent), Money Mark, Hector Penalosa from The Zeros playing with The Baja Bugs, and Bob Forrest from Thelonious Monster. Not to mention art rockers like Lucky Dragons, L.A. Fog, Deradoorian, Bitter Party… (Conversely, a lot of the artists who are used to playing late-night, sketchy venues dig being able to bring family and kids to our shows.)

While groveling for raffle goods is definitely the most awkward part of planning, I think it’s a key part of the fund raising. It allows us keep the door price low but raise some extra bucks. And it allows all sorts of friends and neighbors to contribute and build a scene. Regulars like Una from Keep, Mark from Donut Friend, Chris at Scoops Chinatown, and Vicki at Berndt Offerings, all the bands that sign records, artists who donate autographed books and prints, and everyone else–what would I do without them? And on the the bake sale end, gourmet goodies from so many parent/volunteers plus baked goods from Wendy’s pasty chef/cousin Linda, coffee courtesy of Julia and interTrend, and other treats add to the awesome experience (and funds raised) substantially.

And Sunday afternoons are ideal because there’s plenty of free street parking and everyone can leave early enough to grab some noodles in Chinatown before getting home at a decent hour and not being a wreck on Monday. A perfect day.

Save Music in Chinatown 4 flyer by Eloise

So please come to our next show. I still can’t believe Bob Forrest (Thelonious Monster) and Josh Klinghoffer (Dot Hacker) are playing their first hometown show as The Bicycle Thief in 13 years for our little matinee. And I love Evil Hearted You’s carefully crafted post-punk roots sound on their debut album but their live show is going to kill you. I’m not even going to get into how great Hector Penalosa’s mini set of My Revenge was at the second show–a perfect mix of power pop, garage rock, and O.G. punk–and how much I want to see a full set. All that tied together by the garage rock tunes spun by KXLU’s Molotov Cocktail Hour DJs? Damn.

I hope you can tell that although Save Music in Chinatown was born out of necessity, and there are worthwhile cultural angles that I’m interested in and proud of, this project is mostly just super fun for us. And I hope it’s that way for everyone who helps out by playing or promoting the gigs, donating raffle items, working the bake sale, or attending.

Save Music in Chinatown 3 with Chuck Dukowski Sextet and California at Human Resources (May 18, 2014)

We can’t count on media, press, or calendar listings to get the word out, but friends with radio shows, blogs, and word of mouth all add up. If you can help spread the Facebook event page, Eventbrite ticketing site, or even this post, we would love it.

Have a blast. Build community. Help kids. Get advance tickets and save some dough on admission… See you there!

Reintroduction

SLF at the El Rey (September 3, 2014)

I remember when Eric introduced blogs to the Giant Robot website. I didn’t think I had much to share, but in his estimation I did enough interesting things people would want to read about. I’m still not sure if that’s been the case, but it is pretty fun writing outside of the magazine format.

Even after the mag stopped publishing in 2010, I kept up my GR blog. Pictures from punk shows, zine and movie reviews, an occasional Q&A with an artist, and recaps of gatherings like Comic-Con and Agenda–the best parts have always been simply sharing the rad stuff that my friends do.

However, even as I type this, giantrobot.com is being rebuilt as a more dedicated retail site. My blog there will be on the cutting-room floor.

Since the the rad stuff keeps coming, I’m going to continue blogging on this site. Less art, more rock. Less cool stuff and more crap about being a dad. Doesn’t that sound awful? We’ll see how it goes.

Please read, share, and let me know what you think.