When Henry Rollins was young and (even) hot(ter): Punk’s early years at Track 16

Written by
Markey and Schwartz

The other day I was over at Track 16 at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, and two guys were hanging a show that opens this weekend that I know you’ll want to see for a number of reasons.

1.We Got Power: We Survived the Pit! is debuting in conjunction with a new book about punk in the 80s in southern California.   Co-curators/co-authors Dave Markey and Jordan Schwartz ran a fanzine here “back in the day” in celebration of punk, after meeting over skateboards. Markey’s band even toured with the legendary Black Flag. Ahh, the good old early eighties, when publishing meant Letraset and typewriters and exacto knives–and music was head-banging loud.  You know you’re getting old when “nostalgia” and “punk” are used in the same sentence.

Black Flag in Redondo Beach, 1982 (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

2. You can see pictures of Henry Rollins back when he was young and even hotter than he is now. (Look close at the abs in the photo above!)

3. You can hear the bands Adolescents, Saccharine Trust, The Last, White Flag, & Dead Issue performing live.

4. Perhaps most of all, you can visit Track 16 for one of the last times, ever.  You may have heard a swath of Bergamot Station is about to get knocked down. The good news is they’re extending the Expo line.  The crummy news is that Track 16 has to be sacrificed for that to happen.  There’s some punk-era-related metaphor here, I am sure, but it’s too hot.

In the same week I learned that the master of dissonance known as John Cage is from LA, I got a glimpse of punk’s formative days in our fair city. How can you not love LA?

Opening Saturday, September 8th from 6-11pm/show through October 6th

Oh, and for all you Rollins fans who’ve made it this far in the post: Here’s my interview with him back when his latest book came out: