Is punk dead? The Punk Rock Museum

Sassy punk and failed politician Jack

This morning T.S.O.L's Jack Grisham was the "Stay or Go" regular Friday segment guest music judge on The Heidi & Frank Show (KLOS 95.5 FM, Los Angeles).

• April Tour Guides — THE PUNK ROCK MUSEUM

As for the question, Is punk dead? It never seemed to be until we saw our first "Punk's not dead" patch. Who said it was, and why give that idea more airtime? Of course, it's been decades since that happened, and now there's a museum, and if it is dead, "pop punk" killed it.

Punk's Not Dead! (ideanow)

But how could it be dead if even the Sixties' hippie movement is not dead but lives on at Phish and other shows. The music survives, and the sentiment is strong. Punk rock really was about something, not least going against the stream. Noah Levine capitalized on this with his Dharma Punx book and a meditation and sobriety movement that aimed at turning that rebellion inward to something longer lasting than a fashion statement or general nihilistic attitude. Is it dead? Ask Russ Rankin, Finn McKenty, Punk Rock Girl, and Lorna Doom, and we'll let them be the arbiters.

Remembering The Germs and not forgetting 7 Seconds (F Your Amerika)

Punk Rock Museum?

It was code blue, um, code red when the legendary L.A. hardcore punk band (with OC Goth beginnings) played The Punk Rock Museum's March parking lot show.

T.S.O.L's best recording Sounds of Laughter (remastered HQ)

There's next to no rock left on Los Angeles airwaves, just mostly dinosaur rock from KLOS FM.

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It was an unforgettable day of music, an incredible event that featured five powerhouse bands, each bringing their unique energy and style. The legendary T.S.O.L. headlined, taking the stage to close out the evening in epic fashion. The show started with local Las Vegas trio The Dollheads, followed by the high-energy Knuckleheadz, and the electrifying Playboy Manbaby, and the Voodoo Glow Skulls.

Tickets got fans into the show and into the museum, too (entrance fee included). The first 80 who arrived got seating to watch a round table discussion that started at 12:30 pm, moderated by the legendary George Stroumboulopolous in a riveting, in-depth conversation, exploring the global cultural impact of punk, featuring Fat Mike, Kevin Lyman, T.S.O.L's Jack Grisham, photographer Edward Colver, Vinnie Fiorello, and Jennifer Finch. It was an action-packed day!

THE PUNK ROCK MUSEUM

Never Mind the Bollocks, here’s The Punk Rock Museum! It’s been 45+ years since punk rock pogo’d its way into music, fashion, film, and popular culture. On April 1st, 2023, The Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas opened its doors to proudly shove in our faces the history, culture, and absurdity of rock n’ roll’s bastard stepchild. This museum invites lifelong fans and curious looky-loos of all ages to experience a hands-on and uniquely punk rock experience.

Sex Pistols "Anarchy in the UK" and eventually worldwide

March 30, 2025: Edward Colver: The Eye of Los Angeles Punk exhibition (opening reception)

Edward Colver has immortalized some of the most iconic figures of the 20th century through his striking photography. Best known for his raw and electrifying images of the early punk scene, Colver’s work captures the energy, rebellion, and spirit of a movement that reshaped music, fashion, and art in Los Angeles. His photographs are more than just visuals—they are cultural artifacts that document the birth and evolution of punk.

While his legacy is deeply tied to punk rock, Colver’s career extends far beyond, spanning a diverse range of subjects and artistic expressions.

Renowned photographer Edward Colver captured Los Angeles punk rock at its inception. His iconic photographs chronicle the heartbeat of the movement. By the end of 1983, he had provided the cover art for many L.A. punk records like:

• Circle Jerks,
• T.S.O.L,
• Dead Kennedys,
• Black Flag,
• Social Distortion,
• X,
• Adolescents,
• Bad Religion,
• Minor Threat,
• FEAR,
• and Christian Death to name just a few.

Saturday, March 30th from 2:00-4:00 pm, was the opening reception of "Edward Colver:  The Eye of Los Angeles Punk" and an artist talk moderated by L7’s Jennifer Finch at The Punk Rock Museum.

• Edward Colver: The Eye of Los Angeles Punk exhibition opening reception — THE PUNK ROCK MUSEUM
• Wasted Youth live at the Whisky, Hollywood, 1981

British Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen" (Revisited)

• Sydney, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Guest Jack Grisham, Host Frank Kramer, Kiss @$$ Heidi Hamiliton (H&F Show, April 4, 2025, final hour 9:00-10:00 am)

What can 1 photographer do to change world?

Annie Hall; Yahoo YouTube; Ashley Wells, Sheldon S., Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Student photographer captures Beyoncé’s eye

(Yahoo) The Weekly Flickr: Photographer Susannah Benjamin has always had a knack for storytelling. Before she could read or write, Susannah told stories by drawing photos. As she got older, her passion evolved to writing, ultimately blending her words into stunning photography. Years later, her narrative photography would lead her to an incredible job that caught the attention of superstar Beyoncé Knowles, wife of rapper Jay-Z. blog.flickr.net...

I regret I didn't learn these tips sooner

(The Photographic Eye) Premiered Aug. 15, 2022. Here are nine lessons in portrait photography from the Master Photographer Annie Leibovitz that have great improved my photos. In this video I share my takeaways and how to apply them to photos. Become the best photographer you are capable of being. Learn how to see, and photograph, things others will miss with my "Art of Seeing" course. Learn how to see and photograph the world using the secret language of photography.

Chapters

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:23 Create a welcoming space
• 02:34 Photograph your friends
• 04:00 Cut down on the gear
• 05:34 Go with the flow
• 07:15 Why does that photo work?
• 08:20 Learn to love light
• 11:14 Revisit old images
• 12:09 Seek out inspiration

SUPPORT THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE CHANNEL: Patreon.com/thephotograph... YouTube membership: geni.us/Sx5O. #photography #photographer #thephotographiceye

Lust, sex in Alice in Wonderland (video)

Timeline: History, 9/15/17; Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Wiki

The Secret World of Lewis Carroll

Sexy or "artistic"? Alice photos by Carroll, c. 1861

ALICE IN WONDERLAND, 1865, is said to be the most quoted book in print, second only to the Bible.

It has a passionate army of fans who regularly congregate around the world to celebrate its rich and playful world.

But what of its creator, the mild-mannered Oxford U Math Professor Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (a.k.a. stuttering author and photographer Lewis Carroll)?

Famed not only for his wonderful stories, Lewis Carroll is also known for his ambiguous relationship with the young girl who inspired his most beloved creation: Alice [in Wonderland] Liddell.

A different time, marriage at 12

It was a seemingly innocent infatuation that he documented in his pioneering and provocative child photography.

With contributions from the likes of thespian Richard E. Grant, social commentator Will Self, and author Philip Pullman, at once adoring and provocative, this documentary casts a conflicted eye over the creation of mischievous Wonderland.

Don't make it dirty, dear Dodgey!

Pouring through historical evidence and stories passed down through generations, hear the tale of Carroll’s first encounter with the three underage Liddell girls and the first telling of Alice’s tumble down the rabbit hole one.

It was a hot and humid summer’s afternoon in a boat on the River Thames. This documentary was first broadcast in 2015. Content licensed from All3 Media International. Produced by Swan Films.

• A different time? Age of consent was 12 in England

Child sex scandal: private diary confessions?

Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

"Come to bed," Liddell sisters with come hither looks. The age of consent appropriate for marriage proposals in England at that time was 12. (Suggestive photos by author Lewis Carroll).

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At least four complete volumes and around seven pages of text are suspiciously missing from Lewis Carroll/Prof. Dodgson's 13 diaries.^[90]

The curious disappearance of the missing volumes remains unexplained for such a meticulous and obsessive writer. The pages were removed by an unknown hand.

Most scholars assume that the diary material was removed by family members in the interests of preserving the family name. But this has not been proven to everyone's satisfaction.^[91] Definitive evidence of sexual misconduct was presumably destroyed to preserve the author's reputation.

Except for one page, material is missing from his diaries for the period between 1853 and 1863 (when Carroll was 21-31 years old).^[92][93] This was a period when the writer began suffering great mental and spiritual anguish and confessing to an overwhelming sense of his own sin.

This was also the period of time when he composed his extensive love poetry, leading to speculation that the poems may have been autobiographical and about Alice Liddell.^[94][95]

Many theories have been put forward to explain the missing material. A popular explanation for one missing page (June 27, 1863) is that it was torn out to conceal a proposal of marriage on that day by Dodgson to the 11-year-old Alice.

However, no conclusive evidence has been made public to suggest that this was so. One paper allegedly offers a little evidence to the contrary. It is said to have been discovered by Karoline Leach in the Dodgson family archive in 1996.^[96]

"Cut pages in diary document"

It is known as the "cut pages in diary document." It was compiled by various members of Carroll's family after his death. [So is it an admission that they cut the pages?]

Part of it may have been written at the time when the pages were torn out or destroyed, though this is unclear. The document offers a brief summary of two diary pages that were removed, including the one for June 27, 1863.

The summary for this page states that Alice's mother Mrs. Liddell told Lewis Carroll/Reverend Dodgson that there was gossip circulating about him and the Liddell family's governess, as well as about his sexual relationship with the child "Ina," presumably Alice's underage sister Lorina Liddell.

The "break" with the Liddell family that occurred soon after was presumably in response to this sexual gossip.^[97][98]

A plausible alternative interpretation has been made regarding Carroll's rumored sexual involvement with the child "Ina": Lorina was also the name of Alice Liddell's mother.

What is deemed most crucial and surprising is that the document seems to imply that Carroll/Dodgson's break with the Liddell family was not connected with the child Alice but her sister or someone else. It is odd that a recently discovered document is used to try to prove this.

Until a primary source is discovered, the events -- and the secret sexual life of the sinful celibate math don Lewis Carroll -- will remain in doubt. More

American Buddhist: Monk with a Camera (film)

CC Liu, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly; AliveMind; Weekend Edition Saturday (NPR.org)

Before becoming a Buddhist monk, Nicky Vreeland apprenticed with the great photographers Richard Avedon and Irving Penn in New York (Asphalt Stars/NPR, 12-6-14).

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From Chic Manhattanite to Monk...

It's all about seeing subject and object. Or not.

(NPR) When we first see Nicky Vreeland in the new film Monk with a Camera, he's a middle-aged man in a burgundy robe and with a shaved head.

 

In other words, he's a Buddhist monk -- the abbot of Rato Dratsang, one of the Dalai Lama's monasteries, and director of The Tibetan Center in New York City.

 

But as Ven. Vreeland maneuvers through his present, we get glimpses of his past as the grandson of fashion icon Diana Vreeland. Once upon a time, he was a chic, young Manhattanite who hobnobbed in posh zip codes and apprenticed with the great photographers Richard Avedon and Irving Penn.
  

American men love Buddhist monks.

Ven. Vreeland gave that all up in the late 1970s for the life of a [Vajrayana] monk. But the film doesn't make us ask what he gave up; it makes us ask, "What did Nicky Vreeland find?"

He tells NPR's Scott Simon that there was no single life-changing event that made him become a monk. "I think that one takes little steps along one's path, and if one takes them honestly and seriously, they lead to all sorts of funny places." 

Interview Highlights

Dashing, fashionable, trendy Nicky Vreeland living it up in New York City before ordination.

 
On deciding to become a monk and getting his head shaved

For me it was a desire to remove a part of my image. I think we all...work at presenting ourselves the way we wish to be presented, to be seen. And I think that shaving my head the first time was really to be naked, to remove that, to just feel what it was like to be without.

• A Frustrating Love Letter in "Monk With a Camera" 
• NPR MOVIE REVIEWS

On raising more than $400,000 with his photography to finish building a new monastery after the 2008 crash prevented other cash promises from being fulfilled

[The photographs] saved us. They became a show that went around the world and raised a lot of money. ...I have to admit that I must believe in magic: If my photographs could raise that, something was happening to make it happen.
 

Being the abbot or abbess is a weighty worldly responsibility on any monastic.

 

On what it's like to sit on the throne of the Rato Dratsang, which has been occupied for centuries

That's very tough. In all seriousness, sitting on that throne is really humbling. To sit on top of everyone -- people whom I know are more qualified, are brighter, are more advanced in their practice [closer to enlightenment] -- and to preside over them on a throne is really an exercise in working on your mind and in remembering impermanence, remembering that all attainments are so easily lost and remembering the work that I still have to do.

 

On what happens to us after this life

The Dalai Lama's attendant once took me by the arm and said to me, "You know, when our robes get worn out we get rid of them and we have new ones made. It's the same with the body. When we die, the body has ceased to exist and we reincarnate and continue our lives." More + AUDIO

Scandalous ART! (video)

Wisdom Quarterly; Digital Journal; J. Hobin "In the Playroom" -- kids, the media, and us

 

Cut Hobin some slack, America (squidoo.com)

(SUN) Deal with it. Art upsets the applecart, at least good art does. Jonathan Hobin is a visual artist from Ottawa, Canada. He was interviewed by Brian Lilley on SUN TV in 2011, where he discussed his controversial photo series.

"Got Him"! Depiction of Western imperialism and endless oppression (J. Hobin)

  

WARNING: Funny and irreverent! Everyone gets 15 minutes of fame whether anyone likes it or not. A mobile phone camera, the "Harlem Shake" download, the mentality of a terrorista with an idea is all anyone needed this year.

Did someone say, "Harlem Shake" (the new Spanish Inquisition)?

WARNING: Nicki Minaj rap obscenities influencing all JonBenets

American Idol, JonBenet Ramsey (J. Hobin)

Eat, Pray, Take Photos

Year in Asia seeking spiritual, artistic fulfillment

Sun-lit statue in the Cave of Guru Rimpoche, in Tso Pema, Himachal Pradesh, northern India (normanshrewsbury.com).

(9/22/09) Norm Shrewsbury sold his three-bedroom home in Flagstaff, put things in storage, packed a suitcase and backpack with his camera, laptop and clothing, and left town June 21, 2008.

• An avid Buddhist, photographer Norm Shrewsbury pre-sents talk and slideshow on his travels throughout Asia (Josh Biggs/Arizona Daily Sun/order this photo at photos.azdailysun.com)

The previous few years had been challenging, and Shrewsbury, a local photographer and teacher, said he wanted to simplify and change his life. "My life was very stressful," he explained. "I had no karmic responsibilities. My dad passed away. My relationship ended, and I saw no future in my teaching position."

A room with a (right) view: Shrewsbury's quarters in Tso Pema ("Lotus Lake") India (Shrewsbury/azdailysun.com).

Shrewsbury, who is also a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, said his original intention was to do a three-month meditation retreat. "I didn't pack a year's-worth of stuff, but I did pack things people don't usually pack, like statues and texts," he said. "I didn't go as a vacation; it was really to find a spiritual teacher." More>>

• Buddhist talks by Asian masters (English)
• The Buddha's life and renunciation (swipnet.se)