We gathered at  newly opened Bomb Records, April 23, 1977, in North Hollywood, yes, the valley. Debbie Harry, Blondie, Weirdos, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and an assortment of soon-to-be famous and infamous punks, musicians, writers, and more … When we all could gather together with NO managers, agents, PR, record company personnel shutting us out or down!! No stylists… No one but those of us who made it happen!!!

IN honor of Gun Club’s first release 30 years ago today (September 1, 1981), FIRE OF LOVE, I post this … before Gun Club, before Jeffrey Lee Pierce formed the first Blondie fan club, before Debbie Harry and Chris Stein wrote a song about him …I don’t recall ever seeing Gun Club … but I got a Polaroid camera late 1979, early 1980. I have a live shot of Jeffrey onstage at Roxy … but it’s blurry and small … so I guess I saw them.

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I first shot Jeffrey Lee Pierce on April 16, 1977, at Bomp Records for the Damned’s first LA “meet and greet.” The place was packed, I stood at the door and shot into the store. Right in front of me,  the young Jeffrey Lee Pierce!

I’ve known Terry Graham since 1977, esp w/the Bags. My earliest shots of Terry are summer 77… (but I haven’s scanned all my pix).

I’ve known KC Powers from my earliest punk photo days/night. My first rolls of film, backstage Ramones first west coast tour, August 76. So these guys, although not all from LA (Terry from Texas), but KC (Brian Tristan aka Kid Congo) and Jeffrey were local boys, like I….

No matter where we all came from, once we got wind of that early weird fun stuff called punk rock, we converged at the Capitol Records Swap Meet, Whisky, Starwood, Roxy, Masque, Screamers parties and other venues. Our paths crossed a lot …

But by 1980 I was rather outta it, burnt out and strung out on speed. For me, it was the LACK OF SUPPORT from bands, fans, everyone …. I helped so many careers, but barely got a thank you. So I thought what the hell and dove into my very self-destructive side. Unlike Jeffrey, I survived …. to share a few of my many photos and stories … enjoy!!

ALL these photos for sale, Click for list of PRICES, other Bands, and People. Please WRITE TO ME BEFORE ORDERING!!!

Please read on: I have high res scans of most which are perfect for 8 x 10, maybe 11 x 14.

EXCEPT FOUR photos:

1. Debbie Harry, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Weirdos at Bomp Records,
2. Color line-up W/Terry Graham, Belinda in trash bag dress,
3. Terry Graham w/Belinda in trash bag dress,
4. Black/white group outdoor fashion shot, and Jeffrey w/gun

These four are very high res and in my book, PUNK PIONEERS). They print beautifully up to 20 x 24.  I am in process of creating better ecommerce site.

I KNOW there are NO captions … so pls refer to the number under each photo when going through the gallery. For help, just write me. Thank you!!

Debbie Harry, Blondie's LA Debut, Whisky, Feb 1977. Cover image of PUNK PIONEERS, my solo photo book.

I ONLY SELL or LICENSE existing high res scanned photos. Pls DOWNLOAD FREE PDF of OVER 250 of my AVAILABLE punk photos. DO NOT ASK for FREE PHOTOS for YR PROJECTS. INCLUDE a BUDGET re licensing inquiries. FREE PDF is edited version of my coffee table, hard-cover, full color, glossy book, Punk Pioneers. Due to copyright restrictions, I’ve removed essay pages. I’ve heavily watermarked each image. NOW you can BUY or license ANY* photo in the book! No time or money for an ecommerce/shopping cart site.

Download and re-use my watermarked image! Thanks to over 35 years of ppl stealing my pix, I gotta right to protect them while sharing. Download on my Punk Pioneers PDF page.

You wanna see them in their full glory and read the essays? Buy Punk Pioneers.

*NO RAMONES. NO IGGY. FEW PATTI (yes, in PDF and a small handful, never seen color shots). DO NOT ASK RE RAMONES OR IGGY. NOT AVAILABLE. NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

NOT all photos on this site are high res scanned. You want it? PAY for my time scanning and cleaning it up. I’d like to be paid for my time, thank you!! I don’t wanna sound negative, but this is hard, time-consuming work. Have a nice life!!

Dee Dee Ramone and photographer Jenny Lens, Whisky backstage, Feb 20, 1977

by Richard Schaefer in Lisa Fancher’s “Street Life” fanzine. Proof I was the Ramones “numero uno fan and famous paparazzi in her own right.”

Tantalizing sounds of the skirmishes of desire, of lips surrendering cheap kissed in the other room, brought torture to anyone who listened. We stood between the jungle and the stars, both of us trying to keep our balance as we fought. DEE DEE was a madman at my throat an my eyes, trying to gouge them out.

At last he got me right in the eyes, his fingers sinking in . . . My brain seemed to burst and I saw “Carbona Not Glue.” He was still in my eye sockets, still digging in! My brain felt ripped open. Then I saw a little out of my left eye. It was BLONDIE! She cursed and panted in frenzy trying to come in for the kill. My hand went for that sensuous mouth. I wanted her kiss-print. She clenched her teeth and sun keep “In the Flesh” on my hand. I had never seen a more beautiful, ravaging animal. She bellowed d with laughter and staggered back toward the punch-bowl.

Rock and Roll was re-born at the SCREAMERS house in Hollywood. It was 2 in the morning as the party was just starting. Up the winding, vinyl staircase they came, NEW YORK, TOKYO, ROME, SEATTLE, PARIS and AZUZA, dueling with EL LAY’S punk elite to honor the RAMONES and BLONDIE on their successful Whiskey A Go Go gig.

The boppers were bopping. JIMMY DESTRI, keyboards for BLONDIE, was the first to make an entrance, with CAT WOMAN [Hellin Killer?]. SCREAMER TOMATA, a vision with erotically torn T-shirt and black continental boots, manipulated his guests from room with promises of champagne and kisses. And the boppers were arriving. RODNEY, the mayor of Sunset Strip, arrived carrying two PHIL SPECTOR Greatest Hits LPs and headed for the carousel wet bar and a Diet Pepsi. BOB MORRIS got a coke. KIM FOWLEY was caught sojourning thru the steamy hell of 350 party-goers in search of who know what, perhaps another HELEN REDDY. VENUS AND THE RAZORBLADES escorted him flashlights and yardsticks.

The RAMONES made the scene and were greeted by MISS JENNY STERN [aka LENS], their numero uno fan and famous paparazzi in her own right. She unleashed her inner lusts in a frenzy of flashing light bulbs and camera straps.

JOHNNY RAMONE’S plunged teeth first into a Jack In The Box super taco, satiating his craving for south of the border delight. But he drank less easily, and his bulging eyes rolled in their sockets and became bloodshot. PHIL MILLER, that noted rattan furniture king, accidentally shoved that “Sorrow” boy, RICK DERRINGER head first into the chilly caverns of the Frigidaire, showering him with designer nudie-ice-cubes. Undaunted, Mr. D fixed himself another Galliano.

Out on the piazza, things were getting hotzza! FAYETTE, draped languorously over the bust of MEDUSA, queried to JOEY RAMONE and noted surrealist film-maker STEVE ARNOLD “Just what is the mystic rationale behind the ancient burial motifs in the Valley of the Kings?” JOEY quipped “MOTHRA is one of my favorite flicks.” By the flaming hibachi fire, PHAST PHREDDIE put his hot hands down LISA ROBINSON’S dashiki, serenading her by lip-synching to ABBA’S “Dancing Queen.” DANNY FIELDS, 16 editor and RAMONES manager, was closed-lipped to everyone except TOMMY GEAR of the SCREAMERS and confided to him the secrets of how to be “Adonis of the Month.” GEAR wondered aloud “Where is Nico?” GARY VALENTINE of BLONDIE answered “NICO lives on PICO, have your heard her sing “Tico Tico?”

The omni-present LAPD joined the party at about 4:30, but thanks to the chicanery of a mysterious red-head called Cherie the Penguin, they soon left. The orgy continued at a Marquis De Sade level now. The howling voice of JOHNNY ROTTEN came over the P.A., screeching “destroy,” as windows shattered, fists of fury went thru the wall, light fixtures were ripped from the ceiling and ARTURO VEGA, artistic consultant for the RAMONES danced the Pogo. DEBBIE BLONDIE was screaming “Let me have some air!” CHRIS STEIN laughed sardonically as he put out a cigarette on the tender neck flesh of a 13 yr. old girl from Van Nuys. It was damned and damned again.

GO GO GOMEZ of the MONITORS, his bony shoulders shivering under the wool prison shirt he wore, tried to keep a low profile from the Immigration authorities and hid in the pantry all night. DANNY, lead singer of the QUICK, mobbed by several teenage nymphos, locked himself in the little boys room to repair an otherwise perfect persona with band-aids and peroxide.

And the bacchanalia went on, tantalizing sounds of skirmishes and desire, of lips surrendering cheap kisses in the other room, brought torture to anyone who listened.

[thanks to archivist David Jones for supplying the fanzine jpg I transcribed. Typed with any and all spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes, so don't tell me to change it. Proof I was the "Ramones numbero uno fan," way back when it all started. So fuck you to everyone who doubts LA had a rabid Ramones fan base which ignited our explosive punk scene BEFORE the Masque or Brendan. jenny lens]

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THE classic live Darby shot. Darby Crash, Germs, Masque, November 23, 1977. Seen in my book, Punk Pioneers, OPENING title page of Kids of the Black Hole, MOJO, Guardian Observer cover story, and other major publications. It’s my most published Germs photo.

I took the very first official group shot of the Germs. Pleasant Gehman secured an interview for Slash Magazine. She excitedly called me and said they had NO photos and would be over in 15 minutes.

MY Germs shots embraced the cover and several pages of the Guardian Observer, a major British publication, August, 2008!

Moving on . . . Germs, at the legendary LA punk club/dive, the Masque in Hollywood. The first two are low res scanned, so the quality is closer to my classic shot, the one wherein he’s lunging forward. Just so you know.

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Darby Crash, Germs, Masque, November 23, 1977. Never published, unusual shot of Darby fooling around onstage.

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Darby Crash, Germs, Masque, November 23, 1977. Rarely published, but some peeps like this shot, cos again he’s silly. Seen in Slash/Rhino’s Germs CD.

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A rare live color shot, with sweat dripping off Darby’s nose. He looks drugged, as usual (his eyeballs are rolling upward and backward into his eye socket). Also note the blue (like their logo) in his hair, something he didn’t do often. We participated in the Masque Benefit, Elk’s Lodge near MacArthur Park, February 24, 1978. Seen in my book, Punk Pioneers.

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I love this rare shot. This shot is so passionate and soulful. It’s a very special shot, full of warmth, passion, in the moment. You can see the close friendship between the Germs’ bassist, Lorna Doom, and Darby Crash. Lorna’s pretty face and makeup, her beautiful, naturally curly blond hair, and most of all, they way Darby’s clutching her. Most think of Darby alone, but my shots show how he interacted with both Lorna and Pat Smear. We participated in a benefit for the Masque Benefit, Elk’s Lodge near MacArthur Park, a few days after Valentine’s Day (February 24, 1978). Hence Lorna’s heart patterned shirt. Seen in my book, Punk Pioneers.

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Darby Crash, Germs, Hope Street Hall (with X, Suburban Lawns), December 14, 1978.

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Startling black and white shot of Darby at the Masque with Hellin Killer. The legendary Elk’s Lodge riot occurred the previous night. A large press conference was quickly assembled. I like the way they both are looking at the camera, yet there’s a certain sadness, also seen in a shot of Exene, both in my book, Punk Pioneers.

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Darby, Mohawk, Adam Ant t-shirt, Summer 1980.

From the FIRST official Germs photo shoot:

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A fan found this on my site and purchased it. It’s a very unusual shot, and she loved it. Moody and yet silly. Lorna has her black gloved hand around Donna Rhea, their first drummer, who quickly was replaced by Nickey Beat, the Weirdos drummer. Pat Smear, guitarist, is on the right. DIG THIS: Kurt Cobain invited Pat Smear to join Nirvana!! So Kurt always talked about Darby, then Pat became part of Nirvana, then Kurt killed himself. Imagine being in TWO bands wherein the lead singer/songwriter KILLS himself.

Alice Bag, Belinda Go-Go, Hellin Killer, Pleasant Gehman, Aug 21, 1977

Alice Bag interviewed Jenny Lens in 2004. Alice is considered by many to be the very first hard core singer with her radical band, the Bags, who first hit the streets in 1977. Their riotous show at the Troubadour, known for folk singers and laid-back rockers, is still talked about today. I always considered Alice a sweet, thoughtful, beautiful woman and never realized this side of her. She was and is a true style icon, a woman whose inner beauty is matched by her outer beauty, which you will see as I post some of the many shots I took of this amazing woman. I am so blessed to be her friend!

ALICE: Denied her rightful place, the historians have ignored her. You never see her face… -Vaginal Davis, Essays de la Mujer

This website exists today only because courageous, intelligent and daring women back in the 1970′s decided to break the rules of society. They rallied together under the banner of the punk movement. Many of them are no longer with us. This page is dedicated to their memories.

I am VERY pleased and excited to announce that we have just opened a new section at www.alicebag.com, dedicated to the women who were involved in the early L.A. punk scene. One of the goals of this website is to expose the important and too-often overlooked contributions of female artists in the late seventies punk movement. The Women In L.A. Punk section aims to address that by allowing interviewees to share their recollections and opinions in an unrestricted forum. I am sending out e-mail interviews to women who were actively involved in the late seventies L.A. punk scene. Everyone gets the same eight questions. No space or time limitations. Since I think that women’s voices have already been over-edited by others, I reserve the right to refuse to edit these women’s responses. Instead, I intend to publish them in their entirety, raw and unexpurgated. LET THE WOMEN SPEAK!

I had the good fortune to have as my first interview Ms. Jenny Lens, the legendary punk photographer who shot some of the most iconic images of Patti Smith, The Ramones, The Screamers and so many others. I’ve considered Jenny a friend for well over twenty years now [over 30 now!] and believe me when I say that the stories she shares in her interview are not even the tip of the iceberg. She is one of the unsung heroines of the movement. Enjoy! Alice.

WOMEN IN L.A. PUNK INTERVIEW WITH JENNY LENS INTERVIEW CONDUCTED IN NOVEMBER 2004

1. What was/is your contribution to the punk community?I took some of the most iconic shots in punk. Ever. Most of the following performers told me they loved the shots. Blondie’s Debby Harry on the floor, an early crotch shot (which not only got them incredible world-wide coverage, but I was banned from ever shooting them again. Their management never believed I called to clear the shot first. C’est la fucking vie). Patti Smith, on her knees with glowing Strat, who still dares other photographers to take better photos than I. Doesn’t stop her from crediting my shots to Jenny Stern, although I’ve been Jenny Lens in print since 1978, having been anointed that name late summer 1977. Nude Captain Sensible of the Damned, which their manager, Jake Riviera, turned into a button and I made zilch from the shot, not one penny ever. Live Ramones at the Whisky. Dee Dee Ramone in a bath towel. Joey with fist in the air, standing next to a life-size transformer, also fist in the air. Spin mag used those for their obit, paid me and treat me very well. November Spin, with Johnny’s last interview with them, opens with a full-page close-up of Johnny smiling in San Francisco, their first West Coast tour, August, 1976.

Screamers on the bus bench!! Oh that is an all-time fave! Totally spontaneous. I included 666 spray-painted on the wooden fence, not knowing what it meant!! What does a nice Jewish girl know about the sign of the devil? We found this little old lady, sitting on the bench, with a neck brace, reading some rag, after Tomata purchased his fave mag, the soon-to-be-banned, Violent World. The Screamers sat next to her, a man in Bermuda shorts (how LA is that) walking in the background, next to the obligatory palm tree, and my Alfred Hitchcock touch, my shadow. We asked her if we could shoot her, gave her the mag, I stood back and took one shot. From then on, Tomata kept laughing cos he thought she was so cute. One chance and it was perfect!! Now that’s when the magic happened!! What a great shot! None of it planned. I will never cease to be amazed how that all came together. That happened quite often, but that was the best of the best.

Iggy Pop at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, April 15 or 16, 1977. He told me he liked my photos better than his photographer! I was sitting on two folding chairs with Mary Rat and Hellin Killer, with no flash and a coupler that turned my wide angle into close up, but cut the light down, so I could only take a few shots because he was bathed in dark light, plus it was so hard cos we all were bouncing around. No flash meant having to shoot when he was standing still. Let’s see, no light, Iggy standing still, three bodies on two chairs, two of them bouncing up and down constantly. And everyone thinks it’s so easy to take rock pix!!

Cherie Curry of the Runaways, when they headlined Santa Monica Civic, April Fool’s Day, 1977, in fishnet stockings and a white merry widow corset, legs spread, torn knee, her curvilinear silhouette shadow on drum kit behind her, pointing to herself as Cherry Bomb.

The first Germs shots ever published, at Pleasant Gehman’s demand for Slash magazine in 1977. Johnny Rotten and Joan Jett in a Whisky booth, 1978 (also thanks to Plez). First Blasters in Slash (who lost my negs). My 1977 Weirdos for a Slash magazine benefit at Larchmont Hall, with the guard’s fingers in his ears, was called a Classic by Johnny Whiteside in the LA Weekly, a couple of weeks after CityBeat ran the photo with David Jones’ Weirdos El Rey preview, November, 2003. The LA Weekly won’t use my photos because I refused to sign their contract, submitted after they published my Dee Dee obit shot, June 2002. Their contract violates a recent Supreme Court decision regarding free-lance work. I fight for my rights, no matter the consequence. They can fuck themselves.

I don’t sell my soul for the almighty buck. I also have tons of unpublished photos of the performers and fans wearing amazingly creative clothes, at parties, shows, on the street. I documented the natives in their element. I rarely shot studio shots cos I was so shy. I wanted to be invisible and capture a moment of reality, people being themselves, being the artists most of us were. We created our own lifestyle, the look, the music, the graphics, everything. I had to document it for history. I began to photograph the emerging LA music scene in early 1976. Zolar X rehearsed in my home but I threw out the live shots. Silly me — they were so weird, who knew Jonesy would play them after Jello Biafra released a CD of theirs? I regard shooting the Ramones at the Roxy, the second night I saw them, August 12, 1976, as the beginning of my life as a rock photographer. The show, the group, the shots that changed my life.

2. Which artist, band concert and/or show had the most impact on your life?This question has three answers: X, Ramones, Clash (with Patti Smith and the Screamers coming close). X is by far the most important band in my life. Their songs speak to me in ways no artist, whether in music, books, poetry, movies, paintings, etc comes close. For once, women’s voices — passionate, articulate, strong, sensual, intelligent, angry, hurt, demanding, needing, are heard, along men’s voices with the totality and tonality of real adult issues. Black humor, film noir, street life, eroticism, exorcism, lyricism, musical heights that reach and transcend words, passions, feelings. I could write a book about each of their songs, especially the earliest, that I witnessed as they performed for the first times and their constant variations from show to show as they continued to explore the many meanings behind the words and ways of expressing the music. I was there before there was X was a band, knew and lived their lifestyle, and photographed them and others who continue to have such a major impact on so many lives.

To see X transform from a rather slow, awkward noisy band, not pleasing to look at because Exene wore the ugliest clothes with such horrible expressions to the tightest, most exciting band, never knowing exactly how they’d deliver each song is among the highlights of my life. Like making love, not knowing exactly how one will feel, which new sensation and re-awakening those feelings long dormant or bubbling up to the surface, explosive and life-affirming, anticipating those breath-taking moments and what/where will they lead to and feeling one’s body become electric and vibrant while being turned on by one’s lover whose body is radiating mine and mine his. We keep feeling and exploring and coming alive, hallucinating, reaching new heights or revisiting those exquisite sensations — that’s X and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. White heat, top of the world, mom!

I saw Patti Smith on January 30, 1976. I stood in line in that cold winter eve, dismayed people got out of their car and walked right in, while I couldn’t even see her by the time I got in. I made a promise to myself, while in line, that somehow I’d be able to do that. I wasn’t pretty, young or thin, so being a groupie was out, I can’t sing or play or write songs. I had no idea what I could do, but I was going to live this lifestyle, even though I had no idea what it was. I read all I could, which was Back Door Man, New York Rocker, some articles in Creem, went to some shows and bought The Ramones as soon as it hit the streets. I was among that elite group on August 11, 1976, witnessing the transformation not only of our culture but our lives that fateful first Roxy night. I was totally enamored of Dee Dee’s cheekbones. I grabbed my camera, went to the Hooper’s Camera in Granada Hills, in the valley where I lived, the salesman put the film in, told me what setting to use, and shot unbelievably beautiful shots of dear, sweet, tormented Dee Dee and a few of Joey, Johnny and Tommy. A girl I’d seen at other rock shows asked if I wanted to go to the hotel where the opening act, the Flaming Groovies, were staying. It was 2 AM, so why not?

Imagine my shock and delight when da brudders from Forest Hills walked in. Their manager, Danny Fields, invited us up to the room. I photographed and followed the Ramones down to the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach and up to the Savoy in San Francisco. Creem magazine described me as a 250 pound cherub. Considering that was about 90 pounds more than I weighed, it was a back-handed compliment, but wow, I was in Creem, never dreaming that my name would be on the masthead throughout those early punk years, from 1977 to at least 1980. I didn’t put my camera down from August 12, 1976 until summer 1980, when I was burned out financially, emotionally and physically (a lot thinner due to drugs and little sleep or food), from 4 years of constant sex ‘n’ drugs ‘n’ rock ‘n’ roll. The Ramones forever changed my life. Would I have ever become a rock photographer if not for Dee Dee’s cheekbones and then meeting them? I doubt it. The most incredible, exciting, vibrant, always brilliant live act was the Clash. Their energy, clothes, songs, group dynamics guaranteed the most heart-pumping, thrilling awesome shows of my life. X comes close, but the Clash had a mission and all of us who ever saw Joe, Mick, Paul and Topper know what I’m talking about. I saw them not only up and down California, but also in England, June July 1980.

The ironic part is at different times, I was intimately involved with 3 of their road crew, hung out back stage, but was so intimidated by them I have few off-stage shots. I just couldn’t shoot them offstage and who can explain that? Their magic just paralyzed me. Don’t ask me why. Patti’s Roxy show was amazing, transcendent, magical, never-to-be repeated. That’s the sad part other bands got better or if the Ramones or Clash, were always consistently amazing. Others enjoy Patti even now, I just don’t react as I did and that could be a reflection as to who I am now.

The Screamers show on my birthday, July 20, 1978, at the Roxy. I just came home from Houston after shooting the Rolling Stones, took some mushrooms and shot the best Screamers and among the best live shots in my life. How I focused, let alone got a shot of Tomata du Plenty (their lead singer) and Sheila, punkette and perfect foil for Tomata, both looking EXACTLY like Edward Munch’s famous Scream painting is like a miraculous comet, one of those art moments where everything lights up in alignment and mysticism. How could they look like that painting and be called the Screamers and I don’t think it was planned? How did I focus all I remember was hallucinating outta my mind. I also took a shot of Tommy Gear, their brilliant songwriter, backup singer and keyboardist, looking exactly like Antonin Artaud as a priest in Danish director Carl Dreyer’s great silent masterpiece, La Passion de Jeanne d’ Arc, (1928). Earlier I told Tomata that Tommy always reminded me of Artaud, so Tomata told me to tell Tommy cos he loved Artaud. Tommy stood in the Roxy backstage door, facing in, with a blank expression when I told him. That’s Tommy! Then I took that shot!

3. What was the role of women in the early punk scene? The analogy is that of the early days of the movie industry. In both cases, the men in power dismissed punk and the flickers. That enable women to do anything they wanted to do. Perform, write songs, write reviews, create fanzines, manage, photograph, book shows, be fashion plates, lovers and muses but with our own power. We decided what we wanted to do and were treated as equals to the men. We set our own agenda, our own goals. Nothing could hold us back except ourselves. And because so many of us were young and wild, the drugs, booze, sex and frantic lifestyle guaranteed some of us would not participate for long. I am really sick and tired of hearing how drugs and booze destroyed the scene.

Look at any art movement, any rock revolution and see they are all like comets: blazing across the sky, memorable, but short-lived and influential. So why not live fully and explore all of it? Drugs did not destroy the scene. Lack of recognition by the rock industry and constant denigration by the media destroyed our initial burst of energy and creativity. If anything, women kept it going.Mary Pickford was the very first star as well as the first woman to co-own/found a movie studio (United Artists) and often directed. She was much more than Little Mary and America’s Sweetheart — bigger than Madonna at her most famous. Her frequent collaborator, Frances Marion, was the most powerful female screenwriter in movie history. Lois Weber and Alice Guy, were noted film directors who added humanity and social, personal issues to the lexicon of movie making. So many others lost to history but whose impact affects culture to this day. Anonymous was a woman. But in punk, we had our say and wow, what a great time! Even with all the crap, we had our place in the sun, I mean, moonlight!

4. What is the legacy of punk in your life? Punk is my life. I denied it for two decades and was miserable. I missed so many great shows and people. Only when I listened to people who constantly told me my photos have value did I start to come to life. My biggest regret is losing all that time. Things are so expensive and I have minor but irritating health issues that limit the time and energy I can put into my archive. I’m working on it. If not for punk, I would have jumped off the bridge over the freeway across the street 2 years ago. Punk is an attitude, it’s the way some of us are hard-wired and there’s lots of us. Even if I never fulfill most of my dreams, I lived a life many envy. I am proud of my legacy and participation.

5. What are you listening to now? Ramones Anthology, X’s Los Angeles and Live at the Whisky, Dangerhouse CDs (unfortunately out-of-print, but amazing stuff!), Kristian Hoffman (especially & ), Iggy’s Brick by Brick, Talking Heads Sand in the Vaseline, disc 2, Patti Smith’s bootleg, Teenage Perversity and Ships in the Night (taped the night I first saw here while I was in line) and Land, disc 1 (two is crap), The Clash, Sex Pistols’ Bollocks, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces, Screamers releases from Xeroid, Cole Porter original recordings, and tons of indie 103.1, especially Henry Rollins, Joe Sib and Steve Jones. Yeah, Steve was an asshole when I was his guest on the show. I said I had a question from Alice, but he threw me out cos he doesn’t know early LA punk. But he plays a wide variety of music, so I try to catch it every day. I can’t stand hearing the same crap all the time, especially when they don’t have the DJs on. I am totally addicted to Rhino’s boxed set of rebel music from the 1950′s: Loud, Fast and Out of Control, Wild in the Streets. They’ve got tons of originals later covered by so many punk bands who reintroduced those songs to other rockers who covered later them. Tons of energy with real punk spirit! Thanks Rhino!

6. Do you have any funny or interesting stories to share? Oh Alice, where do I begin? It’s 1 AM, I’m watching a melodramatic film, Frenchmen’s Creek, a great romantic fantasy about a pirate lover and rich, bored, married woman carrying on. Phone rings and voice says, Do you have any ludes? I sat up and said, Who is this? It was IGGY POP downstairs in a neighbor’s apartment. I grabbed my slides, mounted in plastic holders, 20 to a page, and ran downstairs. He grabbed me and I left my precious slides with his manager and my neighbor Laura. We went back upstairs and all I can say is: he has the biggest tongue! I wanted him to autograph my Raw Power LP, but he said later. Of course he never came back up, but I went down to get my slides.

Iggy Pop seduced me [schtupped, ok, we fucked] in my own apartment! Iggy Pop? ME? Yep! Then a couple of years later I casually mentioned to Laura and her friend, Dimita, my Clash black and white shots, which I took while standing on the side of the stage at the Santa Monica Civic, were at a lab. That night they broke into the lab and stole my work. I have the color slides, but as many times as I shot them, nothing compares to those black and white shots. Which I’m sure they lost or traded in a drug deal. That still hurts. A lot.

How about how I got my name? She started to hate the niggers and Jews and the Mexicans who gave her a lotta shit, and the homosexuals and the idle rich, she had to get out, get out . . . This Jew was all too happy to see Faye Hart, aka Farrah Faucet-Minor, leave. She would taunt and torment me, stopping me on the street, standing so close to me, saying, Hitler was right. Jews should be burned . . . beyond that, I couldn’t listen. I could only look at Exene, staring at me and watching my reaction, which was stunned shock and tears. But they let me hang out at their apartment and I took some awesome party shots. One night Farrah was attacking me, maybe trying to hurt me or take off my clothes. I remember screaming and leaving. Later the police arrived because someone reported a woman in trouble! I wish I had stayed to see the looks on their faces!! I laugh thinking about that! Another night, drunk as usual, Farrah called me a barrage of names. Holding chicken in one hand and a constant bottle of beer in the other, she screamed Jenny chicken breast! Jenny Lens! My face lit up and from then on I was Jenny Lens, to her everlasting dismay. Ha ha, you never know where something good will come from someone hateful.

And to those who read, We Got the Neutron Bomb, Farrah meant it. The book debated if she just said things to get a reaction. She didn’t taunt Jews, including getting into a fight with the New Yawk girlfriend of the Dictators’ lead singer, Handsome Dick Manitoba, and being 86′d (thrown out) of the Starwood (or was it the Whisky?) just cos she wanted the attention. The Dictators, who started as early as the Ramones at CBGB’s, were primarily Jewish and proud of it. Farrah was as anti-Semitic as they come. Take it from someone who knows. There were tons of Jews in punk, more than people admitted in those days. But Jews are rebels and under-dogs who never stop believing in their dreams. Art and music kept us alive during the Holocaust. One stupid woman wouldn’t deter us. No one could, although many tried.

I remember reading a music mag around the time the Go-Go’s released Our Lips are Sealed. Bigwig record execs were so aghast this all-girl band, who wrote their own songs, played their own instruments, were managed by a woman, and were having such a hit! They put them down! But that didn’t stop the girls I hung out with and shot from shooting to the top! I am so proud of them!! I remember telling Jane earlier to save her receipts for guitar strings and things for her taxes. She thought I was nuts. I saw her at Tangiers summer 2004 and she gave me several big hugs. I am always so pleased people remember me fondly. Oh, late the life I led, the most amazing memories. Never in my wildest imagination did I think fat, shy me would get laid all the time, dance all night long, take amazing shots, see the best bands, party all the time, take tons of drugs and live this lifestyle for 4 years! That’s when living in LA was cheap, when the scene was small and tight. Yes I cried all the time. It was hard to get photo passes, bands who I helped get a gig cos of my published photo(s) would give me such a hard time and give their friends not only passes, but promo items. I missed out on a lot, I was teased, I felt belittled by record company personnel and fellow punks. I was too thin-skinned, too gullible and vulnerable.

But I never gave up. I hated taking photos, lugging the heavy equipment and the flashes that took too long to go off, the cameras that over-exposed or didn’t work. Having to roll my own film, often double-exposing or developing my own film and prints, often wrong. Or driving to both a color and black and white lab when everyone was going to sleep as the sun came up. Sending off so many photos that were credited to someone else or not at all and getting paid was rare and being ripped off was common. The technical aspect was awful. But I persevered because the music, the scene, the ability to live on our own terms while creating and enjoying something so lasting and influential and important and I was in the middle of it all, propelling it along while being swept along with it. The tidal wave of a rare cultural revolution, something I dreamt about when reading so much art and movie history. It was certainly the most vibrant and defining moments of my life. Was I supposed to waste my energy and youth on some stupid job? Buy a house for $50,000 worth $2 or 3 million now? Naw, I couldn’t do the 9 to 5 required for that. I had to do what I did. As they sang in Chorus Line : what I did for love.

7. Are there any punk women from the early scene that you feel have not been adequately recognized? Photographer Melanie Nissen, but that’s her choice. Her photos, so unique, thrilling and stunning, were better than anyone from America or England and that includes some famous names as Annie Liebovitz, Lynn Goldsmith or anyone, male or female. British Pennie Smith, well known for her Clash shots, is another incredible photographer. LA punk scene: Marina del Rey and Genny Body from Backstage Pass. They have incredible stories! Jade Zebest, who created the fanzine, Generation X. Redheaded Natasha, and blonde, sometimes violet haired Mary Rat. I was so very shy that I didn’t know the names of many of the people I hung with and shot. Brian Grillo and Kristian Hoffman, who spent many more evenings at the Masque than I and elsewhere, would know. They have great stories!

8. What is something we should know about you that we probably don’t know? I have a BA in Art from CSUN and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. I was an exhibiting artist and college teacher when I rejected my boring, safe life to take photos. I was involved with Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party and my name has traveled around the world with that project. I left it cos I preferred Patti over Judy. I wanted to go out on my own! I never had a normal teenage life all I did was study and keep house, so this was my chance to finally live! I studied modern art history on my own and jumped into punk cos I knew this was comparable to the great art movements, be it Surrealism, the Ballets Russe (Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring debut in Paris and subsequent riot was nothing in comparison to what we did nightly), Impressionism and other movements. I knew what I was doing. I had no doubt punk would change our world, not just music. That’s why I shot so much fashion, both men and women. I just wish I kept more flyers. But looking back, it is truly a miracle I’m still living, still have my photos and my mind. Now to do something with them. I still dream too much.

Drew Barrymore wrote in booklet I’m holding:

“You are beautiful. ♡ LOVE, Drew Barrymore, ♡”

Drew’s boyfriend bought my JOAN JETT and LITA FORD Dueling Guitars for her! (see below). OMG, anyone know how to get hold of her? I wanted to share some cool punk stories w/her.

I talked to her about her GRANDFATHER et al. I said early punk was very much like early Hollywood. Especially for WOMEN. Yeah, I wanna type up some notes to send her. Just to share. I know she’d LOVE some of my TRUE stories. Way fun. Punk Whip It! Not that I have movie aspirations …. but she’s ONE person who would ‘get’ my stories.

Anyone in touch w/Drew? I know a couple ppl, but IF YOU know how to forward info, ESP her Certificate of Authenticity for her photo! All MY collectors get them! YAY for Drew.

I TOTALLY blanked out on HER films. I just kept talking about early Hollywood, women, and punks. I doubt if ANYONE ever talked to her about that before. I wanna share more!

I didn’t tell her how I LOVED her in GREY GARDENS. Drew Barrymore was beyond astounding, mesmerizing, a shining star like her those who preceded her. John, Lionel and Ethel Barrymore. I am such a huge fan of theirs! And Drew. She’s way up there like Streep, Davis, Hepburn (both of them).

I don’t get “star stuck.” I’ve met a lot of major stars. Drew Barrymore is special for many reasons. One, she OWNS one of my photos! THIS photo is all about female empowerment, doing what the boys are doing. As I wrote in my book, Punk Pioneers, “we’re punk Ginger Rogers. Ginger did everything Fred did, but backwards and in high heels!”

Joan Jett and Lita Ford, Dueling Guitars, Runaways, August 27, 1977, Whisky.
Pricing, paper used, etc on my Bands and Price list.

[78-01-14-43c-sexpistols]
Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Sid Vicious, Paul Cook, Winterland, January 14, 1978, last show.
I’ve sold several prints of this group shot. It’s stunning printed large, on archival Kodak Endura metallic paper.
It’s been published in several books.
 

[78-01-14-24c-johnsid]
Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Winterland, January 14, 1978, last show.
I’ve sold several prints of this Sid and Johnny Rotten shot. It’s stunning on archival Kodak Endura metallic paper.
It’s been published in several books.

Someday I’ll write the long story of the ride up there, the show, the after-party (when Hellin Killer locked herself and Sid Vicious in the bathroom!) and Posh Boy chased me around until he got me, and so much more . . . I shot the Avengers, but passed on the Nuns because I’d shot them so many times in LA the previous April, 1977.