1. |
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I want to tell you what it was like to be a young punk.
But it's so hard to remember.
My mind is foggy like San Francisco
Dark nights I try to illuminate
What is remembered is a found poem.
I deconstructed collage
Made out of band flyers
Each opening revels a little piece of the show.
Did you know that Greek Temples
used to be brilliantly colored?
We know them as white.
Time whited them out.
Time whited them out
Just like they bleached out my neon adventures
bleached out my neon adventures
Why is so little remembered?
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2. |
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High school was a drag
I didn't have school spirit
and neither did my school
I failed the audition for Oklahoma,
even though I was a girl who couldn't say no
I never went to prom or a football game
I wasn't on the debate team
I did skip school with Steven from Art Class
We drank Mateus Rose and stared vacantly into the bay.
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3. |
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Winterland was something that I'd left behind
a teenage girl waiting in a line, for a show
wearing a tube top that sparkled while the other Slip Kids drank their wine.
I'm heading out
heading out
sledding down
to Winterland
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4. |
What is Family?
01:39
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What is family?
Is it bones, blood, genes and habit?
Are you only born into it or can you create it?
I was a misfit teen
A puzzle looking for other pieces that fit
when I stumbled on the Mabuhay Gardens,
a Fillipino Supper Club that hosted punk shows after hours
My friend's there were like me, chipped and broken
Together we pieced to make family.
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5. |
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Sadie Saturday Nite was a mere 17
when she spotted a poster for the Nuns and Crime.
She walked up Broadway, up to the Mabuhay and asked them if
they'd let in a minor
Sadie Saturday Nite had to think of a plan
to get out of the house on a school night
She laced up her boots and made an excuse
She said mom, I'm sleeping at Julie's
Sadie Saturday, Sadie Saturday, Sadie Saturday Nite
Sadie Saturday, Saturday Nite.
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6. |
Diamond Heights
04:29
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I could see the lights, so bright on Diamond Heights
I could see the sky, so wide, reflected in your eyes
It was just a night, one night, that you held me tight.
Watched the fog roll by, up high, on Diamond Heights
Sparkly city
lit up like Christmas
awfully pretty
chilly, so chilly
He had a car
Where he parked wasn't very far
from Glen Park Bart
I loaned him my heart
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7. |
Blue Haired Boy
04:06
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A Blue Haired Boy, A Blue Haired Boy
Beautiful blue haired boy
Fresh from Sassoon's, my heart went BOOM
I'd never before seen a blue haired boy
Crilium spikes, skin China White
and so shy, he barely spoke a word, that Blue Haired Boy
We left the party to get to know each other better.
and immediately spied a little shoe box of an empty room
We got in, and got it on
Opened the door, fell on the floor,
amor, amor,
with a blue Haired Boy, a blue Haired Boy
The next day I rented that room, which had neither kitchen nor bathroom
But it did have the fresh blue glow of love and adventure
Can you fall in love for just one night?
I think you can
That's why I did it so many times.
A Blue Haired Boy, A Blue Haired Boy
A Blue Haired Boy, A Blue Haired Boy
A Blue Haired Boy, A Blue Haired Boy
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8. |
Winter of Hate
02:05
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It was the winter of hate, not the summer of love
when the Sex Pistols broke up
Do you ever feel like you've been cheated?
The answer was a resounding yes.
It was the Winter of Hate
Not the Summer of Love
It was the Winter of Hate
Not the Summer of Love
What we were thinking, Johnny said out loud
"punk is dead, what do we do now"
All the lost boys and girls
All the lost girls and boys
All the lost girls and girls
All the lost boys and boys
It was the Winter of Hate
Not the Summer of Love
It was the Winter of Hate
Not the Summer of Love
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9. |
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10. |
All Girl Band
03:43
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Drum lessons in the basement
Drum lessons uptown
1s and 2s and 4s and 8s
I think I'm getting it down
Hands greasy from Chinese food
I played a sloppy set
"You're the worst band we've ever heard."
Bill Murray just left
The best of times, worst of times
slumber party, knocked down drag out fights
All Girl Band, All Girl Band
Fought with Liz before we left
but we laughed all the way to Chapel Hill
We played bad at the Brewery
Third on the bill
The best of times, worst of times
Ran and hid, I could not keep the time
The gigs we opened for the Clash
we got pelted, heckled and jeered
but the last time we turned it around
they clapped and they cheered
We sang ULSAPAY AMALAY
Pulsallama What's my Name?
All Girl Band, All Girl Band
We learned to play on the stage
One note at a time
Out of tune, a beat behind
Dressed up fancy, we had chutzpah
We weren't afraid
All the boys were envious
cuz we got the gigs,
We got the gigs!
All Girl Band, All Girl Band
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11. |
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Nice
Summer Love It’s a drag
When it’s over I want it back
Fall is here Bittersweet
How can I stand on my own 2 feet
You went away It feel apart
You lost yourself and I lost my heart
Pre chorus
I came back Nothing’s the same
Only the shit the pain
I’m your rock but I’m sinking down
Never do like to touch the ground
Chorus:
It’s not nice without you
It’s not nice without you
Chocolate bunny with a gaping hole
Drive-by hug you’ve got to go
You see me cross against the light
Drive by hug another fight
Once and a while you shake the globe
Flurries settle and I’m snowed
When you’re around When you’re around
It’s not nice without you
It’s not nice without you
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12. |
Wimp
03:01
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Stare at me and you make me tense.
You talk a lot but it makes no sense.
You come over try to hang around.
You come over. It brings me down
Cuz you're a wimp.
Your a wimp------
Your just a wimp
Your a wimp.
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13. |
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White Night
Caught up
in an accidental
act of activism
in the white night.
Mayor Murdered
Counsel member
Milk murdered
Was the headline
Hot Toddies
Days on Market
Heard the verdict
And it wasn’t right
Twisted twinkie defense
Light sentence
For Dan White
Chorus
Mad as hell not gonna take it any more
Mad as hell not gonna take it any more
Peaceful protest
in the Castro
Rolled downtown
Blew up like dynamite
Headed south
Windows Broken
Shops looted
Like a hand in a bee hive
Chased up Market
side Streets, swarm of bees
we ran for our lives)
At the plaza
Cop cars smoldered
Like charcoal
In the white night
Mad as hell not gonna take it any more
Mad as hell not gonna take it any more
Caught up
in an accidental
act of activism
in the white night.
Mayor Murdered
Counsel member
Milk murdered
Was the headline
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14. |
Finnella's Finnish Baths
02:42
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Riots. Punk Rock. Band break ups. I was done with dark nights. I got a job at Fenella's Finnish Baths, a maze of sweaty saunas on Market Street. In the morning I lit the pilot with a rolled up newspaper, fearful of fire. I worked the front desk with Kenny from Athens, Georgia. For some reason we called him Black Squirrel. After my shift, I'd go into the women's sauna where we'd collectively cover ourselves in Epsom salts and sweat. I needed to sweat some of that punk out. Now I wasn't punk, but I wasn't new wave. Never new wave. But I wasn't new age either. Detoxified, I'd spin old 45s on one turntable at the Cafe Flore on the corner. Now I was the DJ, sort of. My work friend tried to convert me to her brand of Buddhism. But Nong Gno Ho Rengue Kyo was still no match for "Hey ho, Let's go. But she took me swimming. The breathing was a waltz. 1-2-3, 2-2-3. I found my spiritual place and still frequent underwater temples. I always knew I would leave San Francisco. I hated the weather. I grew out of the punk scene. I still had issues with my family. Friends had moved to New York which was my birthplace. I knew I belonged there. I had the temperament: impatient and ready for the next thing. My boss at the sauna had put up the Finnish baths for sale. They literally were gonna "pave paradise and put up a parking lot." It was time to head out and become a big DJ. Or at least graduate to two turntables. So that's what I did.
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Jean Caffeine Austin, Texas
“I don’t care what anyone says, I’m a fan! -Townes Van Zandt
"Miss-Alternative-County-before-
Alternative-Country-was-Cool", Dallas Morning News
"Brenda Lee meets Patti Smith"-Austin American Statesmen.
" A fully realized creative vision..." Blurt
".. upper echelon of sainted local singer-songwriters." Austin Chronicle
"...slanted and enchanted" - popmatters.com/Dallas Morning News
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