The zinger opening line from Jawbreaker’s song “Boxcar,” off their 1994 album 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, which proclaims, “You’re not punk, and I’m telling everyone” is a zinger.
It’s a zinger because the song was an indictment of the ultra judgy, gatekeeper mentality that plagued the ’90s punk scene in the Bay Area, including Sonoma County’s scene, which was vibrant yet oft overlooked.
Now everyone, punk or not, is welcome to dive headlong into the Sonoma County punk scene of yesteryear via longtime scenester (and current KQED senior arts & culture editor) Gabe Meline, who has curated “Disturbing the Peace: Sonoma County’s Early Punk Underground,” a first-of-its-kind retrospective and visual history of Sonoma County’s punk scene, at the Museum of Sonoma County.
KQED is sponsoring the opening night at the museum on April 17 from 5-7, as well as the kickoff party at Barrel Proof Lounge (located at 501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa), featuring local punk/jazz/thrash legends Victims Family with openers The New Trust and A New Low.
When asked how the exhibit came to be at a place one may not expect it to be, Museum of Sonoma County exhibition and facilities manager Jon Del Buono says it came from a notion that starts many, if not most, punk bands.
Del Buono says he was meeting with the museum’s curator of history, Eric Stanley, and “he had a catalog of different exhibitions that were coming out, and there was one on the New York punk scene. I saw it, and I just told him, ‘We could do that. We could do that here, and I think I know the people who could probably help us make this happen.’” From there, much like forming a band, he set out to find a group of people to help make his vision come true.
Cue a call to Meline, who cemented himself as a fixture in the Sonoma County scene in the early to mid-’90s and who, at that time, was 19-year-old creator and editor for the popular zine Positively 4th Street, which chronicled the street and music scene of Santa Rosa. He was also a musician in bands Ground Round, The Blockheads and Tilt.
Del Buono figured correctly when he reached out to Meline, who himself still had a large collection of clippings, flyers and zines from the ’90s and also knew of people he could turn to who likely had similar archives from the ’70s-’80s. As such, the show will feature the largest-ever public display of vintage Sonoma County punk flyers from 1980–1999, devoted to bands like AFI, Dead Kennedys, Sublime, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Operation Ivy, Primus, Mr. Bungle, Neurosis and Black Flag, just to name but a very few.
With Meline knee-deep in curation, Del Buono needed someone to handle the design work for promoting the show. He reached out to longtime local musician and artist Josh Staples (who also plays in The New Trust) since next to Meline, there’s few people in the area these days who have been part of the scene for such a long time.
Staples also says he was the sort-of Petaluma side to Meline’s Santa Rosa in terms of the major epicenters for the punk scene. “Gabe and I have known each other for such a long time and worked together on other projects,” says Staples, adding that he also helped brainstorm bands, shows and parties from days of old. “I’m sort of the Petaluma representative because Gabe has Santa Rosa totally covered,” he adds with a laugh.
Meline says he has a pretty deep archive of flyers, photos and more, but “for an exhibit like this, I’ve gotten in touch with so many people. There’s probably, at this point, up to 30 people that I’ve worked with to get stuff for the exhibit and flyers in particular.” He notes that the flyers collected represent a huge swath of time and that “there were people who had more than me from the very early ’80s, even from the late ’70s, like bonafide punk shows at the Showcase Theater,” before it was later resurrected as the Phoenix Theatre.
Another highlight is the digitization of several recordings which were made on cassette, vinyl and/or CD before music went digital. Tracks from bands like the aforementioned Tilt as well as Nuisance, Disciples of Ed, Conspiracy, Skankin’ Pickle and Tsunami Bomb were preserved again, just to name but a few. At the retrospective, there will be listening stations for digitized media as well as vinyl record players and cassette decks so young folks can enjoy the nostalgia of their parents.
Of course, sourcing and culling all of this detritus and ephemera is overwhelming. But was there anything that sparked a light bulb in Meline’s head during this walk down memory lane?
“If anything, I’ve been surprised at where shows happened because punks are nothing if not resourceful and scrappy, and all you need is a place to plug in your amps,” says Meline. He continues, “There have been some utterly ridiculous shows in Sonoma County that I knew about or participated in myself, but learning that Fang played at an Odd Fellows Hall out on Highway 12 across from the St. Francis Shopping Center… Or, a barn party in Healdsburg way up on West Side Road that Operation Ivy played…”
Continuing on the DIY ideology behind the punk rock ethos, Meline notes the unique nature of Sonoma County in terms of how “punk rock” may not fit the rural aesthetic. “A big part of this exhibit is shows in fields, in barns, in backyards, in chicken coops,” he says with a laugh.
“That was one of Sonoma County’s own spins on what punk was,” he continues. “San Francisco had Mabuhay Gardens, and Berkeley had Gilman, but Sonoma County—you couldn’t play shows in clubs here because club owners hated that. It was too loud. The crowds were kind of chaotic, and they couldn’t really sell a lot of beer because punks drink in the alley around the corner.”
By now, longtime music fans in Sonoma County are “what about-ing,” and not to worry; the Phoenix Theatre, Arlene Francis Center and other small notables are featured. In fact, mid-chat with Meline and Del Buono, the former notes he is set to pick up a metal trash can from Phoenix Theatre manager Tom Gaffey that has been in-use in the lobby since 1984. One read that correctly; the same metal garbage can has stood in the Phoenix lobby for more than 40 years, which is a story unto its own.
While the opening night preview and reception are now sold out, “Disturbing the Peace: Sonoma County’s Early Punk Underground” will run all the way through Aug. 23. It is open to all ages.
The Museum of Sonoma County is located at 475 Seventh St., Santa Rosa. Further information on this exhibition and more are online at museumsc.org.
