Blog

Look! This Is My Dis-Claimer*!

Submitted by jgervasi on Tue, 2013-07-02 11:36

By means of a disclaimer, I feel compelled to state that none of the views, opinions, meowings, skywriting at night, Tragic 8-Ball missive misinterpretations, prison yard india ink tattoo scrawlings, gastric warblings, monosyllabic oath invectives, exposed belly snail trail helixes, messy glandular secretions, kinetic tentacle typings, or tombstone-carved epitaphs that comprise this blog should reflect the views or opinions of the interview subjects (those sainted souls). Nor should this blog reflect upon the LOUD! FAST! PHILLY! project as a whole. Running a website means constantly PRODUCING! MORE! MATERIAL! To this end, I will contribute my thoughts and observations to this blog. I've been known to be a prickly pear at times and I do like to step on toes on occasion. Hence, my words wear steel-capped boots and the desire to let them fall as they will can be a heavy burden. Take these words with a pillar of salt. Know that as much as I want you to get some enjoyment out of my writing, my greater desire is to some day have you give me some of your money.

* I have hyphenated the word "disclaimer" in the title because Dis bands are punk and this blog is backed by the d-beat.

Best Way To Reach Me

Submitted by jgervasi on Fri, 2020-08-07 12:01

Hi. Since most of the messages I get through this site are spam, I probably often miss real message. If you would like to reach me about this project or anything else, please contact to me through Facebook, Instagram, or in care of my Diabolik DVD business. I can't give out my personal email address here, but I'm pretty easy to find on social media. I don't want to miss your communication! Thank you for your support of the project, which I may add interviews to in the future.

Bobby Startup Event

Submitted by jgervasi on Fri, 2018-10-19 12:27

Friend of the project and former interview subject Dennis McHugh/Vive 77 is doing an event in honor of Bobby Startup and the Hot Club.

Here is the event listing, which I encourage you to attend:

https://www.facebook.com/events/356323231774282/?notif_t=plan_user_joined¬if_id=1539963801118471

"VIVE 1977 presents... Bobby Startup a Hot Club Retrospective Featuring the flyer art of Bobby Statup. Philly's original punk visionary. Bobby was the booking agent, DJ,as well as lead singer for The Autistics. We will be showing a collection of Bobby's original flyer art. There will be a limited edition of 6 prints available for sale. Signed and numbered by Bobby Startup enlarged to perfect framing size of 18"x24" this editon of 100 printed on a digital Indigo Press on 100# opaque uncoated Hammermill stock. Bobby brought everyone through and to the stage. Always having local Philly bands open the shows for touring international and national bands. From the first show in October 1977 featuring the Dead Boys. Opening act was one-man band Stu Horn and the Invisible Band. Followed by shows from Dead Boys, The Cramps, Pure Hell, Gang of Four, the B52's, Plasmatics, The Stickmen, Madness, Pure Hell, Dead Kennedys, Sic Kidz, The Mumps, The Autistics, Iggy Pop, The Boneheads, Lene Lovich, Sic Fucks, Robert Hazard, Gang War, Bunnydrums, Destroy All Monsters to name a few."

Be sure to listen to my in-depth interview with Bobby Startup if you haven't already.

Gritty!

Submitted by jgervasi on Mon, 2018-10-01 12:27

My friend Doug Polgardy and I made this Gritty meme.

Appearance On the "Bullying the Jukebox" Radio Show

Submitted by jgervasi on Mon, 2018-10-01 12:26

On Tuesday, September 25, 2018 I was the guest on the "Bullying the Jukebox" radio show with host Ryan Chitty of Museum of Punk. For two hours we chatted about my involvement in the punk scene, the Cabbage Collective, LOUD! FAST! PHILLY!, queer punk, the Philly punk scene over the years, and various other related topics. We also played several killer songs. This happened on 106.5 FM WPPM and online at PhillyCAM.com

You may listen to the Mixcloud stream of the entire show here:

https://www.mixcloud.com/bullyingthejuke/episode-19-joseph-gervasi-loud-fast-philly-cabbage-collective/

The photos are of Ryan and me and of my playlist. For the playlist, the songs with hash marks through the numbers got played. Other than the final song, a dedication, the tracks were not played in this order.

I hope you enjoy the show and I thank Ryan for having me on.

If you host a radio show or podcast, I'd be happy to talk with you.

Radio Show Guest Hosting/New Interview

Submitted by jgervasi on Thu, 2018-08-23 10:59

Hello, folks. It's been a while since anything significant was added to the site, but there are two events of note coming in the next month or so.

Confirmed is my guest hosting the "Bullying the Jukebox" radio show hosted by Ryan Chitty (of Museum of Punk fame). It's on the PhillyCAM site and will be available for streaming after it airs. I'll share the streaming link after the airing, when it's sent to me. If you'd like to listen live, go to the website on Tuesday, September 25 from 9 - 11 PM EST. I'll be playing 32 HC punk (mostly) songs that I personally selected and talking to Ryan about punk.

https://phillycam.org/listen

In the works (but a ways from being confirmed) is a new interview with three people about a subject I think many supporters of this project will find fascinating. I would like to say more, but since I never know if these things will come together until they come together, it's best to leave it at that. We're hoping to do the interview in September. I can imagine the photos by Karen Kirchhoff for this one will be terrific.

While other events hover on the edge of possibility, they're not even worth hinting at at present.

If you like these interviews, please tell your friends and, if you can swing it, buy a t-shirt (contact me directly if you're interested).

I thank you for your continued interest and support.

The "We Are The Clash" Event Audio - Bonus Episode

Submitted by jgervasi on Thu, 2018-07-12 13:08

We Are The Clash event photo by Karen Kirchhoff

In this bonus episode, Joseph A. Gervasi interviews Mark Andersen and Ralph Heibutzki, co-authors of the new book, We Are The Clash (Akashic Books, 2018). The episode begins with a short interview that took place before a live event at Brickbat Books in Philadelphia on July 10, 2018 and is followed by the audio of the event itself (in its entirety). The live event was moderated by Frank Blank Moriarty. Both Mark Andersen (of Positive Force DC and We Are Family) and Frank Blank Moriarty (of '80s Philly punk band Informed Sources) have had full interviews as part of the LOUD! FAST! PHILLY! project.

Special thanks to Frank for audio assistance and for his deft interviewing skills at the live event.

All of these photos were taken by Karen Kirchhoff (of course!). She rules.

"We Are The Clash" with Mark Andersen

Submitted by jgervasi on Mon, 2018-06-11 14:38

Hey, friends, check out the event listing are for a new event happening this July 10 in Philadelphia. It'll feature past interview subjects Mark Andersen and Frank Blank Moriarty. I hope to do mini-interviews with them on the day of the event. The plan as it stands is to put the two short catch-up interviews (Mark's focusing on activism in the time of Trump) up here in the blog section and fuse them together into one interview to go up on Cinepunx, iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn, and wherever the hell else they appear. The mini-interviews, like those from the past, will not appear in the main interview body of the site. I hope some of you can make it out and say hi.

Also, I still have some L!F!P! t-shirts. Drop me a line if you're interested.

I Talked To the Nerds With Words

Submitted by jgervasi on Tue, 2018-01-23 09:07

Yesterday I was interviewed for the Nerds With Words podcast, which is hosted by two Philadelphia-based comedians, Greg Trout and Adam Nutter. While L!F!P! is brought up (and Greg did an excellent guest interview with the inimitable David E. Williams for the project a few years ago), it's not the main focus of the interview. Still, I think it may be of interest to some listeners of this project and there's a good deal of Philadelphia talk in the episode.

Give it a listen here:

http://nerdswithwordspodcast.com/2018/01/23/episode-64-joseph-a-gervasi/

P.S. The project lives, though I am only inclined to do a few interviews a year. Look for a couple more interviews in 2018. I feel the interviews I've presented since 2013 represent what I hoped to achieve, so I'm not compelled to keep adding more. But there will be more as I catch up with people I've been looking to connect with or I encounter or hear of new people with interesting perspectives.

The Neil Robinson Follow-Up Interview

Submitted by jgervasi on Mon, 2017-10-23 21:00

I was just in Portland, Oregon and surrounding environs to visit some friends, so I called in on past interview subject (and friend) Neil Robinson. We had dinner at a vegan organic cafe called Papa G's then did a catch-up interview in his truck. Since I did a proper interview with him in the spring of 2015 (I erroneously say summer of 2015 in the interview) , this mini-interview (running just under one hour) can not be part of the main body of interviews. It will reside here in the blog section of the site, but it will go up in the other places where you can hear this interviews (the Cinepunx website, iTunes, Stitcher, GooglePlay, TuneIn) as a bonus episode.

As ever, it was a pleasure to talk to Neil, a man for whom I have great respect. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Remember, you can help this project by spreading the word about it and, if you wish, buying a t-shirt.