#melanie nissen

[bitchtoss]

Fiona Apple photographed by Melanie Nissen, 1996

[theunderestimator-2]

Hector Penalosa as captured by Melanie Nissen back in 1977 while performing at Larchmont Hall, Los Angeles, with The Zeros, a band of high school teenagers from Chula Vista, CA, who helped create the first wave of punk rock in Southern California (photo included in the photographer's 2002 "Hard and Fast " book with photos previously published in Slash Magazine as well as some never seen before).

cheunderground.site/ : "The Zeros, often referred to affectionately as the “Mexican Ramones,” cannot only justifiably lay claim to being San Diego’s first “punk” rock group but also can brag about being one of the first punk groups in the US. In a brief but brilliant career highlighted by some classic recordings as well as shows with the Clash and Devo, the Zeros played the first big punk shows in both Los Angeles and in San Diego as early as 1977, when they were still high-school students (…) at a time when greater San Diego was both indifferent to and unimpressed by counterculture movements of any kind. Zeros guitarist and lead vocalist Javier Escovedo hails from a musical family… His brother Alejandro founded San Francisco punk band the Nuns, whose pinnacle was opening for the Sex Pistols in their legendary final concert in 1978 at the Winterland, and, was the family member with the most influence upon his musical tastes. Zeros guitarist Robert Lopez and his cousin, Zeros drummer Baba Chenelle grew up together listening to music and learning to play the guitar and drums, respectively. Baba and Hector met in PE class at Chula Vista Junior High School on April 4, 1975, the Monday after KISS made its first appearance on Burt Sugarman’s “Midnight Special.” “I told this kid I had seen this band on TV with a bunch of makeup and platforms,” Hector remembers. “Baba said, ‘Yeah, man, they’re cool. I have three of their records, so I’ll bring ‘em tomorrow, and you can check ‘em out.’ Baba turned me on to a lot of cool music like Aerosmith, the Modern Lovers and the Velvets, and we became friends,” says Hector. Hector decided to switch to bass so that he could eliminate his competition. He began teaching himself to play bass using three albums as guides: “The New York Dolls”; the Dolls’ “Too Much, Too Soon”; and John Lennon’s “Rock and Roll.” During this time, Javier and Robert, who were students at Chula Vista High School, were playing in a band called the Main Street Brats, covering Standells, Seeds, and Velvet Underground songs, alongside Javier’s originals like “Main Street Brat,” “Siamese Tease,” “Wimp” and “Don’t Push Me Around.” They recruited Baba to be the group’s drummer, and later that year, when they needed a bass player, Hector was invited to audition at Javier’s house in Chula Vista. “I didn’t hear from them for a long time afterwards,” Hector remembers. “I finally asked Baba about it, and he told me that they weren’t sure because they thought if I joined there would be too many Mexicans in the band! They were looking for a blonde guy.” The band had now become the Zeros, a nod to a line by Lester Bangs Javier had read in Creem magazine: “I don’t wanna be a hero, I just wanna be a zero.” Founding members of the band Robert Lopez & Hector Penalosa reunited to form The Zeros ’77 and will be performing on a mini So-Sal tour on 17 Sept. in LA, 21 Sept. in San Diego & 22 Sept. in Long Beach. (from 'Getting Nowhere Fas't, a book on the '76-'86 San Diego scene by Ray Brandes of The Tale-Tell Hearts)

(via)

[bitter69uk]

For me, the two essential, iconic “faces” of the Los Angeles punk subculture will forever be Darby Crash, the feral frontman of The Germs and twisted voodoo dolly Exene Cervenka of X. Here is the duo captured in their surly youthful glory on a Hollywood rooftop in the late seventies by photographer Melanie Nissen (from her book Hard + Fast). Crash (aka Bobby Pyn, real name: Jan Paul Beahm, 26 September 1958 - 7 December 1980) was born on this day sixty-six years ago. “He was Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious rolled into one, a befuddled punk prophet with a brilliant mind,” Chris Campion writes in “Darby Crash: Saint Anger” in the October 2014 edition of Dazed Digital. “Darby Crash presided over the birth of the LA punk scene in 1977 and signaled its demise with his own self-inflicted death three years later. His was a vision of chaos that would never come to pass but left in its wake a legacy of destruction and one fiery punk classic, the Germs' 1979 Joan Jett-produced album, G.I.” Swallow a fistful of ‘ludes, smear yourself in peanut butter and blast “Forming”, “Lexicon Devil” or “Media Blitz” LOUD today in Crash’s memory!

[undergroundrockpress]

Deborah Harry.

Photo : Melanie Nissen, 1977.

[ridingwithmary]

Exene Cervenka and John Doe from the band X, 1977.

Photo by Melanie Nissen

[fionaapplerocks]

Fiona Apple

[punkrockhistory]

Darby Crash and Exene Cervenka

Slash Magazine Office, Los Angeles, 1979

Photo by Melanie Nissen

[kvetchlandia]

Melanie NIssen Alice Bag and The Bags Performing, Los Angeles 1978

[iamdangerace]

Darby Crash of the Germs and Exene Cervenka of X, on a Hollywood rooftop around 1977. (Melanie Nissen - Los Angeles Times)

[traderrock]

The Germs, 1979.

Lorna Doom, Pat Smear, Darby Crash, Don Bolles.

Photo: Melanie Nissen.

[ffactory]

Dianne Chai, Randy Stodola, and John McCarthy of the Alleycats (1979, ph. Melanie Nissen)

[vmonteiro23a]

The Cramps - Cover of Slash volume two #4 March 1979. Photo Melanie Nissen

The Cramps – Cover of Slash volume two #4 March 1979. Photo Melanie Nissen

[minayuri]

Happy Anniversary Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler!

On this day, Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler was released on April 27th, 1922. It was based on the novel written by Norbert Jacques.

The film was released in two parts:

Part I- Der große Spieler: Ein Bild der Zeit (The Great Gambler: A Picture of the Time) Part II- Inferno: Ein Spiel von Menschen unserer Zeit (Inferno : A Game of People of Our Time)

Among the starring cast include:

Rudolf Klein-Rogge (Rotwang of Metropolis) as Dr. Mabuse

Aud Egede-Nissen (Melanie Lubota of Phantom (1922)) as Cara Carozza

Gertrude Welcker (Gesine of Chronicles of the Grey House) as Countess Dusy Told

Alfred Abel (Joh Fredersen of Metropolis) as Count Told

Bernhard Goetzke (Death of Der müde Tod) as State Attorney von Wenk

Paul Richter (Siegfried of Die Nibelungen) as Edgar Hull

[bitter69uk]

“In retrospect, it’s easy to dismiss the Germs as the epitome of LA’s early identipunk scene. Singer Darby Crash was a barking spikey-haired brat, an alarming adolescent combination of Johnny Rotten’s snarling vocal ferocity and Sid Vicious’ self-destructive cool. Three years after the band’s first live performance (at the Whisky in 1977), Crash died of a drug overdose, reportedly self-inflicted in morbid tribute to Vicious’ own fatal OD in 1979.”

/ From The Trouser Press Record Guide, 1985 /

Died on this day: feral frontman of Los Angeles punk band the Germs, Darby Crash (aka Bobby Pyn, real name: Jan Paul Beahm, 26 September 1958 - 7 December 1980). “He was Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious rolled into one, a befuddled punk prophet with a brilliant mind,” Chris Campion writes in “Darby Crash: Saint Anger” in the October 2014 edition of Dazed Digital. “Darby Crash presided over the birth of the LA punk scene in 1977 and signaled its demise with his own self-inflicted death three years later. His was a vision of chaos that would never come to pass but left in its wake a legacy of destruction and one fiery punk classic, the Germs' 1979 Joan Jett-produced album, G.I.”  Swallow a fistful of ‘ludes, give yourself a Mohawk, smear yourself in peanut butter and blast “Forming”, “Lexicon Devil” or “Media Blitz” LOUD today in Crash’s memory! Pictured: Crash (looking suave in white denim) with that other great punk frontman Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys captured by photographer Melanie Nissen circa 1978/79.

[undergroundrockpress]

Howard Devoto (Magazine), 1979.

Photo by Melanie Nissen.

[ridingwithmary]

Exene Cervenka of X, 1979

From a photo by Melanie Nissen