{"id":341,"date":"2010-05-17T12:08:19","date_gmt":"2010-05-17T20:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/onelife\/?p=341"},"modified":"2010-05-17T12:08:19","modified_gmt":"2010-05-17T20:08:19","slug":"who-remains-undead-unbowed-vital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/?p=341","title":{"rendered":"Who remains. Undead, unbowed, vital."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hairiness; much hairiness! Who has time for spring cleaning with all that\u2019s been going on? I’m still recovering from the premiere of Susanne Tabata\u2019s punk rock movie, Bloodied But Unbowed<\/em>.<\/a> I couldn\u2019t decide whether, or how to wear the Subhumans-Incorrect Thoughts<\/em>, Rock Against Racism <\/em>and Avengers<\/em> buttons I dug out of my collection. Hey, I didn\u2019t brandish badges then, why start now? I didn\u2019t shave my head or wear a black leather jacket either. I couldn\u2019t afford one! I stuffed the relics in a pocket to share with my Vancouver punk rock homies.<\/p>\n

I was delighted to see former band members Conny Nowe, drummer of my first group, the all-girl Zellots-who just happened to be visiting from Toronto-and The 45s Brad Kent and Randy Rampage. Conny’s been playing music, currently in an outfit called Swamperella<\/em> with renowned bassist Rachel Melas. I marveled at how marvelous she looked as we chatted before the movie started rolling.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve run into Randy a few times over the years but hadn\u2019t seen Brad since I was nine months pregnant, my son, now 15. I\u2019d been walking down the street near 12th and Clark in Vancouver when I heard a voice braying \u201cHollywood and Western,\u201d the scene of a notorious east end rehearsal space the 45s used. I turned around and there was Brad! The meeting was a little awkward and fleeting but at Thursday night\u2019s after-party, he came and sat with me, gave me a big hug and apologized profusely about breaking up the 45s on the eve of our gig with PiL at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. \u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to say that to you all these years.\u201d<\/p>\n

My<\/em> biggest regret . . . . . . it was a really good band! We agreed. It was also a unique band. (Did Brad say he had a tape? I’ll have to look into that.) I was quite philosophical but he reminded me how furious I\u2019d been at the time. Of course I was. I was devastated. It took years to recover. Everybody left. I was aimless, abandoned, desperately poor, pretty much homeless. It must have been stubborn pride but I was determined not to return to Vancouver, tail between my legs. I went to San Francisco, where I knew no one, eventually meeting Bruce Loose of Flipper\u2014rooming with him and his violinist-pastry chef girlfriend Diane of Animal Things\u2014Matt Heckert of Pink Section, Richard Kelly of Clubfoot<\/a> and the Clubfoot Orchestra (who said I reminded him of Carla Bley), Brock Wheaton of Chinas Comidas and Johanna Went, Val Vale of Search and Destroy, Mark Paulene of Survival Research Lab, several Dead Kennedys and the illustrious Peter Haskell, with whom I moved to New York City. We got hitched and tried in vain to put together a band; rehearsal time exorbitantly expensive. A cohort of John Doe and the X crew, Peter and I returned to LA, put together a poetry zine called Rattler<\/em> and a band with future Thelonius Monster bassist Jon Huck and ex-Modernette drummer John MacAdams. Sadly, it turned out to be the band with no name that went nowhere and Peter and I broke up. Finally though, finally I got a group off the ground, Heather Haley & the Zellots, named one of \u201cLA\u2019s Great Bands\u201d by rock critic Craig Lee though we did not get the major label recording contract I was certain we were entitled to. We did not pass Go, did not collect 200 (ooo) dollars. \u201cNobody interviews the losers,\u201d said Art in his BBU interview. Many of us feel that pain. Loss, losing, didn\u2019t enter my mind. I had everything figured out. I was so special, so talented all I had to do was write amazing songs, put together a fantastic band, and sing. How naive. Well, I was<\/em> just a kid, a small town girl from the backwoods of BC. It\u2019s amazing I survived but my Vancouver punk rock schooling might have had something to do with it. I was a tough kid but it made me stronger though perhaps only a little smarter.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I love the genre\u2014documentary-Bloodied But Unbowed<\/em> a stellar and compelling piece of filmmaking. There were grumblings about who got left out, including Chuck Biscuits who was sort of in it but not really, his face blacked out, due to some legal bullshit\u2014I think\u2014another hot topic at the after-party. Several people pointed out I wasn\u2019t in it either. C\u2019est la vie.<\/em> Sure, I would love to be have been featured\u2014I was<\/em> there\u2014but still, the film effectively portrayed a glorious time in my life, a time that served to galvanize us all and propel me on an inevitable journey of self-discovery. I may never have gotten on a stage or become an artist if I hadn\u2019t walked into the Windmill that night to have my ears\u2014and mind\u2014blown my DOA. So kudos to Susanne. I\u2019m relieved somebody stepped up and created an important document of our short, sweet, euphoric time of vision, camaraderie and explosive creativity. Life is too short to be bitter and surely Bloodied But Unbowed <\/em>will inspire others to make their own treatises on the subject.<\/p>\n

An exhilarating night, we also got to see punk rock luminaries Scott Beadle, the Dishrags-Jade, Dale and Scout sitting next to me during the screening-Bill Scherk, Gord Nicholl, Ron Reyes, Tony Bardach and his luminously beautiful daughter Alexa-Carola, Bob and Tabitha Montgomery, Dennis Mills, Lincoln Clarkes, Diane and Walt Makaroff, Jaime Clay, Chris Crud, Doug Smith, much beloved Bev Davies and Mary Jo, Lenore Herb-who provided some great video footage she shot back in the day, Ian Tiles and Jerry Useless, who both provided more than a few eloquent insights in the documentary. I hope I didn\u2019t leave anyone out!<\/p>\n

Speaking of punk, I saw an article in the paper about the latest trend claiming subculture status, steam punk<\/em> and their upcoming Victoria Steam Exposition in Victoria on Victoria Day. Woo Woo! Think Wild, Wild West,<\/em> which I knew, even as a child, was edgy. It\u2019s a little ironic as I\u2019ve been tutoring my aforementioned son in the Industrial Revolution and the steam engine for his Distance Ed social studies unit which may have triggered the dream I had about stealing a top hat. I had written a poem but was soon very distressed to find that I had lost it. Is that why I stole the dude\u2019s hat? Dream logic. It all makes sense. Anyway, as the article states, it\u2019s true that people were naive about technology in the Victorian era, optimistic about what technology could do for society. This steam punk scene consists of a little literature, a lot of fashion and style, which is fine. I like style, style is crucial but we, the subjects of Bloodied But Unbowed<\/em>, were all about substance. We were, are<\/em> substantial. What remains, who<\/em> remains no less vital.<\/p>\n

Next time I\u2019ll include an excerpt from my novel The Town Slut\u2019s Daughter<\/em> depicting the St. Valentine\u2019s Day Massacre debacle. Yikes! Talk about a trip down Memory Lane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hairiness; much hairiness! Who has time for spring cleaning with all that\u2019s been going on? I’m still recovering from the premiere of Susanne Tabata\u2019s punk rock movie, Bloodied But Unbowed. I couldn\u2019t decide whether, or how to wear the Subhumans-Incorrect Thoughts, Rock Against Racism and Avengers buttons I dug out of my collection. Hey, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[26,41,49,58,62,86,88,128,149,150,183,231,232,251,254,301,307,318,327],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/heatherhaley.com\/hh2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}