Hudley Flipside (HUD)
People treated me as though I was insane. They would throw things out of their car windows at me while I waited at the bus stop. They would call me names too, oh the nasty world. Life was not so nice. Strange though, I was wonderfully happy and smiling then, oblivious to the world I lived in… ha ha ha. I never frowned much in the early days when I was transforming into a punk rocker. I had a wild happy grin on my face, kind of like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. A crack in the universe was opening and pulling me in. I was finally going to be educated… I fell into the punk underground, but I was not a groupie or reject from an earlier music scene. I was one with the punk scene, and I tumbled into the mystery of it. I had a voice again like I did when I was that young tomboy. The punk scene was like Halloween, Christmas, horror films, and freedom all at the same time. Overwhelmed, I felt as though I was in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, mimicking Puck— taking on the images that were around me without question.
I was becoming one with my punkalullaby. I coined the word punkalullaby. It means that the whole time I was in the punk rock scene, from beginning to end {always will be}, it was all about a song. One song to the next pulled me throughout the scene. ~ Excerpt from My Punkalullaby.
It is hard to say what my first punk rock gig was but it was in 1978 at the Whisky A Go Go. The Avengers, Devo, The Weirdos, or my close friends The Middle Class… It was all about beer in the parking lot below the Licorice Pizza Records store on Sunset BLVD. Beer, music, and anarchy became our God.
I worked with Posh Boy Records to put out Rodney on ROQ Volume 1,2,3 (Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine Rodney on ROQ record inserts Issues 21, 28, 35) and Flipside Records. I was the co-owner and editor of Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine 1979 to 1989. I also contributed to the fanzine New Wave Chicken in 2016…
Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine had a good relationship with all local gig promoters. We did live video recordings at most shows, while promoting the gigs and the bands for the fans. It was always a symbiotic relationship. Punk hubs among punk hubs. I will never forget the Todd Rundgren show at a GOLDENVOICE gig, we all danced and sang each song together… punks, skins, and new wavers!
I love the punk scene and always will. I have participated significantly over the years and during the 1980s to the punk scene. Here is a short sample of my involvement. In recent years I helped Tequila Mockingbird curator of the Los Angeles Punk Museum. I have given punk academy talks at UCLA and Whittier College. In 1984 I did a yearlong Flipside Radio DJ program with KFJC. I have always been bound to promote punk bands. I contributed to documentaries such as Punk the Capital, a documentary of the early DC punk scene, and books such as Let Them Know, The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records. It would be nice to get paid… sometimes I still get on the guest list.
I had one of my pictures in the 2016 film 20th Century Women. It was the last image taken of the original Black Flag line up. It was taken at the infamous underground Church in Orange County. The picture has been used many times without my permission or credit. So, I played a fast one. I was given full credit in the film, as well as Flipside Fanzine. My personal sweet revenge.
One of my hobbies with Flipside Fanzine was to encourage our letter section in each issue. I collected the mail, read the letters, typed them up as well as responded. We were a punk hub of pen pal-based correspondence. Be it fans, bands, beyond and internationally read. Lots of fun. Occasionally we had moms tell us to give their kids subscription money back. We were trash and they did not want their young punksters reading such lewdness.
Fun punk trivia – Around 1980 we “Flipside” were moving to a new house. Behind my correspondence desk I found a letter subscription from Henry Garfield. (Henry Rollins.) The subscription seemed old. So, when we interviewed Henry when he joined Black Flag as the new upcoming singer in 1981, he busted my chops about this and did not believe my sincerely told story. He was still pissed he never received his subscription, poor animal. He has treated me wicked ever since.
I am a natural born entrepreneur and now run a small publishing company called The Seminary of Praying Mantis. It is based in a bedroom converted into a business office. I am married with two sons. Now three cats. We are living in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California close to where I grew up in Woodland Hills.
The Seminary of Praying Mantis has recently published two books. Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine # 54 Ten Year Anniversary Issue (replica) Paperback, the original voice of punk rock 1977 – 1987. The sidekick to this book is My Punkalullaby. A paperback memoir of my years as a co-publisher, owner, and editor of Los Angeles Flipside Fanzine. Available at Amazon.
More info can be found at https://hudleyflipside.com/