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Posts Tagged ‘UGZ Presents’
Punk Movie Night
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
The first UGZ Presents “Punk Movie Night” took place on September 15, 2001 at 924 Gilman in Berkeley, CA, four days after 9/11. This was years before I (Jay Unidos) was an official Gilman booker, and so for this show I had to work with Jake (who was an official Gilman booker at that time) to hold the date, and that was how we were able to book our two “Punk Movie Night” events at Gilman. UGZ booked and promoted the entire bill, and even paid for our own flyers. Jake was helpful in the sense that he liked what I was doing with my “Punk Movie Night” column at MaximumRocknRoll, and he could understand the concept of making that column come to life in the form of a live event every month or two or three. I don’t know that we pulled that off exactly, but the first show had a huge turnout, thanks in large part to TRAGEDY driving down from Portland to headline the show. Martin Sorrondeguy from LIMPWRIST/LOS CRUDOS also drove up from Santa Ana to show his film “Beyond The Screams: A U.S. Latino Hardcore Punk Documentary“, and there was even a Japanese jump on band.
The show is remembered for a lot of things, but one of the most sensational incidents to take place had to be the fire breathing drum circle performance that went up in flames – literally. At least the leader of the Troupe, Ben “The Crimson Baboon” De La Torre, did when a patron exited through the side door causing a draft to blow in, redirecting one of Ben’s fireballs to change direction and reverse back down him and his very hairy face. It looked horrific, and it definitely sent a chill down my spine as I stood in the sound loft looking out at what had to be the worst case scenario for that kind of performance, and the show itself. Time stood still, and then someone grabbed Ben and pulled him down to the ground, extinguishing the flames so quickly that hardly anybody knew exactly what had taken place. Moments later I walked over to the Gilman office where Ben was seated, looking like someone had just bikini waxed his face. Of course everyone was uriging him to go to the emergency room, but he wasn’t budging. As they say, the show must go on, and it did, barely even falling behind schedule.
Here are some videos from that night, but unfortunately or maybe fortunately there isn’t any video online of the fire incident. What you do get are three of the bands that played our first “Punk Movie Night” at Gilman: TRAGEDY, FUNERAL, and the Japanese jump on band ENDZWECK. Remember when watching the TRAGEDY clip that this was four days after 9/11. Thanks to KILLTHATCAT for uploading these videos.
UGZ Speed Trials 2001
Thursday, August 5th, 2010Here’s some rare footage from our first ever UGZ Speed Trials in 2001. That inaugural Speed Trials event took place at Burnt Ramen (Studios) in Richmond, CA and featured a mixture of thrash, grind, and hardcore punk. Totally d.i.y., and it seemed like all the bands that night arrived ready to show everyone what the meaning of speed was, adhering strictly to the fifteen minute set time limit of course. Some bands, like VOETSEK, took it to a more theatrical place, while a band like IRON LUNG, featured in this video, just did their thing and let the chips fall where they may. Hopefully, more footage from 2002 will make it’s way back to us, so that we can share that night with those of you who missed it the first time. I know, it’s not the same, but it’s the best we can do until time machines are invented.
Back To Oakland
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
Here’s the poster design I did for something we called the Back To Oakland fest in 2004, which was supposed to be a very local version of our Rampaging Insane Depravity Fests, which took place in 2001 and 2002. We even called it R.I.D. Fest initially, and we still flew the R.I.D. Fest banner at the shows. The first night took place at a bar in downtown Oakland called the Golden Bull, and the club’s booker was Scott Alcoholocaust of Alcoholocaust Presents, but that particular night the bill was actually booked by myself with the intention (my intention) of including it as part of our planned weekend, but I still had to go through Scott to get the date and all that stuff. The Golden Bull was a heavy Oakland spot at that time, and WATCH THEM DIE wanted to do a show where their Oakland bar friends would actually show up, and they did. That show was especially awesome because it was a back from tour show for WATCH THEM DIE, who I basically co-managed for several years, plus the bill also featured JEWDRIVER and DEATHTOLL, who were two bands that we supported and worked with at the time. The draw and bills for nights one and two at the Golden Bill and Hazmat/DxE warehouse were awesome, but unfortunately night three bombed a little due to a huge show that Mike ‘Cyco Loco’ Avilez put together over in San Francisco with 45 GRAVE and a bunch of bands in a huge warehouse with a half pipe, and as a booker you know when another show has way more buzz than yours.
In retrospect, the Back To Oakland experiment didn’t really have any long lasting effects on the scene. Don’t get me wrong, we booked and promoted numerous shows at various Bay Area venues with bands like DEATHTOLL, ESKAPO, ONE IN THE CHAMBER, DYING IN YOUR BEAUTY SLEEP, LAUDANUM, and others for the next year or two. I personally saw a connection and felt strongly about those bands, but in the end only a few of those bands ever formed any real bonds with one another. Years after the fact, it seems like maybe some of these folks are tighter now, but it’s 2010 son, and the past is history.
Photos by Murray Bowles
UGZ Magazine Is Now On Facebook!
Saturday, July 31st, 2010
I just started a Facebook page for UGZ Magazine, so if you’re on Facebook, and we both know that you are, then stop on over and check us out. If you have any UGZ related photos, videos, memories, flyer art, etc, then your contributions are more than welcome. Click the UGZ logo above, or click here!
UGZ Presents Has Left The Building
Monday, July 26th, 2010
My four year run as a booker at 924 Gilman came to an end recently, and while I think my decision surprised some of the club’s staff of volunteers, most of my inner circle were well aware that I had reached the end of my rope. In four years, three and half spent serving as the club’s head booker, I transformed Gilman’s booking department into an entirely different monster than the one that existed for the previous twenty years. There were changes that had to be made at first, and then it was a question of how much we could accomplish before hitting the wall. In the process I helped to elevate the head booker position to something akin to what the head coordinator position was in the nineties. I had a lot of influence, which now that I’m leaving I’ll readily admit to, but I put in the work necessary and the time needed to maintain that influence for the entire time that I was active at Gilman. What really set me a part from others during those four years was that I always had a vision when it came to the booking department. I updated my approach from year to year, but I envisioned certain details from day one, and then I methodically set about making those a reality. Since every other department at the club remained stagnant for the last four years, changes in booking took on more prominence and came to be seen as signs that I was drastically altering the course of the club. If that’s true, then it really just means that the booking department is, as I’ve always argued, at the top of the Gilman food chain and so every decision made by booking has a ripple effect on the entire club. This was a hard pill to swallow for many long time volunteers, and even for some of our newer, more idealistic volunteers, who got involved with Gilman believing that it was a non-profit community space where the rent was cheap and the shows were secondary to activism and sewing circles. At the end of the day, those persons who didn’t agree with my vision of the club, which really just meant that they didn’t agree with my idea that booking drives the club, were never willing to put in the same amount of time and work needed to make their own visions a reality at Gilman.
We had a chance to revisit the first half of 2010 at a recent membership meeting via a financial statement drawn up by the club’s treasurer. Heading into July of this year, the club appears to be thriving financially in it’s 24th year of existence. The numbers show a gain (profit) of $7605.10 after the first six months of 2010. Those numbers are based on deposits made by club coordinators at the end of shows, and do not include any profits from the Gilman stoar. The stoar (that is how we spell it) is set to post record profits in 2010 since t-shirt and tote bag sales have been through the roof.
So with a gain of $7605.10, and with another $15,326.72 having come in via the donate button on the Gilman website (run entirely by booking and the head of sound until July of 2010), Gilman is cruising into the second half of 2010 with roughly a $22,931.82 cushion.
It seems very unlikely that the volunteers currently running the club could blow through that much money in the next six months, and so you should expect to see a significant gain for 2010, even with the current rent increase. Without any noticeable attempts at fundraising by anyone outside of booking thus far, and with the club no closer to becoming a non-profit corporation than it was six months ago, one can only hope that those numbers, as impressive as they are, won’t lull the club’s staff into a false sense of security. It will be interesting to watch as the would be new leaders at the club, folks like Karen O’Brien, take the reigns finally. Can a booker driven club transition to a board of directors driven venue, while continuing to make similar financial gains, as well as needed changes to the corporate structure? Only time will tell.
If you want to learn more about my time at Gilman, then click here…
Lars Knudson
Thursday, July 15th, 2010Lars Knudson has returned to show photography after taking a couple of years off to open a vegan restaurant in San Jose, CA., amongst other things, and we couldn’t be happier. Lars’ photos from the 2005 UGZ Speed Trials at Gilman captured the action and energy of the event in a way that no one has since, even on video, although Dan Hashthrash has come damn close a couple of times. Check out Lars Knudson’s website at http://www.pbase.com/pistolswing to see more of his work, both past and present, or scroll down for a sample from his 2005 Speed Trials gallery.
Low Threat Profile
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
UGZ Presents 2004
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
This is a photo I took of DEATHTOLL playing the Hazmat back in 2004 when UGZ Presents was taking a more low key approach to promoting our shows. In 2004 and 2005 we were booking a lot of shows under the “Ear2TheGround Punx” banner, which really just meant that instead of shows being primarily booked by one person, i.e. me (Jay Unidos), they were booked by myself and Yapple from Deathtoll or by myself and Marcus Da Anarchist. This was prior to the Myspace era of the Pyrate Punx, so the crew was pretty small and I was easily able to book and flyer a majority of O.P.P. shows during that time. Often a show (and flyer) would start out with the “UGZ Presents” banner, then we’d switch it to “Oakland Pyrate Punx Presents” or “Ear2TheGround Punx” banners depending on whether Marcus was drawing the flyer or helping out with the door. If it was Black Dawg’s Barfday Bash or the Arghcore Championships, then we just booked those as “Oakland Pyrate Punx Presents” shows from the beginning.
Seems like yesterday…
Some of our main local bands we booked constantly at that time (2004-2005) were DEATHTOLL, A.D.T., LAUDANUM, ONE IN THE CHAMBER, ESKAPO, BLOWN TO BITS, WATCH THEM DIE, and JEWDRIVER. Some of the main venues for that same period of time were Burnt Ramen, Mission Records, Warm Water Cove, Slaughterhaus, Hazmat, John Patrick’s, Stork Club, and the Arcadia Skate Ramp Hotel.
Not exactly 2004, but close enough…
Ear2TheGround Punx booked a couple of benefit shows for the 2005 B.O.B. Fest that took place in Oakland, as well as booking and promoting one of the best shows of that year’s fest, which took place at the Arcadia Skate Ramp Hotel in West Oakland. Ear2TheGround Punx being Yapple and myself on the booking front, with Marcus Da Anarchist taking care of all the artwork, not to mention working the door all night with myself and Serena.
And finally, it came to this…
After 2005, UGZ Presents took six months off from booking, then following a move from East Oakland to Downtown Berkeley, I was asked by 924 Gilman’s staff to help out on the booking front. After a few months of laying in the cut, the UGZ presents banner reappeared with a vengeance on December 30th, 2006 with a sold out 20th anniversary show that I booked for the club. A month later I booked a belated December Bastards B-Day Bash at the Padded Cell (Chop Shop) in Oakland under the Ear2TheGround Punx banner, featuring Yapple’s new band A.D.T., and Marcus Da Anarchist doing the artwork. That was pretty much the end of that chapter, but it was an awesome show. Check out these videos from that night.
-Jay Unidos