Politics and Punk go hand in hand

Readers are invited to comment about what they'd like to see in these pages, and I'll be happy to oblige wherever possible. Meaningful punk survives and thrives and even though it's a billion dollar industry now, the train keeps a rollin all night long.

Feel free to post notices of protest concerts and benefit shows, particularly those featuring punk, reggae, ska, world and other rebel music. Here are some of my earliest punk influences:

Sex Pistols

DOA

The Clash

Subhumans

Dead Boys

Ramones

Demics

Young Canadians

Teenage Head

Damned

In Vancouver, I wrote and sang for The Reactors as Joey Power, and after moving to Toronto I formed Joe College and the Rulers with my friend Russ, a bassist known in punk circles as Menachem Begin! In Vancouver I was fortunate and honoured to open for the Subhumans, The Young Canadians and The Modernettes, and the tradition carried on in Ontario where we were able to rock the house with the likes of Teenage Head, DOA, and Crash Kills Five. 

True Canadian Hero and international punk pioneer Joe Keithley from DOA has written an intriguing book (I Shithead, A Life In Punk) that highlights that 79-81 era and I think it's a good read, as is the book by Buck Cherry of The Modernettes.

Keep me posted,

Joe College