Eastside Punks—A Screening and Conversation
Live via Zoom

Admission is free.

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Read the theme guide PDF for this event: http://bit.ly/VVEastsidePunks-theme

DESCRIPTION: 
Celebrate the release of three documentary shorts produced by Razorcake magazine about first-generation East L.A. punk bands. Excerpts will be screened, followed by an explosive panel featuring Eastside Punks director Jimmy Alvarado and musicians Tracy “Skull” Garcia (Thee Undertakers), Teresa Covarrubias (The Brat), and Jack Rivera (Stains)—who played storied L.A. punk venues such as The Vex and the Hong Kong Café alongside influential bands such as The Plugz, X, and Black Flag. The conversation will be moderated by Dino Everett, archivist for Eastside Punks and the USC School of Cinematic Arts. 

About the panelists:
Jimmy Alvarado has been active in East L.A.’s underground music scene since 1981 as a musician, backyard gig promoter, writer, poet, bouncer, flyer artist, photographer, podcaster, historian, and filmmaker. He has authored numerous interviews, articles, and short films spotlighting the Eastside scene. An episode of his Eastside Punks documentary series, about The Brat, was named Best Documentary Short at the 2020 Highland Park Independent Film festival. He also plays guitar in the bands La Tuya and Our Band Sucks.

Teresa Covarrubias was the vocalist for The Brat. Delivering smart, taut pop delivered with righteous punk fury, a meeting with members of X led to an opening slot at the Whisky a Go Go and their introduction to the greater Los Angeles underground music scene. Their debut EP Attitudes is a prized item among collectors and Straight Outta East L.A., a double album packaging it with other rare tracks, was released in 2017.

Tracy “Skull” Garcia was the bass player of Thee Undertakers. Starting off by playing local parties in 1977, they became regulars in the scene centered around the The Vex. Their 1981 debut album Crucify Me successfully melded second-wave hardcore bite with first-wave art sensibilities, but wasn’t released until 2001 on CD and 2020 on vinyl.

Jack Rivera drummed for the Stains, East L.A.’s first, most notorious, and highly influential punk band. The Stains were contemporaries and friends of Los Angeles first-wave bands Germs, X, Mau Maus, Screamers, and The Gears. Their out-of-print, self-titled album on SST Records is a holy grail amongst punk, hardcore, and metal record collectors. After the band broke up, Rivera switched to guitar and is now a successful songwriter and solo artist touring the U.S. and Europe.

Dino Everett (moderator) is the footage archivist of the Eastside Punks documentary series and runs the Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, which contains the Punk Media Research Collection (aka PMRC). Everett has published and presented articles in the moving image field and film history and, as a founding member and bass player of the L.A. punk band The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, has backed up many first-wave punks such as Wayne Kramer, Sylvain Sylvain, Walter Lure, and others.

Presented by USC Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative as part of the L.A. Times Festival of Books. Co-sponsored by the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Razorcake, and La CASA.

Photo (The Brat): Edward Colver
Photo (Stains): Wild Don Lewis
Photo (Thee Undertakers): Angie Garcia