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Saturday, June 23, 2018

1978 Los Angeles Punk: Black Flag & the Rotters.


Just a quick post. Hope it inspires you....

 40 years ago, I played in a one-hit wonder late 1970s L.A. punk band called The Rotters. We had a smash hit called, "Sit on My Face Stevie Nix." 
That's me wearing my Kamikaze headband! See? I wore headbands even before those wankers in Guns & Roses!

I had a dream back then. We were a lighting smash success within a few months and on radio stations and charts all over America and Europe. 

 One night, my band played at a new club in Hollywood called Madame Wongs with another band. We all were expecting a packed crowd of 300+. 

 My band opened. When we hit the stage, we were dumbfounded to see a crowd of only about eight people. Eight! 

 We played a flat and disappointing set. 


After us, the next band played in front of the same eight people... That band was fucking awesome! They were electric and exciting! Their power made the small crowd (including me) go simply crazy. 

 After the show I asked the guitarist how they do it. My band was flat "because" of the disappointing size of the crowd; their band was explosive. The guitarist forcefully blurted out to me, "It doesn't matter if there's three people in the crowd or three hundred people - we always kick ass!" 

 They did indeed. 

 That was 1978 (79?) The guitarist's name was Greg. The band? Maybe you've heard of them! Their name was Black Flag. 

The point of it all? Live your dream. It doesn't matter if there is only one person who sees what you do or 10,000 people: Do it for yourself and build a legend. 

 Sometimes, it doesn't matter what other people think now. It only matters what you think. 

 In my case, I remember what Jack White from the White Stripes told me. He said he was a "Big Fan" of the Rotters and even bought our record when he was 13. He said: "It is better to have punked and lost, than to have never punked at all!"

 James Dean said, "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die 
today."
Black Flag 1978. Nervous Breakdown.

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Anyway, I made a movie. It premiere's at Raindance Film Festival in London on Sept. 25, 2017. You can get tickets here: 

Here's the trailer:


Here's our webpage: http://ghostroads.jp/

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About Mike in Tokyo Rogers: Mike has been a professional music/TV/radio/anime-related program producer in Japan since the eighties. He began in the music business in 1978 as lead vocalist with the legendary Los Angeles Punk Band, “The Rotters” (Sit on My Face Stevie Nix.). As a university student, he was assistant to the legendary Rodney Bingenheimer (Rodney on the ROQ – KROQ Los Angeles from 1980 ~ 1981.) So Mike has met Blondie, Phil Spector, The Go Gos, the Dickies, The Germs, Black Flag, the Vibrators, Slaughter and the Dogs, The Angry Samoans, the Ramones.) Mike was the first and only foreigner in Japanese history to become the General Manager of a major Japanese broadcasting station (TV Tokyo owned InterFM). Has produced a few smash hit programs (some real losers, too!) and several of Tokyo’s highest rated and most famous radio programs. A recent hit program was “The TV Show” (Set Program with “Ninja Slayer”) which, between April – Oct. 2015, garnered over 10 million viewers.  He is currently producing and hosting “WTF?” the hugely popular Sunday live show on InterFM 89.7. And his life’s dream is his just completed full-length motion picture, “Ghostroads – A Japanese Rock and Roll Ghost Story” which will world premiere at the prestigious Raindance Film Festival in London on Sept. 25, 2017.

… Oh, and he likes to write about himself in the third person!)


Ghostroads – A Japanese Rock and Roll Ghost Story Japanese Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxwJ4AfzOwM&t



Ghostroads – A Japanese Rock and Roll Ghost Story Foreign trailer: https://vimeo.com/210533272)





3) These are short - and true. You'll laugh. please read: 

Rock N Roll Music and the Proof of the Existence of God!
https://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2016/12/rock-n-roll-music-and-proof-of.html

Belinda Carlisle Naked, The Ramones, Rodney Bingenheimer and Me - Another True Story
https://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2017/05/the-ramones-rodney-bingenheimer-belinda.html

David Bowie, Blondie, the Beach Boys, Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and me! A True Story!
https://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.jp/2017/07/david-bowie-blondie-beach-boys-paul.html
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1 comment:

Comments must be succinct & relevant to the story. Comments are checked frequently and abusive, rude or profane comments will be deleted. I’m just one of many bloggers who answer questions online and sometimes for the press. I usually handle questions about Japan, marketing or the economy, so in those areas I’m more likely to make sense and less likely to say something really stupid. If I post something here that you find helpful or interesting, that’s wonderful. This is my personal blog. If you don't like what you have read here then, just like when you go into a restaurant or bar that allows smoking, if you don't like it, there's something at the front that has hinges on it and it is called a "door."