Power of the Word

The San Francisco History Center and Book Arts & Special Collections in association with the Punk Rock Sewing Circle present The Power of the Word: Fanzines and the Pioneering of Punk Rock Journalism, a panel discussion in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Punk and the SF Punk Renaissance 2015. Punk rock fanzines played a role equal to that of the bands around which their community coalesced.

Early punk printed media were innovative and imparted and inspired changes in the broader world of journalism. Vale, Mickey “Creep,” and Verna Wilson (of Ripper) will discuss their experiences as pioneers in the punk rock scene and examine the pivotal function of fanzines between the years 1975 – 1981. They will explore the Bay Area’s first-wave punk rock community as well as focus on the contributions to new music culture made by such periodicals as Sniffin’ Glue (London); Punk (New York); and Slash (Los Angeles.) Vale is editor and publisher of Search and Destroy; Mickey “Creep” is editor and publisher of Creep magazine; Verna Wilson is a contributing editor of Ripper magazine; Peter Urban is a contributing writer to the West Coast’s first punk fanzine Fanzine for the Blank Generation; columnist for Maximum Rock and Roll; and contributor to a number of other early punk publications. For a full schedule of events related to the 40th Anniversary of Punk refer to: punkrocksewingcircle.com
All programs at the library are free.