My First Time – Book
AK Press
In everyone’s life, there is a first time for something and depending on what that something is, it could be a very memorable and life changing event. From your first cavity, first date, first time having sex to your first show, these are things that can stick with you and hopefully in most cases they have good memories associated with it.
My First Time is a collection of various people’s stories about their first punk rock show. Going to your first concert is a pretty monumental even if you are a music fan, going to your first punk rock show however “back in the day” was truly a life altering experience like no other. I can pretty vividly remember many details about my first ever punk show and it appears that I’m not alone in that ability as this book is filled with stories that often parallel my own.
Through the various stories included, the shows and the time-lines will vary, but in nearly all cases they have a very similar trait; the show opened up a whole new world and a whole new way of thinking to the various story tellers and their lives were forever changed by these shows. It was the start of a whole new world for many of them, a sentiment this reader can easily echo.
A variety of people from a couple different generations of punk rock both familiar and unknown have contributed their stories to this book including such people as Joe Queer (The Queers), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Blake Schwarzenbach (Jawbreaker), Al Quint (Suburban Voice zine) and a host of others, many whose names I am unfamiliar with but loved hearing their stories. The stories average about 3-5 pages each and on occasion there is a photo to accompany them.
Weighing in at 190 pages, My First Time is a pretty quick read and because it is made up of small stories of only a few pages, it is a great book to have around when you find yourself with a couple minutes of downtime to kill. Every story was entertaining on its own and it all helps sell the point that punk rock and punk rock shows were once a life changing experience that people will never forget and harkins back to a time when the punk rock scene was something unique and exciting, and wasn’t just another form of music and dress that you can buy at the local shopping mall. A book collecting such stories is a pretty neat concept that can easily lend itself to any number of sequels and hopefully there will be another volume like this as it made for some very enjoyable reading that opened u a lot of nostalgic memories of my own show-going experiences in my youth.
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