Product Description

A Visual Recollection of the Masque Club, L.A. (1977-79)

A stunning visual recollection of a classic, vanished moment on the Los Angeles pop culture landscape of the late 70s that included punk rock, politics, graffiti, unique fashion and art, LIVE AT THE MASQUE is more than 300 pages in color and B&W, painstakingly compiled and edited by Masque founder-author Brendan Mullen with editor-publisher Roger Gastman, founder of R77 Books and editor-publisher of Swindle quarterly.

Previously unpublished photos, posters, flyers for bands who got their start there like X, Go Go's, Dickies, Bags, Eyes, Black Randy & the Metro Squad, Plugz, Skulls, Controllers and the Deadbeats leap out of every page, many of them in full color. Also included are pre-Masque bands who played there to ever-expanding audiences, namely the Alleycats, Zeros, Dils, Screamers, Germs, Weirdos, Avengers, Black Flag, Mau Mau's, and many more pioneers of the early West Coast punk/hardcore scenes.

Photography by: Michael Yampolsky, Frank Gargani, Eric Blum, Melanie Nissen, Ann Summa, Al Flipside, Dawn Wirth, Gaby Berlin, Donna Santisi, Jenny Lens, Alain Saint-Alix, Jules Bates, Carol Torres, Bibbe Hansen, Jill Ash, Jill Von Hoffman, Ladd McPartland, Scott Lindgren, Philomena Winstanley, Kerry Colonna, Herb Wrede, Chris D., David Guilburt and others.

Designers: David Allen, Judith Bell, Bob Biggs, David Brown, Exene Cervenka, Chris D., Margaret Guzman, Larry Dammit Hammett, Havoc, Lux Interior, Tony Kinman, Paul Lesperance, Paul Picasso, Tom Recchion, Cliff Roman, Brendan Mullen...

Mullen says: Even if it never gets a star on the Boulevard which created it, the Masque remains a grimy hologram, a tag on Cecil b. de Mille's Boulevard of Shattered Screams; never to be crossed out...haha...

Foreword by art curator-historian Kristine McKenna.
Introduction by Brendan Mullen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #578371 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 328 pages

Customer Reviews

I WAS THERE
This book brought back a lot of great old memories. It also brought back some bad ones as well. I was the unidentified drummer in Backstage Pass on Pg.82-83. If you want to know what the Punk music scene was in El Lay in the late 70's this is a must. Looking back at these photos it does strike me that it was all a little more "Rocky Horror Show" than I remembered it. But we were young, indestructable, and it was a lot of fun.

I had experiences playing in that band, at that time, that I could have had no other way. There were the drugs, the alcohol, and the slime encrusted Music Biz bottom feeders that seemed to be everywhere looking for someone to use. There were also some great times that I will always treasure.

The book is well put together and Brendan has much insight in to the era and the people who shaped the movement on the west coast. Highly recommended for pop music history buffs.

Great Time Capsule of the LA Punk Scene!
I Waited for this Book!
I was at the Release Party/Concert in LA, back in November 2007. But I couldn't buy it there Or even see one! The 30th anniversary of the Masque was a Blast then & this book is a Great addition to the Memories of that Night. If you couldn't be there in the Original days, or the night of the show, this will make up for it!
Bands! Clothes! Stars! Cars! Girls! Guys!

The Best Rock scenes Form & Develop themselves, & LA was no Exception. Even though "inspired" by London & New York, LA's insular scene made for a More Original, sounding & looking bunch of Bands & Fans. This Book's images, by the Best Underground snappers & scenesters, give the Best insight to What it Must have been like to be in that Lucky group rockin' in that smelly old Basement!
I went to LA in 1978, as a 10 year old, & I distinctly remember seeing a Bunch of "weirdos" on Hollywood Blvd. I returned in 2003 & Made my Bee-line to that Back alley after Years of being under the LA scene's Musical Spell. It's just a Locked door now, but I'm at least thrilled to now have this Document of those far gone days.

I Love Brendan Mullen's insight & anecdotes of the Scene. Nothing about Cashing in on it, Just filling his Need to protect the History of a Scene, & punk world taken over by the Posers & Millionaires of the So called "Punk Rock" "scene" of today. a Great Companion to the book: We've got the Neutron Bomb!

Literally a Snapshot into just a few fleeting years in the Music History of LA.

Great Documentation of the Hollywood scene.
Excellent photojournalism and amusing writing. A must have for those that lived there and those that wished they did as well.
Get it, you will like!.

G.