#james spooner

[the-time-lord-oracle]

A quartet of Double Fairlies; James Spooner, David Lloyd George, Earl of Merioneth and Merddin Emrys. It's a pity Livingston Thompson wasn't present to make it a bunch of fives.

[prettyfamous]

From Black Punk Now, edited by Chris L Terry & James Spooner, Soft Skull Press

[have-you-read-this-comic]

Have you read The High Desert: Black. Punk. Nowhere. (2022) by James Spooner?

Yes

Partially

N

I've never heard of this

Voting ended onFeb 6, 2025

Propaganda under the cut

[dadsinsuits]

James Spooner

[sharnefarn]

[godzilla-reads]

“Black Punk Now” is a collection of original nonfiction, fictions and comics about the Black punk experience as told by people who are living it.

•••

“Black Punk Now” highlights a diversity of perspectives, identities, and styles at work in this ever-evolving counterculture[…] With striking visual elements integrated throughout, this smart, intimate collection centers Black creativity in the rebellious underground.

[arte-rock]

The "Punk and No Wave" segment, hosted by James Spooner, who co-founded Afropunk Festival and ran an underground club on Canal Street in the early 90’s, features tunes by James Chance and The Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Basquiat’s band Gray, Liquid Liquid, DNA, and Mars.

[blackrockandrollmusic-blog]

How Do Women of Colour Find a Place in the Punk Scene

So when we think about how hard it is for white women in the music industry when their role models are sidelined by white men, think how hard it must be for black women when our role models rarely get a mention. If black women do make it into the spotlight they are unfortunately white washed by history like Poly Styrene, vocalist in X-Ray Spex. What I saw as my first ray of hope, a slightly kooky mixed race girl, many white people saw as another white woman. Seeing a black and white image of a woman in a punk band the assumption is made that she must have been white so just like that an entire aspect of her life is erased.

It took me years to learn the true history of rock music and fill in the blanks that had been rubbed out and replaced with a conventional white man. The canon of music history that we are taught is flawed and incomplete. For example Led Zeppelin’s classic ‘When the Levee Breaks’ was actually written by the black female guitarist Memphis Minnie and her husband Kansas Joe in 1935. This story is well known, mainly because Led Zeppelin are well known for stealing songs, but nevertheless Memphis Minnie is rarely as celebrated as Led Zeppelin.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was one of the most popular blues and gospel singers in the 30s and 40s. Her guitar style was incredibly unique and she was a huge influence on stars such as Chuck Berry and Elvis who would have seen Tharpe was a hero. Chuck Berry and Elvis went on to influence bands such as The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. Nevertheless Tharpe’s name is rarely mentioned in everyday circles. When we discuss the mainstream history of rock it is important to remember the styles and influences have been garnered from a confrontational black femininity that has been put into a white male space to make it more conventional.

Sometimes I lie awake at night and think about all of the amazing black women who formed bands and wrote amazing music that we’ll never know about because they were written about of history before they could even get properly started. I refuse to believe that they did not exist. I know they did because I exist and I am not an anomaly.

I think we need to consider ways to make the music industry a better space for black women. To start we need to take more time to consider the black women who paved the way. Being able to fill in the canon of rock history with women such as Nina Simone, Betty Davis, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marlena Shaw, has given me more confidence to continue in music and knowing that other women have done it before me gives me hope for the road ahead.

In James Spooner’s now legendary 2003 documentary Afro Punk, which looks at race and identity within the punk movement, punk musician Tamar Kali stated: “Being caught in a system that you can’t identify with, that you can’t support and just being contrary, that’s the true energy of what punk is. I think one of the punk-ist people i can think of in history is Nina Simone.”

I have to agree with her that Nina Simone is probably more punk than everyone. If you don’t think so, know that at the Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969 she asked the majority black crowd if they were ready to kill for the revolution. [Read More]