| Jul ’10 |
| 17 |
| 7:00 pm |
Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson launched Touch and Go fanzine in Lansing, MI, in 1979, and set out to chronicle, lambaste, ridicule, and heap praise on the new punk happenings. In laughably minuscule press runs by today’s standards, T & G was made by guys within the Midwest scene strictly for the edification of scenesters and pals in other cities like DC, Philly, Boston, LA, SF, and Chicago. Inspired by Slash and Search and Destroy and writers like Claude Bessy and Chris Desjardines, TV and DS pumped out twenty-two naughty, irreverent issues, spawned a legendary independent record label, and brought fame and fortune to the best bands in the land, including: Black Flag, Minor Threat, the Misfits, Negative Approach, the Fix, the Avengers, the Necros, Discharge, Die Kreuzen, Poison Idea—any punks worth their weight in glorious black and white.
I was inspired by how fearless and together Touch and Go were. They were really wild and extremely funny.”—Henry Rollins
“It was really one of the first times anyone outside of Washington really paid us any mind. The fact that Touch and Go took an interest in us really blew us away.”—Ian MacKaye
“Anyone who’s ever published a true DIY fanzine owes at least a small debt to Touch and Go.”—Decibel
For more info: http://www.touchandgobook.com
Also on the scene will be Tony Rettman, with copies of his own new book about Detroit hardcore: Why Be Something That You’re Not. Pens shall be a-blazing!
Touch and Go was the Flipside of the Midwest, which is high praise from someone from the LA scene. The also did it with a crazy irreverence that the growing “seriousness” with the hardcore the scene required at that time. Pure quality.