My Salad Days:

Just Up the Street from Jack’s Salad Bowl

by Joe Henderson

Flipside Staff Writer

I was first introduced to Al Kowalewski by Ivan Morley during the summer of 1983 when his band Iconoclast was playing a gig at Shamus O'Brien’s in the San Gabriel Valley. Ivan pointed out the oldest guy in the room who sported a sloppy dirty blonde Mohawk, wore a black trench coat and carried an ancient looking manual camera. Ivan gushed, “That’s Al Flipside! Maybe he will take my picture tonight!” Sure enough, when Iconoclast played AI was right in front of the pit oblivious to the mayhem surrounding him and snapping photographs. About a month past and, lo and behold, Ivan’s mug was in latest issue of Flipside. I was hooked. I gravitated to working on Ink Disease, a smaller but really well done punk rock fanzine published by Thomas and Rachel Siegel and Steve Alper out of the Siegel’s residence located just down the street from Ivan’s house in the Mount Washington section of Los Angeles. However, when it became apparent to me that Flipside and Ink Disease were duplicating efforts by interviewing the same bands at the same venues, I migrated from Mt. Washington to Whittier, California and began working on Flipside.

I recall that my first assignment was to review a stack of humble Xeroxed punk rock fanzines prepared by kids from even humbler places such as Redwood City, California and Lawrence, Kansas. (Needless to say, this wasn’t a very high profile assignment.) I, like everyone who preceded me, found a comfy chair, and then attempted to write some clever things about the largely un-clever fanzines into a spiral notebook. As it got close to press time, Al’s wife, Hudley, would frantically decipher and type the contents of the notebook using an electric typewriter. These results, anarchy spelling and all, were literally cut (with an X-Acto Knife) and pasted (with Elmer’s rubber cement) into the next issue. I was flabbergasted that the flagship of punk rock publications complete with a glossy two color cover was prepared in such a rudimentary fashion. When I expressed my surprise that there were no computers, Al simply shrugged his shoulders and informed me that earlier issues of Flipside were prepared on a portable manual typewriter while all the staffers hung out at Rick’s Burgers located in uptown Whittier, California. Slowly, but surely, Flipside began to enter the computer age. The main hindrance was the lack of an affordable laser printer. (In 1984, a HP LaserJet had a list price of $3,495!) The bottom line is that the computer technology employed by Flipside in the eighties is laughable from a 21st century perspective. In fact, your PDA or cell ‘phone probably has exponentially more computing horsepower than anything we used on the magazine back then.

Distribution:

The excitement was palpable as we went to pick up a new issue of Flipside from the bindery. Al and his brother-in-law, Gus Hudson, would arrive in their respective Sixties-era Volkswagen Squarebacks, and I would arrive in my 1976 Oldsmobile and literally stuff every square inch of our respective cars with boxes and boxes of Flipsides. (I could fit about seventeen boxes of magazines into my Cutlass – the Squarebacks held more.) Next in sequence was driving the magazine to individual distributors. Punk rock distributors being, well, punk rock distributors they would only take Flipside on consignment and then would not even begin to contemplate paying Al for the previous issue of Flipside unless he had “new product.” (If your record label ever bought a full or half-page ad in Flipside, thank you, because you – not the distributors – bankrolled the printing of the next issue of Flipside.)

This distribution game was also played out in the Bay Area by loading Al’s Squareback with magazines, enduring the monotony of the Interstate 5 and then spending an extended weekend crashing out at the house of this new upstart publication called Maximum Rock’n’Roll. Quite frankly, I was really jealous of their high end Mackintosh computers, a PostScript-compatible LaserWriter (introductory price in 1985 -- $6,995) and an industrial strength photocopy machine as well as the realization that at their monthly publication rate, MRR would eventually surpass Flipside in total number of issues published. My envy manifested itself by deriding publisher Tim Yohannon’s smoking, quirky mannerisms, green tape clad record collection, relative old age, “member’s only” punk rock club and well as his magazine’s sterile computer generated page layouts, postage stamp size photographs, political correctness and nauseatingly boring “scene reports” every time Mr. Yohannon turned his back on me. (In retrospect, Tim Yohannon was an engaging, witty and incredibly gracious person who treated me like an honored guest either as an Ink Disease or Flipside staffer.) Eventually, Al developed a business relationship with Ruth Schwartz (Mordam Distribution) rendering San Francisco excursions unnecessary. During my tenure with Flipside this arrangement appeared to be working.

Having a new issue of Flipside in your hands and seeing the fruits of your labor was something really special. In fact, I would immediately read the magazine cover-to-cover in one sitting because I was so excited with the end result. I would also proudly drop off an issue or two to my parents. They didn’t quite understand what was going on between the covers; however, there were really impressed that a kid fresh out of high school could somehow be involved with a glossy music magazine instead of flipping burgers. Most importantly, a new issue of Flipside would buy me another three or four months of wandering the streets of Hollywood at three in the morning -- no questions asked!

Flipside Video:

Although Flipside Video’s production values were once referred to as “scorched earth” in a scholarly journal article, all things considered, Flipside’s video capabilities were nothing short of impressive. Flipside was able to do live two camera shoots with Gus Hudson braving the dangers near the stage; Al (beer in hand) would operate another camera mounted on a tripod located in the back of the hall; and Hudley would run the video switcher. Usually, Al was able to cajole the soundman into allowing us to plug directly into the soundboard. As such, after being run though a mixer, the sound was usually excellent. Contrast that with the former competition that could just pull off a one camera shoot.

People never appreciated that the original Flipside Video Fanzines required very expensive equipment and were laborious to shoot, edit and duplicate. Worst of all, the master tapes would frequently get “eaten,” by the ¾” “U-Matic” machine during the process of dubbing VHS tapes forcing Al or Gus to start from scratch and to re-edit the entire show!

I am quite pleased that some of the raw video shot by Al, Gus and Hudley has survived and has been resurrected in DVD format. In the late 80’s, Al and I edited approximately sixty half-hour long Flipside Video shows which aired on various public access cable channels in Southern California. Some standout shows which come to mind after nearly twenty years include: M.D.C., Dead Kennedy’s, Government Issue, Sonic Youth, Sub Humans, Circle Jerks, Dicks, D.O.A., Bad Religion, Marginal Man, Agnostic Front, Corrosion of Conformity, etc. I hope that more of this material eventually surfaces in future “Best of” DVDs.

Flipside BBS:

Long before the Worldwide Web was a twinkling in Al Gore’s eyes, Flipside had a computerized bulletin board system (“BBS”) which would allow people to access Flipside’s computer via a ridiculously slow 1,200-baud modem (45 times slower than a 56K dial up modem.) As such, it was strictly a text only affair, but people could upload and download files, post messages and chat. As the BBS shared Al and Hudley’s home ‘phone number, it was only up and running overnight. As such, it was only used by a handful of geeks with Atari computers and was eventually discontinued.

Why do I bring up the archaic BBS? Simply to advance the argument that if Flipside were in existence today, Al would have conjured up an incredible website. It would have been a full on broadband multimedia experience with big exciting digital images, downloadable videos and music files and unmoderated chartrooms and bulletin boards where anarchy reins supreme.

Flipside Records:

I had very little to do with Flipside Records, as such, my comments will be brief. The most important thing I would like to communicate is that Flipside’s stable of bands was based entirely upon relationships as opposed to a perceived potential for commercial success. Flipside could certainly have signed “bigger” artists, but that wasn’t the point. As such, the results were mixed. There was the good – (Babyland, M.I.A. and Detox); the bad – (Bulimia Banquet and Doggy Style); and the ugly – (Anti-Scrunti Faction). Flipside’s musical ear was keenest in assembling compilation albums. Bill Bartell and Joy Aoki certainly deserve credit in this regard. The cosmic significance of Gus Hudson producing Beck’s Stereopathetic Soulmanure, I cannot begin to fathom – however, it could not have happened to a nicer guy.

Photography:

During my tenure with Flipside, all photography for the magazine was shot in black and white. Much like Volkswagen Squarebacks were the automobile of choice, 35mm Canon single lens reflex cameras were all the rage. I had a “new” F1; Pete Landswick had an even older F1; and Al had an ancient FTb. As this was before the age of digital photography, Abobe Photoshop and flatbed scanners, the darkroom was a necessary evil. As an issue deadline neared, Al would spend hours and hours in his converted garage working with foul smelling chemicals developing and painstakingly printing photographs. I was enamored with Al’s stat camera – a large format vertical stationary camera which Al mainly used to halftone photographs. When operated, this behemoth would frequently trip the circuit breaker casting Paul and Kori’s house next door into darkness and causing all of their digital clocks and VCRs to flash “12:00” when the power was restored.

Al knew that he was creating a historical record and was quite careful about saving his prints and negatives. Prints were alphabetized and placed in a four drawer filing cabinet. Negatives were placed in plastic sleeves which, in turn, were placed in three-ring binders. Anyone could easily create the definitive coffee table book of punk rock photographs by simply culling the contents of this filing cabinet as Al captured some iconic images in punk rock, i.e., the cover of T.S.O.L.’s 1981 debut E.P. I hope that the filing cabinet and its contents are safe and that the best of Al’s work again appear in print – this time on high quality glossy paper instead of yellowing newsprint.

If’n:

As far back as the mid-eighties, Al would confide in me that putting together an issue of Flipside had become a real grind for him. He explained that Flipside had become his “job.” Furthermore, this “job” was not a mere 9 to 5 job. Rather, as Flipside was home based, it had completely taken over his life and left him with absolutely no free time. Given my tender years (I was still sneaking into 21 and over clubs at the time), I didn’t understand what Al was talking about. From my perspective, a trip to Flipside’s post office box at noon always produced more than enough cash for Al to buy everyone lunch. (If you mailed Flipside a few bucks for a classified ad or a subscription back in the 80’s, thank you, because you might have bought my quesadilla, fries and a Coke at Super Burrito on Whittier Blvd. and fueled an afternoon of typing!) When the telephone would ring, a punk rock “celebrity” was often calling. Guest lists at gigs were unlimited and beverages were often free flowing as “friends” sought to curry favor with Al and to obtain a coveted Flipside interview. Many of us were very disappointed when Flipside went into hiatus in 2000. However, you have to give Al credit for keeping the faith for over twenty years. Additionally, you have to give Al credit for keeping Flipside’s integrity intact and not going mainstream when punk “broke” in 1991. No other magazine or fanzine did a better job of documenting Los Angeles’ punk rock scene. I think we will appreciate Al and Flipside’s legacy even more as the years go on. I have nothing but fond memories of my time with Flipside in the 80’s and I hold Al in the highest regard. Al taught me a lot of life lessons that I still carry with me to this day – having a strong do it yourself attitude, picking and choosing your battles, appreciating the value of education and, most importantly, being more than a witness.

In his precious little free time, Joe Henderson likes cruising around in his GTO (actually a red 1966 Pontiac Tempest Custom Convertible), playing 9 holes at a local Par 3 golf course, and dreaming of a summer home on China Lake in Central Maine.

Joe can be reached at: JosephBHenderson@Yahoo.com