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TO VALLEN'S PUNK PORTRAITS
Bird
Girl
Vallen 1979
Pen on paper
I
drew this marker pen sketch of a young Los Angeles
punk woman named Dorothy sometime around 1979. I used
to see her and her twin sister at all the shows, and
I affectionately called them the "bird girls"
because they were so thin and frail. Dorothy was the
girlfriend of Jeff Atta, lead singer for the punk
band, Middle Class. It took quite a bit of courage
to adopt such a look during those years - especially
for girls. Stares, catcalls, and sometimes physical
abuse was the price paid for looking so radically
different.
On
March 17, 1979, I attended a concert held at the famous
Elks Lodge Hall that came to be known as the Elks
Hall Massacre. Hundreds of punks showed up to see
some of the best LA bands of the day - Plugz, Alley
Kats, Go-Gos, For reasons none of us could figure
out, the heavily armed LAPD riot squad showed up,
and without the slightest warning they attacked and
closed the concert.
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