Sunday, May 18, 2008

Vexit, Stage Left

The opening reception for the Vexing show at the Claremont Museum of Art took place last night and there was a terrific turnout. Over 600 people were in attendance and the room got really hot, really fast. The gallery show was amazing, with more to look at than I can describe here. If you didn't make it last night, it is well worth a drive out to Claremont to experience it. If you are considering going, you might want to time your visit to coincide with one of their panel discussions or live performances, so check out their website.

A special thank you to my bandmates: Lysa Flores, Gaby Godhead, David Jones and Judy Cocuzza. It was an honor to be included in this show with so many talented artists. Another thank you to all of my old friends who made the long drive to one or both of the shows (we had a warm-up show the night before in Boyle Heights at Eastside Luv). It was great seeing you and even though I can't name you all, I'm sorry about the sweaty hugs and garlic and tequila kisses. Thank you to the Claremont Museum of Art team, who went out of their way to make us feel welcome and fed us garlicky hummus just before the show. And one more very important thank you to Diane Gamboa, who picked me up at the train station, drove me all over town and saved my ass on the air during a live interview at KPFK.

I read through the exhibit catalog today and there are lots of big words in there. It helped me to better understand the history of the East LA scene, though I still have lots of questions. I definitely have a greater appreciation for everything that went into it, came out of it and is still happening in relation to it. Maybe it's not such a bad thing that not all of my questions were answered, because this is a story that's still being written and my curiosity has been piqued.

Here's a clip from last night's performance, courtesy of MikaMakeout. Thank you to MikaMakeout for posting this on YouTube.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very nice, Alice....you sound great and the same as I ever heard you anywhere. Too bad that your list of women in LA punk was so short, guess that I should not be mad that you forgot me or Carol or any of the others.....

Anonymous said...

seriously, that cover of "el rey" you guys played saturday night should be recorded and released.

-jimmy tumors

Anonymous said...

Excellent appearance! I drove out from the Inland Empire to see your performance. I hadn't seen you live since 1978 at The Whiskey when you were with The Bags. Please keep performing, others deserve to see your energy that didn't get to see you the first time around. Have 30 years really come and gone?

Armando from Colton

Anonymous said...

WOO HOO!! Still buzzing from an amazing show on Saturday night! Thanks for all the new stuff too, good to see you are not just doing the "oldies but goodies" (as you called them, but are still pushing forward and pushing the barriers.

LouisJacinto said...

Alice Bag! The Best Voice!

Anonymous said...

From Kene Rosa - I had the pleasure and honor of attending the premiere opening on Saturday of "Vexing: Female Voices From East L.A. Punk" at the Claremont Museum of Art.

I was born and raised in New York and have relocated west nine years ago and had no idea that a Punk Rock Scene even existed on the West Coast, let alone in East L.A.!

The show, which is a large and inclusive exhibition of works on paper, archival film of performances and plastic works is not only informative, but compelling in its scope and depth.

The performances that night by some of East L.A.'s Punk Rock "Diosas" were elctrifying and loud and most of all great. Theresa Covarrubias, Angela Vogel, Lysa Flores and Alice Bag all brought their magic to the evening making all in attendance jump and "pogo" with delight.

Alice Bag, who can be said sang and engaged the audience with the fervor of a Voodoo Priestess at the height of her powers closed the show that was attended by at least 600 people.

All in all the works presented covered a wide range of mediums with a rich photographic representation by Dawn Wirth, Linda Posnick, Louis Jacinto who were present in the seminal days and Chris TV, a young photographer chronicling the "scene" toaday with the same fervor as his mentors. There are also some great works of associated art by Exene Cervenka, Diane Gamboa and Patssi Valdez.

One is very hard pressed to wonder why there has been so much hoopla over the current show at a major museum in Los Angeles, when in Claremont, there is a show whose scope, weight and validity outshines the fare offered at that L.A. venue.

Everyone involved in "Vexing" is to be congratulated of a show well done and in my opinion as a Curator Emeritus, Pilar Tomkins and Colin Gunckel should ge the Oscar for their curatorial prowess.

"Vexing" is a wonderful show, not to be missed.

Anonymous said...

What were the songs from Saturday night's set? I recorded the set but would love titles and any info you can share.

First song?? Not sure??
El Rey
No Soy Monedita de Oro
Babylonian Gorgon
Missed Your Mark
Gluttony
encore
We Don't Need The English
I think I missed a song or two??

Anonymous said...

AWESOME SHOW, HOT AND SWEATY JUST LIKE THE OLD TIMEZZZ! YOUR BAND ROCKED AND IT'S 2BAD THERE WERE LITTLE ONES THERE OR A MOSH PIT WOULD'VE BROKEN OUT FERSURE, ESP DURING GLUTTTTONNNYYYY!!! FASTEST VERSION OF WE DON'T NEED THE ENGLISH EVER, KICK ASS DRUMMER!!

jtrash said...

I was supposed to go but i ended up in the hospital and missed my flight.If anyone taped it??i'll even take a ok aud recording on tape or cd if thats all thats around or can be spared.A vid would be cool too. I'm also looking for the Castration Squad reunion.I recorded it on a dv recorder but something happened and i only got the 1st song so if someone had a tape/cdr/or video of that that would be cool.I have quite a stash of LA/SF/NY 77-80S shows/demos.Also even some new punk bands/reunions like le shok/functional blakcouts,a frames,intelligence,piranhas,ohsees,coachwhips,etc etc..i also have a bunch of germs shows(old and a couple new,darby crash band,bags,deadbeats,weirdos,tsol,dischords,middle class,catholic disiplne,45 grave,monitor,screamers,skulls,fword,etc etc..if anyone can help e amil me at chokedbygarbage@yahoo.com

Alice Bag said...

Thanks for all the positive feedback, I appreciate it!

Linda - please contact me via email at alice@alicebag.com

XO,
Alice

Anonymous said...

The show was great! The heat just added to the "Vex" like atmosphere of the whole thing. I closed my eyes of a sec and swore I had traveled back in time. My kids finally got a good look at how the scene was back then before the record companies took notice. As always, it was nice to see some faces I had not seen in quite some time. The only thing that bothered me was the fact that the DJ was blocking the way to the museum shop, however he was playing some great 70 and 80's punk for those of you who were paying attention so that was ok. Thank you Alice for an awesome show and experience!

Anonymous said...

All three of the performances by Teresa, Lysa & yourself Alice were just awesome. There were so many people there it was nuts, I heard the final count was over 800 people. The art work up on the walls, just showed everyone HOW important those Voices of the East L.A. Women, are. And what beautiful voices you all have. Please never stop performing. The music, lyrics and having women still up an a stage performing are still important in this world. Thank you Alice for being there and for singing as strong now, as you did 30 yrs ago. Thanks for the tequilla too. That was something I will never ever forget!

Alice Bag said...

The first song is called Carta a Eufemia. We also did Chinga tu Madre which is a Cholita song.