As
part of Upstate Films’ Sonic Wave film series, in the coming days the Orpheum
Theater is hosting two enticing events focusing on the history of punk rock in America.
On June 19 at the theater, author and singer Angela Jaeger will discuss her new
memoir I Feel Famous: Punk Diaries 1977-1981, and on June 23, filmmaker
and author Steven Blush will visit for a 15th-anniversary screening and talk
about his 2006 documentary American Hardcore.
I
Feel Famous draws
from the diaries that Jaeger began as an East Village teenage music enthusiast
and surveys her time at historic nightclubs CBGB and Max’s Kansas City; her following
the Clash on a 1978 English tour; and her 1979 return to New York, where she started
her own band, Stare Kits (she would also record with Pigbag, Bush Tetras,
Trevor Horn, David Cunningham, the Monochrome Set, and others). For the June 19
talk, multimedia presentation, and book signing, which will start at 7pm, Jaeger
will be joined in conversation with local author Holly George-Warren. Tickets
are $5.
Based
on his 2001 book of the same name, Blush’s American Hardcore examines
the evolution of the U.S. hardcore punk scene during the 1980s. The film
features rare and explosive live footage of influential bands like Black Flag,
the Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, the Bad Brains, and many others, along with exclusive,
inciteful interviews. Following the June 23 screening at 7pm, your arts editor
(that’s me) will join Blush for a “Close Up” conversation about the documentary
and book and our shared roots in the loud, fast days of early American hardcore.
Tickets are $11.50 ($9.50 seniors/students; $7.50 under 16).
Tickets
for both events are available at the Upstate Films website.
This article appears in June 2025.
