A Green Day Fan Site

A book I co-wrote with my friend Richard has been published and will be out in January. It has nothing to do with Green Day. It’s a handbook about working in egalitarian collectives (an example of a collective that you’ve all heard of is Gilman St.). I used to volunteer with a few. The one I’m most fond of is Food Not Bombs.

You can read a description and an excerpt here. There are more excerpts in the publisher’s catalog (pdf), on pages 8 and 9. Comics are by Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I was away and then just in a funk. Thanks to Abbey for picking up the slack, including in the sidebar news.

With the Christmas season in full swing, here’s some punk rock to get you in the proper mood. Personally, I can’t stand the commercial frenzy of Christmas — I’m not a fan of commercialism the rest of the year either — but I love the cheesy tinsel and garlands, and shiny glass ornaments. And yes, the silly songs.

So here’s the new 2009 Punk Rock Advent Calendar, with one new song posted each day until Christmas.

Jimmy Severe and The Blue Christmas Boys “picked songs that portray all sides of the season - from revelry to irreverence - from White Christmas to Mary’s Boy Child - with strictly for drinking songs like Senor Santa Claus and The Merry Christmas Polka for good large measures.”

And here’s a couple of punk rock and rock Christmas songs that I like:
Pansy Division - Homo Christmas

The Dickies - Silent Night

The Kinks - Father Christmas

Happy punk Christmas!

Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God and the Native Americans for helping the Plymouth Plantation pilgrims survive the brutal winter. Although half of the pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower had already died, many more would have, had it not been for the native Americans teaching the pilgrims to harvest food (source: wikipedia).

I guess you could say the pilgrims were the first American Idiots…arriving here in America without a fuking clue how to survive. On this Thanksgiving I give thanks here at our NWWM Thanksgiving table to all that is GREEN DAY. As much as I whine about being nothing more than a speck in that heaving ocean of GREEN DAY fans (ocean analogy source: Delfina), I am so thankful that there is an ocean of us to bob around together in…i’ve come to realize that it’s the ocean of togetherness that is an unseparatable part of my love of GREEN DAY. I imagine myself standing alone in a stadium with my “fuking hands in the air” shouting my “HEYYYYYYYYYY-OHHHHHHHHHHHHHs” and ya-know it just wouldnt be the same without all of us experiencing it together. It is in the sharing of GREEN DAY with all you other nutters out there that make GREEN DAY…well…a community. It is a community open to all ages, all religious beliefs, differing political views, and people from all walks of life that come together to share our love of this music and of the GREEN DAY trio: Billie Joe, Mike and Tre.

As odd as this might sound, I am thankful that Billie Joe, Mike and Tre grew up in Northern California…a place so foreign to me in so many ways. I could not have grown up farther away in either geography, ideals or experiences to where the boys are from. They have taken me to mythical places like Gilman, to punk squats, into the pages of Cometbus, and thru an incestuously east bay punk world. They have exposed me to a sliver of their world that weaves the joy of all things GREEN DAY together in one east bay sloppy punk hot mess.

On this 2009 Thanksgiving I am thankful for the gift of 21st Century Breakdown. It’s hard to believe that 21CB has been a part of my life since only May - it cracked open a part of my brain that I didnt even know existed. That brain-crack is starting to fill in with honesty and meaning - the beauty of what 21CB and all GREEN DAY music does for us - it asks us to live in the moment and in truth, as painful and joyful as that is at the same time. I hope you have a wonderful first Thanksgiving 21CB, and my wish to you is that you find your way into the hearts and brain-cracks of millions more.

I give thanks to Billie Joe, Mike, Tre, Jason W, Jason F, Jeff, and all the folks in their traveling circus. I especially thank their families for letting us share in their talents and allowing us into their lives. I have no idea what it is like to be a family on the road, away from your physical home, but I thank you all for hauling your asses and your families around the globe to share GREEN DAY with us. I especially wish the GREEN DAY families a soulful and restful Thanksgiving with tables full of wonderful food, laughing children, perfectly dysFUNctional families, and much much love.

Fellow GREEN DAY friends, I am thankful for all that we are blessed with, especially our famillies and all us friends here today, let us raise our glasses to honor the feast of the original American Idiots. Amen.

Billie Joe pass the turkey!

Warner Music did a promotional campaign in Australia for 21st Century Breakdown, and they hired a company to put up graffiti around Sydney with the album’s artwork, which drew criticism from the city and from local commentators. But the most direct criticism is from a graffiti artist, who spray painted the words “Cash Cow” on one of the images.

I’m sure the members of Green Day had nothing to do with the campaign, and none of the criticism is aimed specifically at them. But the issue points out the fundamental problem of having something that is genuine (the band and their music) in the hands of an entity (a huge corporation like Warner Music) that treats everything they control as a means to make money, without a real understanding of and respect for the genuine, real-life inspirations that contributed to its creation.

Graffiti is mentioned several times in the album’s lyrics as a fundamental yearning to declare one’s existence. “You blast your name in graffiti on the walls.” “She puts her make up on like graffiti on the walls of the heartland.” It’s a way of crying out “I am here!” in a visceral and very public way. Graffiti has always been a way for people who are invisible in society to — literally — make their mark. It’s especially important in a society like ours, where if you have a lot of money you can scream out your advertising messages on huge billboards, but if you’re just a poor working class stiff you face huge penalties just for hanging up a flyer on a telephone pole.

It’s pretty galling when a corporation appropriates something that has meaning for people, something whose popularity has been spread by people marginalized by society at considerable risk to themselves. The corporation just piggybacked on the street cred earned by graffiti artists with their own efforts, and exploited it as a marketing gimmick to make some cash.

Like I said, this is not a criticism of the band. But when they signed to a major label, this is the kind of thing that punks were very wary of. It just comes with the territory, I guess.

When it comes to Green Day graffiti, this is more to my liking… (thanks to Diana for sending it in).

Warner is having a contest to give away copies of the 21st Century Breakdown limited special editions to fans. You can take the widget, below, and embed it all over the place — websites, MySpace, etc. — then send screenshots in to their email address, and you will be entered to win one of the special editions. For the full details, and to grab the embed code from the widget, read on. More » » »

If you are not in the US, go to http://greenday.mtv.com/ to see the video.

I started doing this website for my own enjoyment, because I like thinking and reading about Green Day, which is a topic that I’m obviously excited about and that means a lot to me. I’m guessing you feel the same way about Green Day if you’re reading this. So I’d like to know what those of you who take the time to stop by would like to see on the site. About 200 people stop by every day, and most are somewhat regular visitors. I don’t know who you are, for the most part, but you have my appreciation for coming by. If you’re here, it’s your website, and I’d like to know what you want to read about.

There are several other websites that already post Green Day news, so news is not really the focus here. Occasionally I might have news that other sites don’t have, but it’s usually gonna be stuff that’s not very important or interesting. One of the things recently that I thought was pretty cool, and that other sites didn’t pick up (except for Green Day Brazil) was the photo of Billie Joe at a women’s roller derby match. Apparently he’s a fan and attended an event in 2007 too. Girls’ roller derby leagues are pretty out there and wild: “some of the leagues allow or even encourage the girls to fight during the games.” It seems like a fitting and cool thing for Billie Joe to be a fan of.

I like keeping up on the current stuff about Green Day, so I’ll keep posting news. But other than the very occasional item that you might not see elsewhere, I’m guessing the latest news is not why you come here?

This site is mostly about being a fan, I guess. Do you want to see more, or less, blathering about feelings and how being a fan of Green Day affects us? (I’d like to read more about that from you all, so send your writing in…) Do you want more from Amanda And Elly? That’s up to them, of course, but I know I’ve enjoyed their writing.

I think the early days are my favorite era. Personally, I like reading what the old-time members of Green Day’s early scene have to say about punk rock and independent music, but I’m not sure if that’s of interest to anyone else. I also like the little stories about some show Green Day played years ago, or other tidbits like that.

I like fan encounters. There are some more stories I’ve come across written by people who met the members of the band, but I haven’t posted them because they tend to be sort of breathless and over-the-top. Not sure if you want to read other people’s squeeing? I’d like to keep things respectful toward the band members, of course.

More pictures and videos? I’m not going to have any pics or videos you haven’t already seen, since I only have access to what’s out there, like any of you do, but I might like occasionally posting photos or videos that I enjoyed. Sometimes it just seems too random to post some not-new thing, whether it’s a photo or a story or whatever else.

I don’t have any old magazine articles that I haven’t already posted, but if you like them I can keep an eye out on ebay. I don’t usually post any that are newer than about 10 years old, because I figure they’ve already been seen if they’re more recent. If you have any articles or Green Day memorabilia you’d like to share, send it in.

I’d like to have more about the music itself, but I’m not a musician and it’s not something I feel very qualified to discuss. I don’t even know the correct terminology to write about music. Maybe one of you would like to take that on?

There’s so much about Green Day out there on the web that this website is not very easy to find. I don’t think it’s going to be everyone’s cup of tea… only diehard fans might find it of interest. But if you think other people might like it, link to us from your website or web page. If you want a link back just let me know.

I’m going out on a limb a bit… but I’ve been wanting to ask all of you what you would like to find when you stop by. Feel free to express your ideas, including your likes and dislikes. Leave a comment or send an email to asfo_del[at]yahoo.com. And if you want to contribute, don’t be shy. Thanks to all.

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