Join authors David Ensminger and Bill Sassenberger, as well as special guests, on Oct. 26, 1 pm, for a discussion and book signing regarding their new publications hot off the press -- Austin Punk Invasion: Second Edition and Toxic Shock Records: Assassin of Mediocrity!
As many Cactus Music customers know, Austin, Texas is home to a thriving, long-running punk scene. In this cut-and-paste style layout scene history and homage, David A. Ensminger interviews and prints the recollection of members of MDC, The Dicks, Terminal Mind, The Huns, The Next, Offenders, Black Salve, and Spoon. Plus, it features a eulogy for Roky Erickson and a Texas zine overview by John Slate, aka Control Rat X, who is now a Dallas historian. Filled with flyers, photographs, and art documenting the local "wayward and disobedient" music scene's birth in the 70s, Ensminger has produced a vivid document designed to bring you back in time or launch you into the future. Originally, it was published in a rare slim volume of 88 pages, but that has now been increased to 200 pages!
Toxic Shock ... is the story of unflagging love-for music, for a partnership forged in passion and steel, for a life chosen, not imposed. Bill Sassenberger, owner of Pomona's Toxic Shock (who released records by Zero Boys, Raw Power, and The Hickoids, among others) and Tucson's Toxic Ranch, friend and mentor to hundreds of music aficionados, writes with honesty and without self-aggrandizement about the adventure he shared with Julianna Towns, a brilliant beauty who walked into his record store and never left. Together they nurtured musicians, started their own record label, and explored the world, even when Julianna became confined by a series of strokes at an early age. Their love story intertwines with the history of punk rock and the musical revolution and will expand minds and break hearts.
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