{"product_id":"spike-picture-this-a-public-image-a-collection-of-previously-unseen-photographs-taken-in-la-venues-from-1978-1980","title":"Spike - PICTURE THIS: A PUBLIC IMAGE A collection of previously unseen photographs taken in la venues from 1978-1980","description":"\u003cp\u003eBorn in Brooklyn, New York, to a father entangled in the city’s underworld who came\u003cbr\u003eof age amid the tenements of the Lower East Side, Spike grew up in a world shadowed\u003cbr\u003eby murders, prohibition-era legends, and backroom dealings. With his father’s\u003cbr\u003eretirement, the family headed for the slower pace of North Miami, where Spike spent\u003cbr\u003ehis formative years. In 1975 aged 17, Spike left the safety of N. Miami Beach suburbia\u003cbr\u003efor the wilds of Los Angeles to study photography at junior college.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I met some professional photographers taking photos of celebrities and I started doing the same, one thing led to another, and I got taken on by a photo agency, Michelson Photos”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe worked as a paparazzo with the likes of ‘the godfather’ Ron Galella of Jackie O fame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I was on a percentage deal, for a guy my age it was good money, so I quit college, I wasn't getting anything out of it, and I was already working as a photographer.”\u003cbr\u003eSpike worked hard and long hours for two years, it was exciting work and his skill as a\u003cbr\u003ephotographer was honed sharper every day.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Most of it was black and white so I rented a dark room at a community college, developed all my own film, and printed out the 8 x 10 photos to give to my agent.\u003cbr\u003eI did that for about two years full time, chasing celebrities, standing outside expensive\u003cbr\u003erestaurants in Beverly Hills, going to all the award shows, the Oscars, the Emmys, the Golden Globes, Screen Director's Guild. That was my life, but the competition was brutal and it’s not kind to people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe competition was so acute that I had this experience where someone was smashing my car window on a regular basis. I would be covering at the Beverly Hills Hotel; I was parked a few blocks away on the street, I’d come back, and the window would be smashed. This must've happened about ten times. It's quite expensive as you can imagine, makes you fucking paranoid too, I never found out who it was.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1978, whilst living in an apartment in Hollywood, across-the-hall neighbour Don\u003cbr\u003eSnowdon, a music critic for L.A. Weekly, introduced him to The Clash’s ‘Give Em\u003cbr\u003eEnough Rope’. Spike was hooked. This was quickly followed by local bands X, The\u003cbr\u003eGo-Gos, The Screamers, The Germs, The Alleycats and so began Spike’s lifelong\u003cbr\u003elove affair with punk.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’d park in a lot across from the Whisky, drink a six-pack and head over to the gig, I’d\u003cbr\u003eread about the bands in the L.A. Weekly and get tips from friends. There was a good\u003cbr\u003escene for local acts and international bands would come through a lot too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Whisky and The Roxy were the best-known venues but there were others we would hit like the Starwood, and I’d be out most nights drinking, watching bands and taking photos. We’d often end up late at night at Barney's Beanery and Tom Waits would frequently be sitting in a corner writing; he lived at the nearby Tropicana Motel at the time.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Clash, with their British sensibilities and political rage, had a huge impact on\u003cbr\u003eSpike’s life. He quit his job as a paparazzo and, for the next year, spent most nights\u003cbr\u003ehaunting the dive bars in West Hollywood and the Sunset Strip photographing punk\u003cbr\u003ebands. His partners in crime were Englishman Bill and punk photographer Deborah.\u003cbr\u003eIn 1979 English mate Bill blagged an interview with The Clash who were over from\u003cbr\u003ethe UK by pretending to be a writer from the NME. Spike joined him and\u003cbr\u003ephotographed them whilst another photographer orchestrated the shoot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“One of my favourite shots was from the Clash shoot, as the band were being prepped I\u003cbr\u003etook pictures as a shoot within a shoot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe punk scene in LA was strong but Spike encountered other acts that weren’t\u003cbr\u003estrictly in that genre, unlike the UK, the lines were blurred in the US.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It was an exciting time, bands like The Specials and Madness played LA on their first US\u003cbr\u003etours, followed by PiL who I shot at the legendary Olympic Auditorium show on May 4th,\u003cbr\u003e1980. A couple of weeks later I got into PiL’s American Bandstand performance and was\u003cbr\u003eable to shoot them there too.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1980, Spike funded, photographed, art directed and released Miami Beach’s The Reactions first EP and he was also a member of the Miami ‘cowpunk’ band Roy and the Hayheads.He moved to London in 1981 and spent the following 18 years bouncing between London, Athens and the Greek Islands, Istanbul, Paris, Thailand, and SE Asia by whatever means necessary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReturning to the States in 1998, he settled in San Francisco on the recommendation of a friend from Berkeley, Shelly, who he had met in Thailand. He spent a few years working as a chef in an old-school Italian restaurant The Iron Horse, did an html internship at music streaming site, spinner.com owned by AOL, and eventually returned to the hospitality industry and worked as a catering chef.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring this period, he re-discovered American punk via the Bay Area scene and did\u003cbr\u003ephotography and web design for local bands The Eddie Haskells and The Twots. In his spare time, he was involved in progressive leftist activism and the direct-action anarchist movement as well as promoting the occasional punk rock and roll music night. He was also a member of the queer clown troupe The Drunk Clownz and could often be found at the Eagle bar’s Sunday afternoon Beer Bust in clown costume.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter 10 years in the US and several years running a rock’n’roll restaurant\/bar on a Thai island, he returned to London in 2009 and started now ‘legendary’ punk night Garageland which has just celebrated its 15th year anniversary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSpike is currently living in Brighton and running monthly Garageland shows at various venues\u003cbr\u003ein the city and London.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Jason Bick Publications","offers":[{"title":"*Signed* Hardback Book","offer_id":50827413225750,"sku":"RMX-59544","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0839\/7750\/2998\/files\/a2b23f1f882a934f9b7fce397deaa522.jpg?v=1765300604","url":"https:\/\/resident-music-uk.myshopify.com\/products\/spike-picture-this-a-public-image-a-collection-of-previously-unseen-photographs-taken-in-la-venues-from-1978-1980","provider":"Resident Music UK","version":"1.0","type":"link"}