Fear and Street Dogs
For many suburban spawn of the 70s and 80s who didn’t live in major metropolitan centers, their first exposure to an actual punk band outside of Rock and Roll High School was when one of John Belushi’s favorite groups, Fear, appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1981, in a slam-dance filled performance that so repelled NBC that for years they refused to rerun the episode. Punk was able to sneak into even more unsuspecting and unprepared American homes via cable, thanks to the old USA Network TV series Night Flight, which used to run four-hour programming blocks on Friday and Saturday nights. The wide-ranging content included everything from Firesign Theatre comedy shorts to cartoons, midnight movies, and a crude but riveting shot-on-video live punk music showcase somewhat misleadingly titled New Wave Theatre. Fear was of course among the most jaw-dropping acts to appear on the program.
Founder Lee Ving brings this year’s version of Fear, including longtime (since 1995) drummer Andrew Jaimez, to the Observatory on June 28. The all-punk bill includes Boston’s Street Dogs, Left Alone from Wilmington CA, and Orange County’s the Last Gang.