From Here To Eternity...X (live)

X

Ventura Theater

December, 2010

As the missing link in reappropriating American ownership of the punk phenomenon after the mid 70's English uprising, X sprung from Los Angeles, spearheading the scene before hardcore took over in the '80's.

 As has been the trend, classic LP nostalgia, (in this case their debut: 'Los Angeles'), is the instigation for a Xmas west coast swing. Using their own movie "The Unheard Music" as an opening act proved to be the perfect table setting...serving in this theater as a punk happy hour, witnessing numerous reunions of the faithful. At it's core, (for me), family, no matter how dysfunctional, was always the message of X.

The original group: John Doe, Exene Cervanka, Billy Zoom, and D.J. Bonebrake still keep the flame fully lit, picking up right where we last left off, at the 2009 Coachella Festival. Then, they performed a set elected by ballot on their webpage that tilted heavily to material from the first four records.

Here, the scope was pulled back to Los Angeles, before a second set played hit and run with the rest of their canon. Despite a recent diagnosis of MS, Exene Cervanka anchored the lead with John Doe, and interestingly, the band played longer than they did in the 'good old days'...No small feat considering the advancing age (of all of us), and the intensity of the songs. All in all, a nice homecoming for one of America's long.standing punk treasures.

  (Ed. Note: Amazing what you discover in the draft file...Would have sworn it got published.  At any rate, enjoy this 'vintage' blast...)