More Vital Ephemera
Aj “Low Hug” Michel points me to a project compiling punk rock fliers from her old haunt: “Artifacts of the Improbable:Philadelphia Punk Rock Flyers 1978-1990.” Instead of a book, there are 2000 (!) compiled on a CD-ROM. Obviously too many for any one book, such a printed compilation would be more like an pictorial encyclopedia of the Philly punk scene. Nicely, 1000 lower-rez thumbnails are on the site for browsing.
And the scope goes beyond just punk shows, too, including political posters and ones from one-off shows and stores. It’s quite an index of the underground and just-below-the-surface cultural life of Philadelphia.
In a recent Philadelphia Citypaper article the project’s creator says,
“Each and every flier represents a moment in time that brought together anywhere from a couple of people to a couple of hundred,” says Lewes. “For many of the bands [and] clubs, the fliers are the only documentary evidence they existed.”
There’s always history, even where the historians don’t take notice.
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January 7, 2003 10:04 pm 
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