after doing lots of rediculous early teenage fanzines such as SPED and LVHC since getting jumped into the scene in 9th grade in ’82, raw pogo on the scaffold started in1985 in my bedroom back in Bethlehem, Pa in the Lehigh Valley. the first 8 issues were a manic freakshow of words, cut n pastes and stupid teenage hardcore opinions! it started dieing when i went away to college. then it started back up in 1993 while living high above Walnut St in Philadelphia. mainly because I was blown completely away by THE FIELD TRIP’s “take to the streets” 12″ and the first 2 CORNERSHOP records. you know, the reason anyone starts fanzines: you hear something so empowering and full of the good vibes you have to to spread the word. – Eric
Eric de Jesus’s zine, journal, sketchbook, thinkpad takes you from mid-80s Bethlehem and LVHC to an early 90s Philly streamed consciousness that never fully left the Lehigh Valley behind. Wherever you start reading, you’ll find impassioned, sad, ecstatic – but correct – opinions, ingenious drawings, and musings, mapping Eric’s endless pursuit of what was real for him, what was punk, poetic, inspiring, good, and truly lived in this world. It came and went according to the flow and ebb of inspiration – witness the fresh-from-breakup era interview with Guy Picciotto – resurgent when it was time to tour the entire US with the Uptown Bones, drink red wine all day long, messenger for a living on the most-falling-apart-but-coolest-bike-in-Philly made of trash-picked gears, wheels, and frame, and to write about it all with a boundless freedom of experiences, thoughts, and words.
It’s more than okay to be paisley and punk, to care about Kitschchao (and Tristan), TSOL, Derelict Hotel, Cornershop, F.O.D., and Rain Parade. It’s right.
-Art DiFuria (Photon Band)
Get your own copy of the RAW POGO ON THE SCAFFOLD boxset here
Eric reading at Brick Bat Books in november 2015.- Warmers and Palace Brothers reviews from Raw Pogo On The Scaffold by request.
