Switch to the mobile version of this page.

Tweet

Email

Print
Share

Check out Sue Rynski's amazing photos of Detroit's punk scene

By Mike McGonigal @MikeMcGonigal

click to enlarge

Scott "Rock Action" Asheton and Scott Morgan of Sonic's Rendezvous Band, backstage at the Second Chance, Ann Arbor, Michigan on August 26, 1977. Photo by Sue Rynski and courtesy of Sensitive Skin.

Scott "Rock Action" Asheton and Scott Morgan of Sonic's Rendezvous Band, backstage at the Second Chance, Ann Arbor, Michigan on August 26, 1977. Photo by Sue Rynski and courtesy of Sensitive Skin.

David Thomas of Pere Ubu caught in a pensive moment backstage before a show? Niagara applying makeup? Fred and Patti Smith caught posing in a way that might not even be a pose? All that, plus an appreciation by (and with rare poem from) Iggy Pop?

Yes, all you have to do to see these things is click right here. These sixteen terrific photos were just published today in Sensitive Skin, Bernard Meisler's magazine that's the heir to such classic arts journals as the Portable Lower East Side and Between C and D.

Rynski was friends with Destroy All Monsters at the height of their snarling, Asheton-induced badassery and hung around the scene then— going to shows, and taking tremendous photos. "These pics are horny and bad. Fuck if you were a normal person from a normal place you would look at this shit and say what the fuck are these people trying to do," as Pop writes.

click to enlarge

Fred "Sonic" Smith and Patti Smith backstage at the Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 8, 1978. The occasion was a gig shared by Sonic's Rendezvous Band and the Patti Smith Group. Patti Smith later married Fred "Sonic" Smith. "Sonic" Smith was formerly a guitarist with the MC5. Photo by Sue Rynski and courtesy of Sensitive Skin.

Fred "Sonic" Smith and Patti Smith backstage at the Second Chance in Ann Arbor, Michigan on February 8, 1978. The occasion was a gig shared by Sonic's Rendezvous Band and the Patti Smith Group. Patti Smith later married Fred "Sonic" Smith. "Sonic" Smith was formerly a guitarist with the MC5. Photo by Sue Rynski and courtesy of Sensitive Skin.

Tags: City Slang, bookies, destroy all monsters, detroit punk

We welcome readers to submit letters regarding articles and content in Detroit Metro Times. Letters should be a minimum of 150 words, refer to content that has appeared on Detroit Metro Times, and must include the writer's full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes. No attachments will be considered. Writers of letters selected for publication will be notified via email. Letters may be edited and shortened for space.

Email us at [email protected].

Support Local Journalism.
Join the Detroit Metro Times Press Club

Local journalism is information. Information is power. And we believe everyone deserves access to accurate independent coverage of their community and state. Our readers helped us continue this coverage in 2020, and we are so grateful for the support.

Help us keep this coverage going in 2021. Whether it's a one-time acknowledgement of this article or an ongoing membership pledge, your support goes to local-based reporting from our small but mighty team.

Join the Metro Times Press Club for as little as $5 a month.