MY WAR ON WILSHIRE: Black Flag vs. the Wilshire Federal Building…and the Vex Book
Portraits of a band confronting reality at the breaking point…
“Incredible”—You Don’t Know Mojack
“A legendary moment for Black Flag…arguably at the peak of its powers. MY WAR ON WILSHIRE captures this moment in detail with tons of photos and in person accounts.”—CREEM
“AWESOME!!”—David Chandler, Saint Vitus
• ISBN 978-1-935950-78-3
• 80 pages hardcover
• light format 8.75″ x 5.75″ x .75” (220 mm × 145 mm × 190 mm)
• Nearly 100 unseen color photos of Black Flag on July 4, 1983, at the Wilshire Federal Bldg, and July 23, 1983, at the Vex
• Includes photos of cult opening act Würm, featuring Chuck Dukowski
• Early shots of doom metal legends Saint Vitus at the Vex date to before their debut album
On July 4, 1983, Los Angeles hardcore punk band Black Flag invaded the terrace of the Federal Building on Wilshire Blvd. Young punk-with-a-camera Michael Pearson captured indelible color images of the band exploding like fireworks against a backdrop of California skies, palm trees, rippling U.S. flags, and the Marlboro cowboy. Behind the frenzy of band members Rollins, Ginn, Dukowski, and Stevenson loomed the imposing modernist infinity of the Wilshire Federal Building, landmark home of the IRS and the FBI.
Later that month, Pearson caught Black Flag again, this time with suffocating intimacy at the infamous and truly dangerous hole-in-the-wall Vex club. Seen for the first time in MY WAR ON WILSHIRE, Pearson’s snapshots preserve a precarious and vivid moment in Black Flag’s campaign of conflict—portraits of a band confronting reality at the breaking point.
Michael Pearson grew up skateboarding, surfing, and getting into trouble while discovering punk rock and new music. He is a licensed marriage and family therapist and lives in Redondo Beach, California.
