Berndt Offerings
Central Library Event Fetes Underworld Auteur
Artist Vicki Berndt is one of California’s greatest natural born rock & roll adventurers. Her ceaseless, brilliant tide of contributions to popular culture—whether photography, apparel or paintings—have long since qualified her as a rara avis visionary and the Los Angeles Central Library’s upcoming showcase event of Berndt’s photography is a decidedly overdue celebration.
A self-propelled phenom who has been shooting the big beat underworld’s wildest practitioners for the better part of 50 years, her irresistible mixture of unflagging good cheer, complete fearlessness and spontaneous creative combustibility are wholly unique and her unflappable zealotry is second to none.
Hyperbolic? Not in the least. Having been fortunate enough to partner with Berndt at the dawn of my career and having witnessed, first hand, all of these qualities ablaze in the field, this is perhaps an understated assessment.
Collaborating on our Frisco based fanzine Beano circa 1981-84, Vicki taught me everything I know about the nuts and bolts of the rock & roll journo hustle: how to coax guest list spots and artist access, how to land an interview, refuse to take no for an answer and never back down.
She was already a gloriously prominent force in SF, infamous as lead vocalist of the Maggots, whose “Let’s Get Let’s Get Tammy Wynette” b/w “2-2-79” stands as one of California’s most memorable punk 45s (A side inspired by the Tammy ‘kidnap’ episode and B memorializing the Vicious one’s death date) and also well established with a highly successful run of her own Idol Worship fanzine.
We were both just kids, 19 or 20, and I’m not even sure today as to how we met, but falling in with her was a life changer. One of our earliest escapades was a post-gig sit down with Lux & Ivy backstage at the I-Beam. They were whiffing up the nose candy non-stop (proffered by some local ne’er do well) and got so wasted the proceedings ground to a halt. I shot Vicki a panicked glance and she immediately jumped to her feat and top of lungs shouted “What are you selling anyway? Black jeans and black hair dye?” That woke them the fuck up: “We’re not selling ANYTHING!” they howled, initiating a shouting match that lasted about 15 minutes. It was glorious (and of course we all subsequently became friends).
That’s Berndt to a T. Blunt, versatile, always enthusiastically involved and enjoying every second of it. Blessed with a golden compositional eye and flawless design sense, the January 24th Central Library event, featuring projections of her classic photographs and a Q&A with moderator Martin Wong, is certain to be a stone gasser. See you there.
