Will York presents WHO CARES ANYWAY? POST-PUNK SAN FRANCISCO AND THE END OF THE ANALOG AGE, with Dan Partridge

Tuesday, March 14, 2023 - Signing Line at 5:30 pm, Talk begins at 6:00 pm

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Flyleaf will offer seating for up to 60 in-person guests, with priority access given to folks who purchase the book. Masks recommended.

An outrageous oral history of the Bay Area's underground post-punk scene.

Late '70s San Francisco. The Summer of Love is a hazy memory, the AIDS crisis is looming, and nearby Silicon Valley is still an obscure place where microchips are made. The City by the Bay is reeling from a string of bizarre tragedies that have earned it a new name: the "kook capital of the world." Yet out of the darkness comes a creative rebirth, instigated by punk and sustained by the steady influx of outsiders who view the city as a place of refuge, a last resort. What ensues is a collision of sounds and ideas that spans the golden age of analog DIY culture, from the dark cabaret of Tuxedomoon and Factrix, the apocalyptic sounds of Minimal Man and Flipper, the conceptual humor of Gregg Turkington’s Amarillo Records; through to the subversive pop music of Faith No More, the left-field experimentalism of Caroliner, Mr. Bungle, and Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, and much more.

Drawing on extensive research—including interviews with over 100 musicians, artists, and other key players—Who Cares Anyway is the first book to chronicle the wild post-punk San Francisco music scene, courtesy of those who lived it. It’s a tale full of existential drama, tragic anti-heroes, dark humor, spectacular failures—and even a few improbable successes.

Will York has written about music for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Alternative Press, and AllMusic.com and is the co-author (with Michael Belfer) of When Can I Fly? The Sleepers, Tuxedomoon & Beyond (Hozac Books, 2020). Born and raised in Raleigh, he graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1999 before spending his young adulthood in San Francisco. Somewhat incongruously, he holds a PhD in Cognitive Science and a master’s degree in History & Philosophy of Science, both from Indiana University. He currently splits time between Raleigh and the mountains of Western North Carolina.

Dan Partridge is the Production Director for the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. He served as the Research Associate for the Jazz Loft Project at the Center for Documentary Studies for a decade, beginning in 2003. For the Jazz Loft Project, he was the primary listener and content archivist of W. Eugene Smith’s thousands of hours of recordings from the 1950’s and 1960’s. From 2000–2002, he was the CDS exhibitions and public programs assistant. Prior to working at CDS, he was the coordinator and teaching assistant for the Sound Shadows program at the Governor Morehead School in Raleigh. He is a teacher at the Magic Tortoise Taijiquan School, a former WXYC DJ, and affiliated with several bands going back to the early 90’s (Pine State, Goat Thrower, and Phil Blank’s Manifesto Klezmer Band…).