In Erick Lyle's "On the Lower Frequencies", which Mike Davis calls a "ghetto-blaster of a book" we are in fact, "blasted" by the audacity of the author and his approach to living and writing. Out-takes from the criminal how-to zine, Scam, the polemic street newspaper and gossip rag, Turd Filled Donut, interviews, letters and other writing are combined to tell a multi-layered, socio-economic history of "The City". In spite of the blasting, the tone and scope of this book are often lushly cinematic and tersely hilarious in their portrayal of the punks, squatters, activists, criminals, homeless and working class residents of the city...as they struggle, protest, create, rage, party, cry and just try to survive. The setting is San Francisco as the Dot Com era turns to the Dot Bomb era and then explodes and roils in the years of the current Afghanistan and Iraq wars. However, This is not a strident, romanticized voice of the victimized. In full acknowledgment of the criticism leveled by haters of cultures of resistance and punk rock, that they offer only critiques but not solutions and certainly not road maps for sustainable change, this book offers chapter after chapter of true examples of "being the change that you want to see". Because as Erick repeats mantra like: "What you're for is what you'll get!".Erick tells his and a whole spectrum of others' stories about surviving the tumults of history of 11 or so epic years with it's familiar hopes, struggles, wars, losses and somehow...expectant, impossible hope emerges again from the disaster, tragedy and common greed known to all eras of a city. Erick frames his story in that continuum of history while remaining in the specific perspective of "Now"...lending his immediate, yet human, journalistic style of writing a vivid newsreel quality. The cast is Erick and legions of San Franciscans that enact a world, with a raw strategic approach, that seems like it should be as effective as the Salt Marches in bringing down an empire...as the city awakens to another tomorrow...
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whoa, i was just about to write my review of this book... I'll add that I think this book is important in that it records a his/hertory of activism in an "underground" community, and validates the punk actions eric and his community participated in. like making copies of starbucks coupons is one valid way of attacking a multi-national corporation. I found it empowering/inspiring to read how eric acted/acts with complete authority over himself. Eric is the rare person that actual thinks for himself and doesn't just believe what the crowd is doing/thinking. I appreciated this immensely. He sets a good example, except for maybe the excessive alcoholism.
i read about half of this one and thought it was great, but found myself wishing i had been more in the loop, like had been reading scam and ivy's zines and stuff while this stuff was happening. i do remember getting something (from Ivy) i think during bands against bush and being sort of inspired and aware that there were punx protesting the war and taking it to the streets...but really, why are we so isolated from each other? so yeah, this book is cool as a record of dissent. it's also just very high quality writing and provides a pretty undeniable analysis--as a lot of this is the view from the street. if your vantage point is from the bottom up, a lot of injustice is very clear and there is no argument. to the homeless person who freezes to death on the street, there is nothing to debate--something is wrong with society, etc. very cool. i like that it's in book form with recommendation from howard zinn, mike davis...it means middle class baby boomers will pick up the book and read it like it's hunter s. thompson, if he was a street punk with a class analysis!
in my mind, that is subversive--in case that wasn't clear.
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