MY RULES comment

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In November of 1982 i published MY RULES, this "photozine" myself, they call it D.I.Y. now, but truth is thats the only choice we had then, and in the end we are all much better for it. We had to teach ourselves how to do things and make things happen on our own. None of the lazy ass slacker, type it in google to figure it out bull shit (not that that can't be put to good use, because of course it can, but its so damn easy, and any neuroscientist will tell you, easy shit doesn't stimulate the brain the way difficult things do... Jus sayin'). By actually talking to people not texting or speaking on message boards, by socializing FACE TO FACE motherfuckers, making phone calls and having conversations in REAL TIME WHEN SPOKEN TO not at your leisure when you feel like it or have the time to think of something witty to say, i think of it as LIVING IN REAL TIME, getting shit done, takin' care of business, workin' your hustle... No one had printers in there homes, NO ONE, you'd have to create pages on graph paper (thats an actual sheet of paper with lines preprinted on it), make "half-tones" of photographs and art, paste them on a page, titles would been hand glued or waxed onto a page one letter at a time, text would be taken from a typewriter or sent out to a typesetter who would let you pick one of a few fonts for a price, and if you wanted "different" fonts you'd pay a lot more and have to find a type house that did it even... Luckily for printing i was able to call on my bro's at Thrasher who i figured owed me a favor pr two, bringing them some credibility coming from "SkateBoarder" after "Action Now" folded... Anyway, i got ad's from a few friends who had record companies to help pay for the printing, Thrasher got thier ad in trade for letting me use their facilities up in the San Fransisco ship yard where they operated from all the years i worked with them. SST didnt pay for theirs in cash, Black Flag's Van is what travelled with me and roadie Davo over 500 miles to bring the 10,000 zines back to my room at my moms house just south of Olympic blvd., stacked more than six feet high they filled up most of my room in boxes of 200 copies. Continued on next post...

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Feb 15, 2016 at 9:28am PST

This is part 2/3:
Before i went to print i told everyone that this would be "The One and Only Issue". Flipside said they were printing around 4000 at the time, and Maximum Rock'N'Roll said they were printing between 2,500 and 3,500 at the time (they were by far the biggest Punk Fanzines at the time), Thrasher, which at that moment was the ONLY national skateboard magazine (but only B&W photos) told me the were doing 20,000... So i figured, being a one time thing, it'd be cool if i did 10,000, i had confidence the national & worldwide punk scene (there were pockets of punks all over the globe in major cities) would be into it. It wasn't until we were at the bindery, getting the zines all cut, trimmed, collated, & stapled together, that i found out the truth regarding Thrashers numbers by accident... The binder, whom Thrasher put me on to, asked me, "how many copies total you got here?" I said "half of what Thrasher does" he said "this looks like a lot more than that!" And then he told me they usually printed only around 6,000 copies a month, HAAAAA! I couldn't believe it, and here i am with 10,000, more than they ever did! Oh well... It cost me about .30¢ each to print, i wholesaled them for $1.00 to record distributors and magazine stands and record stores, the cover price was $2.00 the ads paid for about half the printing and the other $1500. was outa my own savings account, (no fucking kickstarter bullshit, its DIY!) i shipped them via UPS & USPO as well as drove many to distributors & records stores myself, and made all the calls to sell & collect myself. Every dot on every page i put there on purpose or by accident, myself or by Kevin Thatcher (Thrasher original Editor who gave me invaluable assistance in creating & cutting & pasting all my photos & ideas onto the page. My first solo homemade publication! Sold 8,000 copies in the first two years all over the country and mail orders came to me from over a dozen countries world wide, Yugoslavia and Chile being two of the farthest and most impressive to me, the currency sent in envelops from all over, much of it i would never trade in (some i still have & put in the collage in the MY RULES book endsheets)..

This is part three of three of the story...
The last two thousand trickled out over the following 8 years or so, and now a days some of my last few N.O.S. go for over $300 a pop, on eBay you can find them at different times for as little as $30 and as much as $399 just depends on the timing... Anyway, theres my day off sermon, hope you liked it

This was and still is a great exhibition working on more dates NOW!

This was the outside of the building where @atpfestival put on the first exhibition for THE MY RULES COLLECTION. It was amazing! Chime in if you were there. In Covent Garden in the middle of London, a year ago this week we closed after almost two months. We hope to come to other cities this year with the ATP folks. Hit them up if you can hook us up with any great locations... And if you didn't make the show, go to your local bookstore or Amazon to pick up the book. This book is a monster, 324 pages, 13wide x 11.5tall, weighs in at almost 8 pounds, indeed a heavyweight champion of the world. The best of FUCK YOU HEROES and FUCK YOU TOO + about 30% more you've never seen, all bigger and better than ever! Then there's the essays from 22 of my incredible subjects on what inspired them to get to that point in time when i worked with them. TOTALLY INSPIRING TOTALLY INCREDIBLE TOTALLY SOMETHING YOU WILL LOVE. #integrity #photography #lovewhatyoudo #LearningNeverStops #inspiration #punk #skateboarding #hiphop #politics #DogTown #GoldenEra #atp #london #MyRules #GetTheNewBook #exhibition

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 16, 2016 at 10:12am PST

Lance Mountain by the "L" entrance in Williamsburg on my IG

Lance Mountain standing by the entrance to the "L" train stop at Bedford St. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn last month a few days before my book signing @pilgrimsurfsupply with MY RULES flyers they made, plastered all over the wall on the north side. It was Chris @pilgrimsurfsupply who finally got me over the hump to get on instagram (and loaned me his iPhone to snap this image)... Met some nice people over there and a ton of folks got books signed... Not bad at all, over a year after the first event a few miles away in DUMBO. Can anyone tell me if any of those flyers are still up? Or if you came by? #inspiration #integrity #photography #PMA #punk #hiphop #skateboarding #GetTheNewBook #ifYouAlreadyGotItPostAReviewOnAmazon

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Jan 14, 2016 at 2:46pm PST

Chuck Dukowski - BLACK FLAG very rare photograph on my instagram feed

CHUCK DUKOWSKI of BLACK FLAG at practice somewhere in the SouthBay section of Los Angeles, early 1982. I was lucky enough to have sat in on practice with Black Flag many times, even made photos a few times. Now ordinarily one would think at practice what are you gonna shoot some corny portraits? or half ass playing tuning? and writing? FUCK NO ... BLACK FLAG WERE BRINGING IT! Like their lives depended on it! 6-8 hour days of practice, often, their practice could be more intense than a gig!! so eventually i decided to bring my camera a few times. This practice was especially intense, i shot an amazing roll of film here or maybe even two, made some incredible photographs including the iconic image of Henry that was used on the cover of SPRAY PAINT THE WALLS (The Story of Black Flag) as well as classics of Greg and another of Chuck with that crazy mustache, when the head of his base smashed the flash off the top of my camera. They were my favorite band of the era and Dukowski was the heart and soul of that band to me. A real badass. Intelligent. A few weeks ago when i was out in L.A. for the Skateboarding Hall of Fame event, i took an afternoon to visit Chuck and his wife Lora down in Venice, i ended up hanging out for like 7 hours! Great people, never enough of them, I’m stoked to have such good friends around the world (or at least the parts of it I’ve visited). #PunkRock #inspiration #Integrity #TheDuke #Dukowski #BASS #PunkRockChangedOurLives #WhatISee #NoMore #PaddedCell #HardcorePunk #TheMan #Legendary #Flag (totally worth seeing) also if you look close there’s an ACTION NOW sticker on the bass head there 😉 #MyRules get the book hear the song... everything through the recording of the DAMAGED album is what i am referring to when i discuss their greatness and inspiration to ME (save a few songs) GO LISTEN TO THAT STUFF AND STOP FLIPPING THROUGH INSTAGRAM 👊🏽

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on May 18, 2018 at 2:41pm PDT

One of My All Time Favorite Photographs - BLACK FLAG on my InstaGram

BLACK FLAG - 1981 at the infamous Cuckoo’s Nest in Costa Mesa (near Huntington Beach). This is one of Henry's first shows as Black Flag's official vocalist (#4). This is one of my favorite pictures I've ever made. My favorite band of the era by far. The DAMAGED album is an absolute peak for them, it was being recorded around this time. The intensity is captured perfectly in this photograph, without sparing any composition or character, which sweats and bleeds out of the frame. #punkrock #MyRules #BlackFlag #PUNK #AF #inspiration #Integrity #PracticePracticePractice #Sweat #RiseAbove #hardcore #HeavyBeyondWords #HenryRollins #DezCadena #ChuckDukowski #GregGinn #ROBO - #KeepItReal #OldSchool #cuckoosNest #HB #goofy #CostaMesa #goingOff #GetTheNewBook #MyRules ... did i forget to mention this photo is 11.5" tall in MY RULES (after it first appeared in FUCK YOU HEROES) get it from any bookstore or Amazon if you must. #FILM #35mm #FullFrame #DMAx

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Dec 2, 2017 at 6:08pm PST

Back from Overseas with Some Good Prospects For Future Exhibitions!

Where in PARIS is the next question! Vote for your favorite venue of these presented for MY RULES ... I had an incredible few days of brainstorming with my VIP crew of associates and friends... we’ll see what happens 🤞🏽 #MYRULES #theIdealist #exhibition #Paris #photography #NFS #patience #goodThingsComeToThoseWhoWait #NowOrNever #beenWaiting #organization #ProperlyDoneOeNotAtAll #skateboarding #PunkRock #HipHop #integrity #inspiration #favoriteFont #dopeLetterStyle

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Oct 16, 2017 at 9:37am PDT

BARCELONA - looking at venues, four shown here between the wonderful architecture of this beautiful city...likely MY RULES will be at one of these great locations... no other ideas being solicited 🙃 what a cool city and for the three days i was there we had an amazing vegan lunch and dinner at a different place each meal, and walked by at least half a dozen more veg places we didn’t even get to go into. Can’t wait to go back, hopefully better weather next time. And hopefully politically organized as the people want ✊🏽 #Barcelona #MyRules #Catalan #culture #skateboarding #punkRock #HipHop #exhibition #photography #art #2018 #ATP #inspiration #integrity #Europe2018 #MyRulesTour #GetTheBook

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Oct 21, 2017 at 1:16pm PDT

Leaving Roma today, great re-visit and looking forward to coming back with the My Rules exhibition next year. The ”Streets”show had this homage to the Milestones of Roma “Street Art” and the FUCK YOU ALL exhibition i had here in 1998 was at the top of the list... the show has been up at MACRO for seveal months now and closes this weekend i believe after being extended. It’s a very cool show with influential street artists from around the globe with a particular focus on the second floor towards Roma. #Roma #Rome #StreetArt #Macro #graffitiart #Graffiti #Photography #HipHop #Skateboarding #Punk #Museo #FuckYouAll #1998 #2018 #DRAGO

A post shared by glen E. friedman Ⓥ (@glenefriedman) on Oct 13, 2017 at 2:06am PDT

MY RULES book enters it's THIRD printing and JAY-BOY book is being re-issued next year!

Today i was up at the Rizzoli books International offices to see how the re-issue of the JAY-BOY / Kent Sherwood book was coming along (out next spring) and it's looking good! This is more than a reprint of the super rare incredible book of photos taken by Jay's Stepfather Kent, of Jay, before most anyone else had photographed him. Great book I designed and help get published back almost 10 years ago. It's got a complete overhaul and few new photos too.

I also spent some time in the conference room comparing the third printing (just released last month) to the first two printings ... All look great but inevitably the latest always seems to get a little better - unfortunately I found a few more typos too, been there all along... If you find any lemme know for the next printing update... Yeah, that's my phone.

here's some photos of the three printings being compared to each other on friday . . .


See the photographs as they are meant to be seen! This book is huge, 324 pages, 13wide x 11.5tall, weighs in at almost 8lbs. The best of my books FUCK YOU HEROES and FUCK YOU TOO + about 30% more you've never seen, all bigger and better than ever!

The original MY RULES Photozine ... part of the story

I shared this on my instagram yesterday in three parts, here's the whole deal here:

In November of 1982 i published this "photozine" myself, they call it D.I.Y. now, but truth is thats the only choice we had then, and in the end we are all much better for it. We had to teach ourselves how to do things and make things happen on our own. None of the lazy ass slacker, type it in google to figure it out bull shit (not that that can't be put to good use, because of course it can, but its so damn easy, and any neuroscientist will tell you, easy shit doesn't stimulate the brain the way difficult things do... Jus sayin'). By actually talking to people not texting or speaking on message boards, by socializing FACE TO FACE motherfuckers, making phone calls and having conversations in REAL TIME WHEN SPOKEN TO not at your leisure when you feel like it or have the time to think of something witty to say, i think of it as LIVING IN REAL TIME, getting shit done, takin' care of business, workin' your hustle... No one had printers in their homes, NO ONE, you'd have to create pages on graph paper (thats an actual sheet of paper with lines preprinted on it), make "half-tones" of photographs and art, paste them on a page, titles would been hand glued or waxed onto a page one letter at a time, text would be taken from a typewriter or sent out to a typesetter who would let you pick one of a few fonts for a price, and if you wanted "different" fonts you'd pay a lot more and have to find a type house that did it even... Luckily for printing i was able to call on my bro's at Thrasher who i figured owed me a favor or two, bringing them some credibility coming from "SkateBoarder" after "Action Now" folded... Anyway, i got ad's from a few friends who had record companies to help pay for the printing, Thrasher got thier ad in trade for letting me use their facilities up in the San Fransisco ship yard where they operated from all the years i worked with them. SST didnt pay for theirs in cash, Black Flag's Van is what travelled with me and roadie Davo over 500 miles to bring the 10,000 zines back to my room at my moms house just south of Olympic blvd., stacked more than six feet high they filled up most of my room in boxes of 200 copies.

Before i went to print i told everyone that this would be "The One and Only Issue". Flipside said they were printing around 4000 at the time, and Maximum Rock'N'Roll said they were printing between 2,500 and 3,500 at the time (they were by far the biggest Punk Fanzines at the time), Thrasher, which at that moment was the ONLY national skateboard magazine (but only B&W photos) told me they were doing 20,000... So i figured, being a one time thing, it'd be cool if i did 10,000, i had confidence the national & worldwide punk scene (there were pockets of punks all over the globe in major cities) would be into it. It wasn't until we were at the bindery, getting the zines all cut, trimmed, collated, & stapled together, that i found out the truth regarding Thrashers numbers by accident... The binder, whom Thrasher put me on to, asked me, "how many copies total you got here?" I said "half of what Thrasher does" he said "this looks like a lot more than that!" And then he told me they usually printed only around 6,000 copies a month, HAAAAA! I couldn't believe it, and here i am with 10,000, more than they ever did! Oh well... It cost me about .30¢ each to print, i wholesaled them for $1.00 to record distributors and magazine stands and record stores, the cover price was $2.00 the ads paid for about half the printing and the other $1500. was outa my own savings account, (no fucking kickstarter bullshit, its DIY!) i shipped them via UPS & USPO as well as drove many to distributors & record stores myself, and made all the calls to sell & collect myself. Every dot on every page i put there on purpose or by accident, myself or by Kevin Thatcher (Thrasher original Editor who gave me invaluable assistance in creating & cutting & pasting all my photos & ideas onto the page. My first solo homemade publication! Sold 8,000 copies in the first two years all over the country and mail orders came to me from over a dozen countries world wide, Yugoslavia and Chile being two of the farthest and most impressive to me, the currency sent in envelops from all over, much of it i would never trade in (some i still have & put in the collage in the MY RULES book endsheets)..

The last two thousand trickled out over the following 8 years or so, and nowadays some of my last few N.O.S. go for over $300 a pop, on eBay you can find them at different times for as little as $30 and as much as $399 just depends on the timing... Anyway, there's my presidents day off sermon, hope you liked it ✌🏾️

My Live Discussion Moderated by Alec MacKaye at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, Washington DC - For The DC PUNK ARCHIVE

from Vimeo

On October 25th 2015, Glen E. Friedman and Alec MacKaye sat down in front of a standing room only audience in the Grand Hall of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in Washington DC where the DC PUNK ARCHIVE is held. It was one of several events to celebrate the 1st anniversary of of the Punk Archive. They had a discussion about Glen's work and answered questions from the audience. This is a simple one camera lo-fi documentation of the event.

Special thanks to Vicente Gutierrez at Highway magazine for being instrumental in creating and promoting the event with Michelle Casto and Maggie Gilmore at the DC Punk Archive.

I will be signing books and talking with folks this evening in Brooklyn

Hope you can make it down TONIGHT,
to Pilgrim Surf + Supply at 63 N. 3rd street, Brooklyn, New York
should be a fun evening with refreshments being served from Tiny Empire.


Lance Mountain standing outside the Subway stop at Bedford Ave & N.7th
with flyers posted on the wall to remind y'all

sunday rewind: Ian MacKaye & I discuss some of the photographs in MY RULES the book

MY RULES book signing and GEF design PIZZA event! TONIGHT in Los Angeles !!!

Click for more Event INFO



In case it's not obvious, we will have copies of the 2nd printing of MY RULES the book for sale tonight, and i'll be there to sign them for you.

There will also be this funny, parody, limited edition T-Shirt,
with it's own Pizzanista Box available! (click to see details)
front:

BACK:


Click for more Event INFO



Click for more Event INFO



Click for more Event INFO

Here's a cool clip of our hosts showing you their spot and some other points of interest for them around town w/food.


Jeff Ho, my son, seated on either side of me as well as Lance Mountain, Salman, Price, and I testing the recipe last month - it's DOPE!

Harry Allen, the "Media Assassin" interviews me on his weekly radio program NONFICTION

SUNDAY - MY RULES Exhibition Last Day in London I will do a live Q&A via the internet this afternoon

It's been one of my favorites, thanks to the vision of the entire ATP and Givens crew.

If you're anywhere near London I hope you can make it down today
if you haven't already. Even if you have, if you want to come back for the Q&A
via the internet at 5pm GMT, that'd be cool.

I've had a blast from the opening night on through - hope you did too.

O N W A R D !





































Thanks to Simon for most of these pictures above

MY RULES EXHIBITION last chance in the UK this weekend in London

No excuses, just make it out there! It's a great show.

I signed copies of the book, posters, and a there's a free program for everyone who enters (while supplies last).

Open each day noon-8pm - Friday Saturday and last day is Sunday.

MY RULES EXHIBITION LONDONYou've got one week left to get the fuck over there...

Shepard Fairey x Glen E. Friedman x My Rules x Obey clothing - officially released today

from Obey Clothing

We're proud to present a collaboration between legendary photographer Glen E. Friedman and OBEY. Glen has shot some of the most memorable and meaningful photos in skateboarding, punk rock, hip hop and more over the last 30 years. Always with an eye for perfection and living by the definition of integrity, Glen has amassed a body of work including album covers for the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and Suicidal Tendencies. He was there to shoot Minor Threat, Bad Brains and the DC scene. Glen was in back yard pools taking pictures of Tony Alva and the Dogtown crew as they changed skateboarding.



Over the years, Glen and Shepard have collaborated on a number of projects, most of which were never available on apparel. Now Glen has released a new book, My Rules, and we thought it was a perfect time to release some of those collaborations. So in support of My Rules we are releasing 4 of those works, each representing a different genre. There is Tony Alva from Dogtown and skateboarding, Henry Rollins from Black Flag, Cornell West the political activist and Public Enemy for hip hop.

CHECK out some of the collection at OBEY CLOTHING