Kleenex/LiLiPUT

Grace Ambrose /Thrilling Living just released this book “Neither memoir nor scrapbook, but something defiantly in the middle, Kleenex/LiLiPUT is a compelling example of what it looks like to document one’s own life.”

Kleenex made a path. They were raw and open and accessible in a “talent” sort of way, and when I heard them on the college radio in the mid 80s, I was so so happy I was already recording the show. The tape cut off before the DJ back announced, so I didn’t know who they were for a long time. The DJs on KALX were better about back announcing, and during a weekend visit to the Bay Area, I finally found out who they were and immediately asked my older punk gateway friend about them. He made me a copy of a tape that he’d copied from someone, and the lofi hiss of the personal distribution network added to the atmosphere.

So, yes, they imprinted early me. Iit would still be decades until I had access to their whole catalog, but this was enough to love them. But I never knew their story until I read the liner notes of the Box Set. I’m learning a lot from this book, which is based on the tour diaries of Marlene Marder, interviews from the time, and other punk ephemera.

I’m reading this slow, because I want it to last - this getting to know Marlene’s experiences of her band and her times. There are stories that are so hard to imagine and experiences that I have also lived. The images are so incredible -taken when punk bands were always touching in photos. Camaraderie. The graphic design of the old flyers is still so attention grabbing when attention is a studied and strived-for commodity. I do love the terrible headlines of the music journalists “Kleenex: Not To Be Sneezed At”. This is a true treasure. I think you can still order it here.