Spokane Rapture

Michael Jackson may be gone to the Beulah land but we are pleased to report that the Haraldson brothers, Francois and Roberto, are still among the breathing and living in Los Angeles (if you can call that breathing). On a Hollywood rooftop with the namesake sign looming overhead, we captured their charismatic recounting of the early days of the Spokane punk scene and what’s happened since. Francois even favored us with a Clash number on his beat up accordion. It doesn’t look like either will make the reunion so we are thrilled to get something for the documentary from these influential scenesters.

Down in Long Beach, another OG, Erich Thaler, shared some poignant reflections on the halcyon days of drunkenness and anarchy in Spokane, but also the innocence and lack of pretense that made our scene unique. In true DIY spirit, Erich ditched work to join in as camera operator and script supervisor (in addition to couch concierge).

We were also fortunate enough to receive a visit from Club RUReD entrepreneur Eugene Baylon Jaceldo who now teaches music north of LA. Eugene waxed profound about the influence the Spokane scene had on his later endeavors.

Geez, who knew the old crew could be so soulful? Perhaps it’s appropriate then that Erich capped off the visit with a bluesy acoustic rendering of “Blitzkrieg Bop” from the aforementioned couch.