Detroit Rock City Independence Day weekend party w/ members of Amplified Heat (MC5 tribute), Jake Garcia, Johnny Walker, & Friends (the Stooges tribute)

Some cite the Who in the mid-Sixties. Ramones, Radio Birdman, and Sex Pistols a decade later, OK. Yet the strongest case for punk rock’s birth remains 1969 in Michigan, wherein the MC5 detonated debut Kick Out the Jams in February and the Stooges’ eponymous bow dropped in August. Amplified Heat’s Ortiz bros assume the guise of the former, while Black Angels guitarist Jake Garcia and KLBJ radio scion Johnny Walker channel the latter in setting off Independence Day fireworks following Death Valley Girls in a separate show on the patio. As such, punk remains as American as apple pie and armed insurrection. —73703