1989: Leeway

November 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment

1989: Leeway, Speedway Cafe, Utah. Photos by Trent Nelson

As always, clicking on the images will take you to the original in the PhotoShelter photo archive, where prints are available.

Posted by trent | Filed Under Photographs, Punk Rock Photos, Trent

10.17.1986

November 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Note: My short-lived attendance at Ricks College in the small town of Rexburg, Idaho twenty years ago was a defining stage of my life. Mostly for unpleasant reasons. Taking an extremely impulsive anarchist skate punk from California and putting them in the Rexburg of 1986, what can you expect? My being an 18-year-old with the maturity of a 9-year-old didn’t help, either. But it was in Rexburg that I fell in love with photography and abandoned my academic career to follow my passion.

These entries are written from the journals I kept when I was 18. Of course, at 38 today, I do not advocate any of the illegal activity discussed here. -Trent

Friday, October 17, 1986

After just a few hours of sleep, I got up for my 8am Composition class. I felt like crap. I turned in my paper and read a few others. When I got back to #20, I went to sleep. I didn’t get up again until 12:30. I took a shower and went to lunch. I’ve got a meal card that gets me two meals a day at the cafeteria. Almost always it’s lunch and dinner.

After lunch, Erin called and asked if I wanted to go to Idaho Falls tomorrow. I told her I did.

I was driving around near D.I. and I saw SNFU-Shoe. I stopped and we planned to meet at the cafeteria at 5pm. I gave him, Tina, and Mark a ride to Broulim’s. Then I went up to the school and watched two news programs. I went to the arcade and played some games. Then I went to dinner. I met SNFU-Shoe and we talked for a while. I found out that he went to school in Magrath, across the street from my grandmother’s house. Very cool coincidence.

We drove over to Tina’s, in the girls’ dorms. Their apartment has the best “decor” around. They have a Freddy Kruger cutout and a mannequin and a bunch of other crap. I met Tina, Pam, Debbie, and Mary. All except Mary are cool.

We sat around there and decided that later on we would go to a party at B’s house. B hates me but likes SNFU-Shoe, who hates her, along with me.

Back to #20, where I ran in and ran out so that no one would see me. I was supposed to DM a game of D&D at 5 o’clock, but I’d rather hang with punks (or what passes for them here in Idaho). My roommates were still there, but none of them saw me. We went back up to Tina’s and waited a couple hours for Tina.

Then we loaded nine people into my tiny Honda Civic and went to B’s. We pulled up and B was terribly nervous. I just sat in a chair so she couldn’t blame anything on me. People were drinking and Ryan (a Rexburgite) was passing around some “Rush”, which a lot of people were sniffing. What a joke.

I gave Davin and his chick a ride to the lame dance club, Galleria. I went back to #20, but then decided to go back. I eventually met up with everyone at the Galleria. I saw a beautiful girl who called herself Spider. She reminded me of Ann M from high school, with black hair wearing all black with a pale face. She’s still in high school. I only danced once. Mostly I just sat there. These dance clubs are so pathetic. My first weekend in Rexburg, I went to The Connection with roommate Charlie. I couldn’t believe how many varsity jackets I saw, and people dancing to the “hits.” I thought I had transported to an alternate reality where the populace worshiped the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun and tried to dress like the characters in the film. Oh wait, I did. It’s called Rexburg, Idaho, 1986.

When the Galleria closed we went back to B’s. People were just sitting around, so I went home and to bed.

Posted by trent | Filed Under Ricks College, Trent

Rock N Roll Nightmare

November 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment

WFMU’s Beware the Blog:

I first heard of Thor not through his 80s hair-metal albums, but via a dusty video cassette from the rental store called Rock and Roll Nightmare. A good friend giddily introduced me to this film one spooky night (his mother watched it with us) and I must say that my world has not been the same since. Synapse films finally released this lost gem in a deluxe DVD this year, and there has been no greater moment in my life then when I tore open the plastic of my freshly purchased copy only to find, much to my surprise, my own darn name listed in the thank you credits.

So how did a humble little fanboy like me make it to the inner circle of one of the old ones? Well, first let’s start with the film…

Here.

Posted by trent | Filed Under Web (no longer updated)