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Positive Force 40th Anniversary

Join us for two panels as several key artists and activists who helped birth the "Revolution Summer" moment reflect on its meaning to them. Plus, view the special collection on display.

On June 21, 1985, a few dozen kids declared "Revolution Summer" with a thunderous "punk percussion protest" at the South African Embassy. That night, the band Rites of Spring officially welcomed the new season with a sweat and passion-drenched show at the 9:30 Club. Forty years later, it has become clear these were "shots heard around the world,” or, at least, in an underground that would soon burst into a global spotlight. Join us for 2 panels as several key artists and activists who helped birth that moment reflect on its meaning to them, both "back in the day" as well as in our present moment.

The Revolution Summer panel will be moderated by Chris Richards of the Washington Post, with Amy Pickering (of Dischord Records and the band Fire Party, and the one who coined the name "Revolution Summer"), Pete Stahl (of the band Scream) and Bobby Sullivan (of the bands Lünch Meat and Soulside) along with Mark Andersen (co-founder, Positive Force DC and co-author, Dance of Days). 

About the Collection

The records of Positive Force DC were donated to the People's Archive by co-founder Mark Andersen in 2015. In recognition of the anniversary celebration, DCPL Exhibits and Archives staff invited volunteers from the Positive Force to curate an exhibit telling the story of the organization using materials from the collection. The exhibit will be on display in the glass case in the 4th floor punk exhibit and on the walls outside the People's Archive beginning June 12. During the program on June 21 the People's Archive will invite attendees to browse the Positive Force collection during an open house event.

Schedule 

Revolution Summer: Then & Now

1:00pm to 2:30pm

This panel will feature individuals who were participants in Revolution Summer in different ways and continue with music and activism today:

Amy Pickering was a key figure in the Washington, D.C. punk scene during the mid-to-late 1980s. As the lead singer of Fire Party (1986–1990), one of the first all-female post-hardcore bands, she helped shape the genre’s evolution. She also helped inspire "Revolution Summer" in 1985, which challenged the scene's growing violence and misogyny, promoting inclusivity and political activism, including opposition to apartheid. Pickering’s punk roots began in high school and deepened through her work at Dischord Records, where she famously removed a "No Skirts Allowed" sign on her first visit. Through anonymous “ransom notes,” she called for change in a degenerating scene, inspiring a renewed sense of community and purpose, that was lifted further by bands such as Rites of Spring and Embrace, which helped lay the foundation for what later was dubbed "emo." With Fire Party, Pickering released 2 EPs, known for their raw sound and probing lyrics. Their debut show in 1987 honored Toni Young, a pioneering Black woman in the D.C. punk scene who had recently died. Pickering’s impact went beyond music—she helped redefine punk as a more inclusive and socially conscious movement, leaving a lasting legacy.

Bobby Sullivan grew up in the Washington, DC punk scene, fueled by Rasta rockers the Bad Brains and the foundational Minor Threat, among many others.  His most notable band continues to be Soulside (of which he is the singer) with multiple releases on Dischord.  In the 1980s, Soulside toured extensively in the US, Canada, and Mexico, and toured Europe in ‘89, including Eastern Europe just before the Berlin Wall fell. Along the way, Sullivan became an activist, working with Food Not Bombs, the Anarchist Black Cross political prisoner support network, and a Rasta prison ministry.  He currently manages a retail grocery co-op in Asheville, NC and served on the board of the National Co-op Grocers for nine years. This led him to work with the US/Cuba Cooperative Working Group and with developing co-ops in Jamaica. In 2018 Bobby released a book on Akashic called Revolutionary Threads: Rastafari, Social Justice & Cooperative Economics tying together many of the historical “threads” guiding his life of work, music and activism. Soulside reunited in 2014 and continues to tour the globe, most recently the US, Canada, Eastern & Western Europe, and Japan.

Pete Stahl is best known for fronting the Virginia-based punk/hardcore band Scream with his brother Franz. Early on, Scream featured Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl on drums, who credited Pete Stahl as the inspiration for the song "My Hero". Stahl later went on to form Wool with his brother in the 1990s, and sung for Goatsnake and Earthlings?. He worked for The Viper Room in Los Angeles, and contributed to the Sunn O))) album ØØ Void, and was featured on Orquesta del Desierto, a series of albums written about the desert. Stahl has also contributed to volumes 1 to 4 of Josh Homme's musical collaborative series The Desert Sessions, and toured with Queens of the Stone Age from 1998 to 1999 to perform these songs in addition to doing backing vocals for various songs by Queens of the Stone Age. Stahl works as a tour manager, primarily for Rival Sons and Coheed and Cambria

Mark Andersen  was raised on a farm/ranch on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Sheridan County, Montana. He is the co-director of We Are Family Senior Outreach Network, a co-founder of punk activist collective Positive Force DC and Positive Force World, a nonprofit foundation that provides small grants to grassroots DIY projects to meet human needs and spark progressive change across the globe. He has served on many nonprofit boards, most notably the Washington Free Clinic, the Washington Peace Center and Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive and is the co-author of Dance Of Days: Two Decades of Punk In the Nation's Capital and We Are The Clash: Reagan, Thatcher, and the Last Stand of a Band That Mattered and author of All The Power: Revolution Without Illusion and has contributed to many other books. He also conceived and assembled the State of the Union benefit compilation on Dischord Records, first released in 1989. Mark has done outreach, organizing and advocacy in inner city DC since the late 1980s. He lives with his beloved Tulin Ozdeger and their two children, Soren and Sevgi along with cat Cici and dog Galway in the Brightwood/16th Street Heights neighborhood of Washington DC.

Moderator:  Chris Richards of the Washington Post and Q & Not U has been The Washington Post's pop music critic since 2009. Before joining The Post, he freelanced for various music publications.

Positive Force: Punk Politics Across the Decades

3:00pm to 4:30pm

Punk activist collective Positive Force DC was one of the most long-lasting organizational outgrowths of Revolution Summer. An all-volunteer organization that has no formal structure or status, the group has nonetheless organized hundreds of benefit concerts, protests and educational events as well as drawing thousands of volunteers into service work for some of DC's most vulnerable residents since its birth in June 1985. Key activists from different eras of the group will discuss what Positive Force meant to them, what they learned and/or how they grew from their experiences in the group and what needs to be done to meet the challenges of today.

Panelists: 

Flora Lucini of Maafa and 1865

Jenny Toomey of the Ford Foundation,  Tsunami and Simple Machines Records

Katy Otto is a drummer who grew up in the DC punk scene and currently lives in Philadelphia where she still plays music. She has been in bands such as Bald Rapunzel, Del Cielo, Problems, Helsinki, Trophy Wife, Callowhill and Rainbow Crimes. She's also drummed for artists such as Homage to Catalonia, Rachel Jacobs, Gina Young, and Driftwood Soldier. She has released two concept eps on the label she runs, Exotic Fever Records, which she co-founded with Sara Klemm and Bonnie Schlegel in DC in 2000.

Kevin Mattson is the Connor Study Professor of Contemporary History in the Department of History. His research focuses on the intersection of ideas and politics in the 20th century. He is on the editorial board of Dissent magazine, and he serves as the Chair of Committee "A" for the statewide chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Ryan Fletcher founded Movement Media in 2013 and leads the firm in providing essential communications support to its mission-driven partners. Ryan’s professional tenure in public relations began in 2002 and grew out of years of progressive activism, and work as a promoter and organizer in Washington, D.C.’s storied independent and activist-oriented punk rock music scene.

Wade Fletcher is a teaching assistant professor in the University Writing Program and currently serves as Director of First-Year Writing. Wade holds a MFA in poetry from George Mason University and has published two chapbooks, Conditions Which and Snitch Culture. Having previously worked for seven years in GW's Disability Support Services (DSS) office, Wade continues to organize and lead workshops and discussions focused on applying aspects of Critical Disability Studies and accessible course design to writing pedagogy.

Chris Richards is a writer living in Silver Spring, Maryland. He has been The Washington Post’s pop music critic since 2009, and his work has also appeared in various underground publications, including his self-published zine, Debussy Ringtone. He played in the post-harDCore band Q and Not U among other groups.

Moderator:  Johnny Temple is the publisher and editor in chief of Akashic Books, an award-winning Brooklyn-based independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction. Temple won the 2013 Ellery Queen Award; the American Association of Publishers’ 2005 Miriam Bass Award for Creativity in Independent Publishing; and the 2010 Jay and Deen Kogan Award for Excellence in Noir Literature. Temple plays bass guitar in the band Girls Against Boys, which has toured extensively across the globe and released numerous albums on independent and major record companies. He has contributed articles and political essays to various publications, including the Nation, Publishers Weekly, AlterNet, Poets & Writers, and BookForum. He is also the chair of the Brooklyn Literary Council, which works with Brooklyn’s borough president to plan the annual Brooklyn Book Festival in September. He is the editor of USA Noir.

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