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Author Talk: Descenes and Dischords

An Anthology with Howard Wuelfing

Author talk discussing the fanzines Descenes and Discords

Descenes and Discords: An Anthology is a powerful time capsule of the birth and evolution of punk music through the pages of two influential fanzines. These publications, originally printed and distributed in Washington, D.C. during the late 1970s and early 1980s, captured the raw energy, irreverent spirit, and revolutionary ethos of the underground music scene — first local, then national.

Published by writer and musician Howard Wuelfing, Descenes began as a hyperlocal chronicle of D.C.'s burgeoning punk and post-punk community. It featured scene reports, interviews, and passionate reviews of now-legendary acts like Bad Brains, Slickee Boys, and Half Japanese. As the punk movement grew beyond the Beltway, Discords picked up the baton with a wider lens — covering bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and many more, all with the same DIY authenticity and zero-corporate gloss. It also marked the being of the now-legendary scene report known as "Jersey Beat." 

About The Speakers

Howard Wuelfing spent decades in music journalism, contributing to the Washington Post, Creem, Spin, Your Flesh, Forced Exposure, Boston Rock and The Village Voice. Early in his career, Howard in published the influential D.C.-based fanzines Descenes and Discords. Howard also has had an active career as a musician, playing with bands Half Japanese and The Slickee Boys as well as leading local DC twisted-pop micro-legends The Nurses, Underheaven and New Jersey’s Love Pushers (featuring Jersey Beat fanzine editor Jim Testa, future Chicago Sun Times writer/author Jim DeRogatis and Crocodile Shop’s Mick Hale).

John R. Davis is an archivist and the curator of Special Collections in Performing Arts at the University of Maryland's Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. His articles and commentary appear in the Washington Post, NPR, Notes: The Journal of the Music Library Association, The Journal of Popular Culture, and Post & Post-Punk. He is a longtime participant in the Washington, D.C. punk community as a fanzine creator and as a musician in bands like Q And Not U.

Mark Jenkins is a veteran freelancer who has written for the Washington Post, NPR's "All Things Considered," Washington City Paper, Time Out New York, WAMU-FM's "Metro Connection," Rolling Stone, Adweek, Slate, and many other outlets. He is the co-author of Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. He is also a graphic designer who was art director of Washington City Paper from 1987 to 1995.

Registration is encouraged, but not required. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

For more information, please contact the People's Archive at Peoples.archive@dc.gov or by phone at 202-727-1213. To request a reasonable accommodation, please contact the DC Public Library Center for Accessibility by email at DCPLaccess@dc.gov or by phone at 202-727-2142. 

The People's Archive at DC Public Library is home to the dynamic collections that preserve and share the stories, histories, and voices of Washington, D.C.’s diverse communities, as well as the Black experience in the Unites States. The DC Punk Archive was established in 2014 to document the vibrant and influential punk music scene of Washington D.C. Punk is an aggressive form of rock music. The subject scope is intentionally broad, including punk and related local music between 1976-present, in order to capture both well-documented and lesser-known stories. The archive documents music and musicians as well as the cultural context of venues, festivals, record shops, radio stations, houses and tours that were a vital part of the D.C. scene.

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