ENTER NAOMI- SST, L.A., And All That...
by Joe Carducci (Redoubt Press)

Joe Carducci’s recent memoir, Enter Naomi, chronicles his years in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, when he helped start up the mighty SST records in the early 1980’s. The thread that ties Joe’s memories together is the story of his friend, and SST staff photographer, Naomi Petersen, who passed away on June 13, 2003, after years of alcohol abuse.

In addition to giving an insider’s look at SST’s beginnings and the life and times of Naomi Petersen, this book also serves as quite as resource for those wishing to dig deeper into the history of this music. Carducci includes tons of photos, reproductions of flyers, as well as a selection of Petersen’s letters and journal entries that show just how complete her involvement was with the bands she photographed. There is also a bibliography of sorts, which points the casual reader towards endless punk archives via, print, the web, and film releases.

Joe Carducci was one of four partners (along with Black Flag members Greg Ginn, Chuck Dukowski, and, roadie Steve “Mugger” Corbin) at SST records in the early ‘80’s. Together they brought the world innovative underground records from the likes of Black Flag, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, and countless others that changed the landscape of popular American music. In the infancy of the label, they all slept under their desks, and had to often rely on the kindness of Ginn’s parents who would provide them with food and clothing (by the pound!)

“To my mind, the crew that lived at SST in ‘82/’83 are the cultural hotshots that future generations will look back on as my generation’s best…They lived on nothing and gave anybody that bothered ‘em the finger…As a cross-supporting nest of individuals, they were able to tough it out for a few years and if they hadn’t, the face of American music woulda been a whole lot less interesting.”

-Byron Coley, Forced Exposure, 1987

It had always been Carducci’s plan to become a writer, but as SST’s momentum built, those plans became shelved. After the death of his sister, Lisa from Leukemia, and D.Boon’s fatal car wreck, he left the label, and moved to Chicago to pursue his original goal. He spent four years writing his Rock and the Pop Narcotic, a 500+ page book that contains, arguably the most important and controversial rock writing since Lester Bangs’ pen was silenced by the reaper in 1982. The book set its sights on established rock critics, especially those from Rolling Stone, claiming they ignored quality music for political reasons. Needless to say, this drew the ire, of said critics, who leveled accusations of homophobia at the author, or ignored his work entirely.

In 2005, Carducci was living in Wyoming hard at work on a new edition of Rock and the Pop Narcotic for his revived Redoubt Press. After attempting to find Naomi to acquire some photos for the new edition -with no luck, he heard from someone at the We Jam Econo film premiere about her death.

One can’t help feel that Naomi is “the one that got away” and that this book is a love letter to her, the ultimate crush on a punk rock girl. The author expresses regret about not making time for her, at some points only contacting her when he needed photo work done, and not staying in touch with her as she disappeared into alcoholism and early death.