East Side San Jose Punx
Story and photos by Manuel Masacre

East San Jose is known for g'd up low-riders, cops and gangsters, but every now and then you'll see a bunch of weird looking kids skating or riding beach cruisers. Did you ever wonder "Where the hell did these kids come from?" Well, to tell you that story, let me tell you the tale of an east sider in a strange world called Luna's Mufflers.

Luna's is a cool auto shop owned by an even cooler East side Mexican dude named Flo Luna, he's currently in a Watsonville spanglish Punk band called Los Dryheavers. He puts on shows in his shop every now and then. Those shows changed my life. I saw bands like Uzi Suicide, Voetzek, and Hostile Takeover. I would never be the same person again.  

I'd always been a political person and now in this music and these people I saw the physical manifestations of my liberation -- blindingly fast drums, crunching guitars, snappy bass lines and truly radical people. Some people were Gay, some Vegan, some Anarchist, some Communist, but all of them were and are inspiring to me.

Slowly but surely this seen is bleeding onto the East side. I see new kids every day, all getting turned onto this beautifully chaotic music. It is truly a melting pot of many cultures. I see a lot of Mexican and South American people at the shows, and a scene is slowly building. Hopefully from all this, an honest and fierce movement for positive change can come about, seeing as the government is quickly tightening its grasp upon our throats.

Also Read:
"Street Music"
Poem by G.Melesaine
Art by Fernando Amaro Jr.