Let’s reach for the stars like my good friend Efrem, Photo by Rubén Navarro Martín
“In fact, punk rock means exemplary manners towards your fellow human being”
~Joe Strummer
Punk rock and hip hop music have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I have my older brother and sisters with their schizophrenic cassette tape and record collections to thank for getting me into it, and my life off to a running start. It’s helped inspire me along the path to fighting the good fight.
Both punk and hip hop culture has helped educate me about the world we live in (as well as other dimensions—just ask Gift of Gab :))—but that’s a discussion for another day… ha, ha!). They’ve helped craft my values; ideas shared in the music and lyrics have influenced my views on the world and helped shaped my beliefs. They’ve encouraged me to open my eyes to my own potentiality and helped unlock my heart. They’ve empowered me with tools to do anything I want to in life. The cultures provide a platform in which I can have a voice and the friends that I have made on my journey navigating the cultures make me feel like I matter. Being a part of the communities for over half my life has helped illuminate my awareness and nurture my self-awareness. In a way, it feels like they have been parents to me… mi familia.
Time and time again punk (I include hardcore too, it’s all punk to me) and hip hop, facilitate the experience of being wholly present in the moment. When I am present I feel truly alive, time seems to stop and nothing else matters beyond that moment. It is something profoundly sacred to me, pure and beyond words. I know that many of you reading this will totally know what I mean. Those who get it will and those who don’t won’t … and that’s totally fine too! I just speak from what I know to be true for me, from my heart and my experience.
Conversations with Punx: A Spiritual Dialogue is by far my most ambitious project to date (it is only the beginning :)). It is a celebration of mi familia and a discovery and journey of self. It’s an exercise in questioning, asking why and how? It’s all about conversations on the pursuit of happiness. It prompts you to reflect on your own life and dig deeper for your best. It’s about sharing information and (hopefully) opening up thoughtful discussion.
Conversations with Punx… is the foundation for this site and an extension of the community of like-minded individuals championing creativity across the globe that is always building slowly yet surely (sometimes in secret… I love the underground, bedroom jams and crafts from the kitchen table). It’s a coming together in celebration of individuality and commonalities. It’s about the human condition and life… one that I am thankful to have.
In short: 60+ conversations with creators from the punk and hardcore world sharing their thoughts & feelings on and experiences with creativity, music and spirituality! How exciting!
It’s been six years since I first started the project. I had the idea for it around a year or so before that. In a way I’ve felt that everything I have done and everything I’ve learnt along the way has propelled me to this point… so my friends, this has been a loooong time coming. Thank you to all who have supported and who continue to support both me and my projects. Thanks old friends and new friends, each of you means the world to me. I appreciate that you care, as I do too. We understand each other; we’re on that same frequency (no matter if we’re into punk, hip hop or something else entirely—we all ultimately want to be happy and are on a search for our truth—whatever that means for us). This project is for the True Hearts, True Believers & the Truth Seekers.
Now without further ado the news you’ve all been waiting (patiently) for…
Conversations with Punx: A Spiritual Dialogue release details:
The book will first be released as a series of limited-edition handmade zines over a twelve-month period. Each issue will feature around 5 conversations possibly more (there are still a few I’m finishing up now). They’ll be around 60-70 pages in total give or take a few.
A new issue will be released each month. Each issue will be available to order from the first day of the month until the last day of the month. Once the month is up though that’s it, you will have to wait for the limited edition (numbered) hardcover book release or the concise paperback edition (which will feature additional conversations never before seen).
To get a piece of my [he]art to your letter box (old school) post style—it’ll be super fun to receive more than only bills every month—you will be able to choose your own adventure and purchase as you go (month by month) or get it as a 12-month subscription. If you make the one-off subscription payment you will be really and truly helping me fund the project! As a thank you, you will receive the zines at a cut-rate price as well as having the option to receive a (currently) top secret bonus I’m working on. I’m trying my best to pull it all together as soon as I can, I want to make sure I give you guys my best though as you do to me.
More details to be released soon…
Kind words from kind people:
“I’m looking forward to reading the finished piece. I’m glad that you are getting so much out of the process.”
~Ian MacKaye
“Can’t wait to hold a copy of the book in my hands!”
~Vic DiCara
“Can’t wait to see the book, so happy to be a part of it. Go Bianca!”
~Jonah Matranga
“I’m eager to see your hard work.”
~Ray Cappo
“This book is gonna be awesome!”
~Matt Caughtran
“Thanks for asking me to be part of it Bianca. I look forward to reading it.”
~Lou Koller
“I’m looking forward to this book.”
~Franklin Rhi
“I’m excited to see the final product!”
~Porcell
“I’m so excited about this!”
~Efrem Schultz
“I’m psyched to see the finished product.”
~Rob Fusco
“I look forward to reading the book and thank you again for having me be a part of it… it’s such a worthwhile project”
~Robert Ehrenbrand
“I am really happy with our conversation and it is very gratifying to know that it will be out there in the world… you really have a fantastic journalistic style. I think you are on the right path with your book and with your interest in spirituality… keep up your excellent work… I think it’s an important book.”
~Jesse Michaels
I hope you guys are digging the way I’ve decided to release the project. It’s taken me a long while to reach the decision of how to release this work. I thought about it, a lot! I asked a lot of people for advice. Personally, I didn’t want to release it as a book and then that’s it—as what often happens—there’s so many books released every day. I wanted to do something more with it. I wanted to create something wonderful, something sincere, meaningful and long lasting—to create something special. The thoughts contained on the pages are too thoughtful, extraordinary and important.
Dannii, Anthony, Jhonny and Everett thank you for having conversations with me on the day I decided to release the project this way… your words, thoughts and opinions help guide my decision—without you even knowing it!
So many people I spoke to just wanted me to release it as a book (apparently releasing a book comes with prestige (ha!)) and while I can’t wait for the book (!!!) I knew I wanted to do something else too. Ian’s words, ‘I’m glad that you are getting so much out of the process’ made me stop and think about the process… I came to the conclusion that I’m still not done with the process. I’m still really enjoying myself, now more than ever. Now it’s getting really exciting because I’m sharing it with you guys and making so many new friends worldwide. I want to give it the release it deserves. I’ve always been reluctant to just hand the book and its contents over to someone else. I had thoughts of ‘Would they change it?’, ‘Not get it?’, and ‘Just try to cash in from it?’ The people I’m working with to bring you it, are remarkable, good people… you’ll find out more about them as the process unfolds.
Part of why I wanted to release it as a series of zines over 12-months is because to do something like that takes a commitment. I wanted to commit to myself and I wanted to create something beautiful—handmade zines (to start) just felt right. Making that commitment means that I have to be on my game at all times, I have to organise myself, look after myself, stay healthy, positive, rise to challenges, learn new things (my Jhonny is teaching me to screen-print the zine covers!), push myself past my limitations… in short, it’s a commitment to me living my best life.
Releasing it over 12-months also gives you guys a chance to really absorb the stories, lessons, love in each conversation and hopefully find something that rings true to you that you can take onboard and utilise to make changes—lasting, positive changes in your life. As a whole piece, the 60+ conversations can be really, really intense!! Even to me, who has looked at them every single day over the last 6 years, I find it overwhelming! I laugh, I cry, I shake my head in disbelief or nod in agreement or disagreement as I read. Some of the conversations just make me want to give the person I’m speaking to a big old hug—they’ve all given so much of themselves to their creativity, art and the world. They inspire me by being themselves and following their heart for better or worse.
From day one of this project I have told myself that the bottom line is to enjoy the process, keep my mind and heart open, make new friends and contribute something positive and rad to the world…. and it’s been so far so good. Thank you for joining me on my journey. Let’s commit to the next part together. Let’s encourage each other to live our best life.
As the exquisite, strong, inspiring lady Corey Parks told me:
We’re not victims of circumstance; we create our own reality. I love that we can draw anything to us through the laws of attraction and that through the power of our words we can access anything we want in life. I want to have a life beyond my wildest dreams. That’s my divine right. That’s your divine right. That’s Duane’s divine right and little Clash’s here [laughs].
Love & light, always!
