I was just home for the holidays at a New Year’s Eve get together when an old friend showed me these neat post card sets of D.C. musicians with their cars that he got as a gift earlier in the day. I think they’re completely out of print, and the mutual friend that gave them must have bought them years ago, but I thought they were worth sharing nonetheless.
Made by Cynthia Connolly, D.C. punk veteran, longtime Dischord Records employee and co-creator of 1988’s Banned in DC , a photographic history of the early DC punk scene, the postcards capture the rides of choice for D.C. luminaries Ted Leo, Jenny Toomey, Ian MacKaye and Allison Wolfe among many others.
From Cynthia Connolly’s website:
“Musicians from DC and their Cars” (or later renamed “favorite mode of transport”) was first created for the Chicago based and nationally distributed ‘zine, “Speed Kills” in about 1994. I wanted to contribute to my favorite ‘zine at the time, called Speed Kills, of which its’ topics usually covered indie and punk music and old cars. I owned a 1963 Ford Falcon, and at the time, my musician friends were all buying old cars. I then decided to create a photographic body of work that included the obvious: musicians from DC who owned old cars. I showed the original exhibit of about 13 images in Sidney, Australia in December 1995 and also at the Washington Project for the Arts in 1996. When I exhibited my show in Sidney, I created a small postcard packet of Silver Gelatin photographs in a set made to be used as postcards. I liked the idea so much, that when I returned from Austrailia, I worked with a printer in North Carolina, using non bleached recycled paper, and newly introduced soy ink, to create ecologically sound postcards in an edition of 1500. As the tour with Pat continued, I created in all, four sets with seven images each, all of which sold out.
You can take a look at the whole collection here.
The captions below are Connolly’s.
Ted Leo of The Sin-Eaters with his 1965 Chevy Nova
Kathi Wilcox of Bikini Kill w/ her 1965 Plymouth Valiant, WDC
Guy Picciotto of Fugazi w/ his 1976 Chrysler Cordoba
Allison Wolfe of Bratmobile w/ her 1979 Pontiac Catalina, WDC
Ian MacKaye of Fugazi w/ his 1978 Toyota Corolla Station Wagon, Arl VA
Jennifer Toomey of Tsunami w/ her 1985 Mercury Marquis Station Wagon
Mark Robinson ex Air Miami & Unrest w/ his 1988 Dodge Ram 350
Alec MacKaye of the Warmers w/ his 1967 Mercury Comet, Arl VA
Christina Billotte of Slant 6 w/ her 1981 Datsun 210, WDC