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Punk magazine all-stars rock 40th anniversary

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Whoa! Punk magazine contributor Robert Romagnoli, left, and Punk’s founding editor John Holmstrom at the mag’s 40th anniversary party. Photos by Bob Krasner

BY BOB KRASNER | Punk. Nostalgia.

If you were there, it never would have occurred to you that 40 years after the birth of Punk magazine, John Holmstrom and company would be at the Howl! Happening Gallery celebrating the anniversary of a 50-cent rag that wanted to be MAD magazine more than it wanted to be Rolling Stone.

Punk published 15 unforgettable issues from 1976 to 1979, and there have been a few revivals since then.

The somewhat ragged survivors of that legendary scene came out to celebrate with original contributors Robert Romagnoli, Godlis, Roberta Bayley, Ken Weiner and musicians Lenny Kaye, Martin Rev and Handsome Dick Manitoba, among others, amid displays of period art and memorabilia.

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Luigi Scorcia channeling late guitarist Johnny Thunders and Chuck Hancock a.k.a. Raven of Murphy’s Law.

While it may not have brought you back to a night at CBGB, artist Marlene Weisman noted that the party was “a whole lot better than that P.T.A. meeting that I was supposed to go to.”

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Artist and Punk fan Marlene Weisman struck a pose in front of some of the magazine’s classic covers.