Jim Ruland

Dec 4, 2024 | latimes.com | Jim Ruland

OC surfer and punk vocalist Steve “Crabby” Cabler, who barely survived the 2002 Bali bombing that claimed the lives of more than 200 people, photographed at his home in Costa Mesa. Steve Cabler was living it up in Bali: surfing all day and partying all night. He’d traveled from his home in Newport Beach on a surf trip to Indonesia with his best friend, Steve Webster.

Nov 20, 2024 | latimes.com | Jim Ruland

Los Angeles art-punk veterans L7 have seen it all, from playing Raji’s in Hollywood in the ’80s, to the grunge circuit in the ’90s, to huge punk and metal festivals all over the world. “We feel at home in a lot of places,” said L7 co-founder Donita Sparks, “and we feel out of place in a lot of places.”In many of those places, especially in the early days, L7 was one of the few bands — if not the only band — that was all female.

Sep 25, 2024 | jimruland.substack.com | Jim Ruland

I drove up to LA yesterday with Nuvia for a quick trip to the Chinese consulate and while we were in town we redeemed a free night at one of my favorite hotels — the Westin Bonaventure — to go see the Dodgers lose in a dramatic fashion. Can’t win ’em all.

Aug 21, 2024 | jimruland.substack.com | Jim Ruland

You’re busy, I’m busy, and the world keeps breaking our hearts, but for reasons that are both obvious and mysterious, I’m captivated by Mike Tyson’s upcoming fight with Jake Paul on November 15. Mike Tyson is one of those figures that transcends sports like Michael Jordan or Tony Hawk. Except Mike Tyson is different. Michael Jordan never went to jail for rape. Tony Hawk never bit off a chunk of an opponent’s ear.

Aug 10, 2024 | latimes.com | Jim Ruland

Good morning and thanks for reading the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter!I’m novelist and punk historian Jim Ruland, and even though I love books, when the temperature rises, you can find me at the movies. The next best thing? A lurid summer read that oozes with sex, death and cinema. Navid Sinaki’s debut novel, “Medusa of the Roses,” which will be published by Grove Press next week, checks all the boxes. It’s a taut story of doomed love set in Tehran and shot through with noirish imagist poetry.