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OLD TRICKS, NEW TREATS is book three of the BAG OF TRICKS trilogy: a compilation of short stories about San Francisco punks in the early 80’s.
- What about San Francisco in the early ’80s made it such fertile ground for punk?
San Francisco in particular had all that post Beatnik/post Hippie ethos. So there was a lot of anti-establishment, anti-authoritarianism in the air, and punks? We just picked up that baton and ran with it. And the culture in San Francisco was so tuned in to alternative everything: music, writing, art, ways of dressing and expressing yourself publicly, ways of living day to day. There were already so many musical muses for us to follow, and places where we could play, and grow, and expand. It’s like the City was living and breathing the growth with us, as much as setting the stage for us to do all of that in.
- How did the city’s geography—its hills, fog, and hidden alleys—shape the stories you tell?
I always say that San Francisco is as much a character as any of the people who populate my stories. The North Beach cafes and Carol Doda’s neon boobs are a part of that time alongside the seedy, stinky clubs and squats, or Golden Gate Park and the Tenderloin. Within each story, I want the readers to be there with me: on a street in the Haight, in the basement of a club, surrounded by a group of other punks at the soup kitchen, turning up your collar against the fog…
- Many scenes from Old Tricks, New Treats unfold in recognizable neighborhoods. How has the Haight changed most dramatically since those days?
I can’t answer this question, as it’s been too many years since I’ve been back.
- What parallels do you see between punk’s DIY ethic and San Francisco’s later tech-start-up culture?
I think this is really a sign of the times. There was a certain sort of DIY ethos not only in the punk scene, but also in the wider culture at the time. Think about the protests against Vietnam and other public displays that came about as a result of everyday people coming together and making it happen. No-one taught them how to do that. They just did it. Punks created our own reality, within the realm of what society had to offer up. Early tech folks did the same thing. Look at Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak doing their thing in a garage, just like a punk band!
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OLD TRICKS, NEW TREATS is book three of the BAG OF TRICKS trilogy: a compilation of short stories about San Francisco punks in the early 80’s.
Follow the adventures of The Shits, Val, Sophie, Babs, Carla, Red, Marco, Bags and all the rest of the rag-tag gang of street punks that populate these stories. Ride with them as they hit new highs and lows, make mostly bad and occasionally good choices, and aim for uncharted lives in the end.
Link – https://amzn.to/4oFYSzL
About the Author
Ruby grew up in the foothills of Northern CA and the West Texas flatlands, riding horses in the back woods near Folsom Prison, and singing with family on the back porch. She attended SDSU at fifteen- studying electrical engineering and drama- then stumbled into life on the streets of San Francisco, enchanted by all the grime and glitz, the drugs and wild nights, even the discordance and insanity of life as a punk in those early days. Moving on, Ruby co-founded the North Coast California Earth First! in Arcata, CA while attending Humboldt State, and fished across Alaskan waters. Eventually, she moved to Seattle, WA where she opened a series of restaurants, then transitioned from restaurateur to singer/songwriter when she started the roots-rockabilly band Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers in 2002. Thrice Grammy-considered, they tour the world and produce award-winning records. In 2023, Ruby wrote Bag of Tricks after reconnecting with old punk friends and reminiscing about those lost years. Most of what she wrote came from events that really occurred, though Ruby took liberties and changed some details because she could. Find more at https://www.rubydeephilippa.com/
Find Part Eight HERE
About The Author
