We’re here.

Nora T. Murphy and I just stepped into Disturbing the Peace: Sonoma County’s Early Punk Underground at the Museum of Sonoma County—and it’s already buzzing.

The sun’s dropping outside, but inside it’s heating up—packed room, bodies moving, voices rising. It feels like those hot, stuffed, undulating rooms of the SoCo scene back in the ’80s and ’90s—Phoenix, River Theatre, Guerneville… that energy is back in the walls.

Punk heads from across generations are here. The originals. The lifers. And a whole new wave stepping into it.

DIY flyers everywhere. Xeroxed history. Cassettes. Photos that hit like time travel. And then—out of nowhere—spontaneous jams breaking out. Musicians grabbing instruments and ripping into whatever gets shouted from the crowd. Any song. No hesitation.

We’ve already had some kick-ass laughs with storytellers and full-on characters from the scene. You can feel it—this isn’t just memory, it’s alive.

The exhibition runs April 18 through August 23, so you’ve got time—but tonight’s afterparty with Victims Family is already sold out, and you can feel that energy spilling over into everything happening here.

I’m standing here thinking about my first show—1984 ish. The Seahags. The Descendents. Dead Kennedys Somewhere in this room, maybe, that flyer exists. I’m on the hunt.

But even if I don’t find it… it doesn’t matter.

Because it’s all here.

All of it.

And it still feels like ours.

Watch this space—and tune in to my shows on KSVY and Nora’s Left of the Dial for interviews, stories, and music inspired by the exhibition.