Exene Cervenka of L.A. Punk Band X Moving to Texas Because California Has Become “A Liberal Oppressive Police State and Regulations and Taxes and Fees”

Exene Cervenka, singer from classic Los Angeles punk band X, has
been making news this week for her massive estate sale,
ongoing right now.

She’s shipping out to Texas, and
she tells Rolling Stone why:

“The other reason I’m moving, if the creek don’t rise, is that
when I moved to California in 1976, Jerry Brown was governor. It
was barefoot hippie girls, Hell’s Angels on the Sunset Strip, East
L.A. lowriders, the ocean and nature. It was this fabulous
incredible place about freedom. Now when I think about California,
I think of a liberal oppressive police state and regulations and
taxes and fees. I’d rather go someplace and have my own little
place out on the edge of town. I’m a country girl at heart. It
makes me happy when I see people in Texas open-carrying. It makes
me feel safe. I’m not even a gun owner, but I’d like to see a gun
rack in every pickup truck, like my boyfriend had when I was
fifteen years old in Florida. An armed society is a polite
society.”

She cracks a smile. “Now Jerry Brown’s governor again. He’s done
some great things, like balancing the budget and libraries are open
on Sundays. But things are getting to the point in this country
where people are going to have to fight to survive and fight for
their rights.”

I wrote a while back about the
pro-market heresies of Pere Ubu punk David Thomas, and
back in 2000 about the inescapably strange politics of
anti-market
rock n’ rollers.