Dirk Dirksen (August 25, 1937 – November 20, 2006) was a

music promoter A promoter works with event production and entertainment industries to promote their productions, including in music and sports. Promoters are individuals or organizations engaged in the business of marketing and promoting live, or pay-per-view ...

and emcee of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

punk rock clubs

Mabuhay Gardens The Mabuhay Gardens, also known as The Fab Mab or The Mab, was a former San Francisco nightclub, located at 443 Broadway Street, in North Beach on the Broadway strip area best known for its striptease clubs. It closed in 1987. History The Mabu ...

and On Broadway in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Dirksen was nicknamed the "Pope of Punk." Dirksen was born in

Braunschweig, Germany Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the No ...

and immigrated to the US in 1948. He was a nephew of United States Senator

Everett Dirksen Everett McKinley Dirksen (January 4, 1896 – September 7, 1969) was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 unt ...

. He served in the Army, briefly attended

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

, and entered the entertainment business in the late 1950s, hosting a live television show called ''Rocket to Stardom''. He then worked as a tour manager for several 1960s rock and soul acts. In 1974, he began to book acts at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco's North Beach, and began booking local punk acts (

The Nuns The Nuns was an American rock band based in San Francisco and New York City. Best known as one of the founding acts of the early San Francisco punk scene, the band went through a number of hiatuses and periodic reunions, lineup changes, and cha ...

, The Sheets,

Crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

, Mary Monday, etc.) along with soon-to-be-famous national and international talent, such as Blondie,

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

Devo Devo (, originally ) is an American rock band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs (Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a ...

, Black Flag, and

The Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, satirizing p ...

. From 1979 to 1982, he wrote and directed ''Amapola Presents Show'', a weekly magazine–variety show on

KEMO-TV KEMO-TV (channel 50) is a television station licensed to Fremont, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of the Spanish-language network Estrella TV. Owned by HC2 Holdings, the station maintains studios on ...

, Channel 20. The show starred Filipina superstar Amapola with co-host Ness Aquino—Mabuhay Gardens' owner. ''Amapola Presents Show'' became Dirk Dirksen's showcase for local punk acts, local Bay Area bands and artists, and a group of Bay Area actors called "The Straight People." Dirksen gained some negative notoriety for allegedly ripping off SoCal punk rock bands Youth Brigade and

Social Distortion Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...

while on their independent summer 1982 tour, and further taunting them by giving them rolls of pennies, as documented in the documentary ''Another State of Mind''. After leaving the Mabuhay Gardens, he operated the On Broadway nightclub just upstairs from the Mabuhay. When the On Broadway was closed in 1984, Dirksen went into video production with his firm, Dirksen-Molloy Productions, which he owned with his

domestic partner A domestic partnership is a legal relationship, usually between couples, who live together and share a common domestic life, but are not married (to each other or to anyone else). People in domestic partnerships receive benefits that guarantee r ...

Damon Molloy. Dirksen was also active with the organization H.E.A.R. (Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers). In April 2006, he hosted a Mabuhay reunion event at the Fillmore Auditorium, featuring members of the

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk rock, punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, sa ...

The Mutants ''The Mutants'' is the fourth serial of the ninth season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in six weekly parts on BBC1 from 8 April to 13 May 1972. The serial is set on and high above the ...

, Flipper, and

The Contractions The Contractions is an early-Eighties all-female punk power trio based in San Francisco. The band consisted of Mary Kelley on guitar and vocals, Debbie Hopkins on drums and vocals, and Kathy Peck on bass and vocals. A review in '' BAM magazine'' ...

. Later that year, he died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack at age 69. On November 12, 2008, an official measure was passed to rename Rowland Alley — on Broadway between Kearney and Montgomery — for him. In 2009, along with a street sign reading "Dirk Dirksen Place," a plaque was placed at 433 Broadway, the former site of the Mabuhay Gardens nightclub Dirksen once managed.

References

External links

Dirk Dirksen, the Pope of Punk
by Frank Moore, 1995.
Dirksen-Molloy Productions
German emigrants to the United States Music promoters LGBT people from California 1937 births 2006 deaths Businesspeople from California 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people {{US-music-bio-stub