BOOK MERCK

At the book signing for Melanie Nissen's Hard+Fast, a stunning hardcover volume (via Blank Records) compiling her vivid photos from L.A.'s punk scene, Hipgnosis mastermind Merck Mercuriadis thought perhaps he'd been punked when he was corralled into this photo with HITS' new-wave dweeb Simon Glickman. Simon noted that he'd penned some Rabelaisian limericks and offered to let Merck take them off his hands for a mere $30 million. The genial Canadian replied that he would mull this over, but he had to go get Johnny Thunders a beer.

The gathering for Slash Magazine co-founder Nissen's book was at Shepard Fairey's Subliminal Projects gallery in L.A. Fairey, who spun hardcore cuts during his DJ set, will shortly be offering a print he created, in collaboration with Nissen, of L.A. punk provocateuse Alice Bag. You'll be able to find it here.