Cherie & Sandy joined a host of legendary Los Angeles Punk stars to celebrate the release of the new book, We Got the Neutron Bomb: The Untold Story of L.A. Punk, written by Spin Magazine writer Marc Spitz and longtime L.A. music promoter and musician Brendan Mullin. Among the bands that performed, (three songs each), were The Controllers, The Skulls, Hal Negro & The Satin Tones, The Dogs, Mike Watt & George Hurley of the The Minutemen, The Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, members of the Weirdos, Fear, TSOL, Agent Orange, members of The Screamers, The Adolescents, and of course, Sandy & Cherie of The Runaways - pictured above with bassist Abby Travis, who sat in with them that evening.

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Above: Mary reunited with long-time guitarist Loren for a rare performance as The Dogs. Loren is also the former guitarist of Little Ceasar, while Mary is the current bassist with one of our fave bands, Kanary.

As Sandy prepares to rock out on the drums...

...we get a look at the outrageous crowd. The place was completely sold out by 6:00 pm. You're looking at over 800 people packing The El Rey - we heard 200 more were turned away - all to benefit "My Friends Place", a shelter for homeless & runaway teens.

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The gals jammed through "American Nights", "Rock & Roll" and "Cherry Bomb" with the able assistance of Xander on guitar, who also backed the ladies at their Club Cherry  performance last year.

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A passage from Neutron Bomb: "SANDY WEST: We played the Whisky that September 
('75) as a three-piece opening for Kim's other band, The Hollywood Stars and tons of record 
company people came... I think Kim billed us as 'Heavy Metal Schoolgirls.' 

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From Neutron Bomb: "CHERIE CURRIE: Kim told my mother that I was going to be a 
rock star. That I was going to be the next Bowie, the next this and that. How could you refuse? 
Within two weeks he had a deal with Mercury Records Ötwo weeks after my fifteenth birthday."

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Cherie had everybody singing along with "Rock & Roll", a loud chorus of "It's alright!" boomed from the audience. I tried to get around to the front of the stage to snap some pix, but I was immediately moshed upon. A pile of bodies came tumbling down almost knocking me over, so I fled back to relative safety on the side of the stage. The place was front to back an endless sea of people packed tightly together.

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From Neutron Bomb: "SANDY WEST: Punk was amazing. During that first tour in 
England they were spitting at us onstage and so we started spitting back.
LITA FORD: The more spit you got the better you were. Oh fuck yeah."

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There's an entire chapter of Neutron Bomb devoted to telling the story of The Runaways, mostly in their own words - a really interesting read. Congrats to Marc & Brendan on the release of their book and for putting together such a spectacular concert! Cherie & Sandy wish to especially thank Xander and Abby for their wonderful performance!