A Punkhouse in the Deep South with Aaron Cometbus and Scott Satterwhite

The authors of the 2021 book A Punkhouse in the Deep South: The Oral History of 309, Aaron Cometbus and Scott Satterwhite, will be speaking at the bookstore as part of their tour though the South!

During this speaking engagement, Cometbus and Satterwhite will speak about the 309 Punk Project—its history, its accomplishments, and its future. More importantly, Cometbus and Satterwhite will speak to the need for more likeminded independent projects to start and flourish to help build a stronger underground. They will both speak about the book they co-wrote during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Punkhouse in the Deep South, their current works, as well as the trajectories of underground.

They will also be joined by special guests Anthony Ateek and Matt Copeland!

More about A Punkhouse in the Deep South

Told in personal interviews, this is the collective story of a punk community in an unlikely town and region, a hub of radical counterculture that drew artists and musicians from throughout the conservative South and earned national renown.

The house at 309 6th Avenue has long been a crossroads for punk rock, activism, veganism, and queer culture in Pensacola, a quiet Gulf Coast city at the border of Florida and Alabama. In this book, residents of 309 narrate the colorful and often comical details of communal life in the crowded and dilapidated house over its 30-year existence. Terry Johnson, Ryan “Rymodee” Modee, Gloria Diaz, Skott Cowgill, and others tell of playing in bands including This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb, operating local businesses such as End of the Line Cafe, forming feminist support groups, and creating zines and art.

Each voice adds to the picture of a lively community that worked together to provide for their own needs while making a positive, lasting impact on their surrounding area. Together, these participants show that punk is more than music and teenage rebellion. It is about alternatives to standard narratives of living, acceptance for the marginalized in a rapidly changing world, and building a sense of family from the ground up.

Including photos by Cynthia Connolly and Mike Brodie, A Punkhouse in the Deep South illuminates many individual lives and creative endeavors that found a home and thrived in one of the oldest continuously inhabited punkhouses in the United States.

Aaron Cometbus is a writer, songwriter, and multidisciplinary artist who published the fanzine Cometbus for forty years. While playing in numerous bands, from Pinhead Gunpowder to Blank Fight (and many in between), Cometbus is also the editor of the oral histories Back to the Land and The Dead End, and the author of seven novels. His most recent work, “With Green Day in China?!” was released in 2025 by PM Press. Cometbus is the owner of several bookstores in New York City. He also earned a gold record using his teeth as a percussion instrument.

Scott Satterwhite is a writer and educator. He has written nearly 200 articles in various publications, from academic journals to fanzines and newspapers, since 1995. His work has been published in Mississippi Quarterly, Florida Historical Quarterly, Inweekly, Maximumrocknroll, and Pensacola News Journal to name just a few. Satterwhite is the editor of the zine Mylxine and teaches English at the University of West Florida. He is the co-founder of the Open Books Pr*son Book Project and co-Executive Director of the 309 Punk Project—both based in Pensacola.

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