more than just another crowd, we need a gathering instead…
around february of 2003 i toured mexico with my anarko-hardcore punk band for six weeks… we hitch-hiked the entire tour… we borrowed equipment to play at the shows, which was easy to do since many of the collectives that set up shows take on the responsibility of providing equipment if needs be… there were many differences between the “punk” we experienced in mexico and the “punk” we know around the united states... privilege obviously plays into this factor… for example many punks i know in mexico can not afford the time away from helping their family to listen to records all day... but sometimes privilege is your poverty in disguise… the following is thoughts on why i fell in love with certain aspects of punk shows throughout mexico which i hardly ever encounter in the united states…
it all started after a show i enjoyed in hermosillo, mexico, when all the punks were enlivening the stale night... the venue that supported the show had closed for the night... everyone wanted more because the show had contained that special energy in it that does not come with every show, but when it is created, is a fundamental reason why “punk” has continued to resist and exist throughout countless downfalls and attempted corporate takeovers... when the police thought it was time for the gathered peoples to disperse, the gathered peoples voiced their opinions of different ideas... i proposed a soccer game as a possibility for reason enough to not go home and some of the group migrated to a field nearby… people did not leave until they were exhausted and physically could not take much more… this was one of those nights where people were brought together…
there are also those nights that people go to shows and do not feel an intimate sensation about the evening... those nights are not surprising considering shows and bands have become so much of what it is to be punk... don’t get me wrong, i feel that shows are an excellent part of punk’s potential but shows are definitely not all that punk has to offer… it concerns me whenever i hardly hear punks talk of anything else but shows because i feel a definite difference between talking about shows at home and talking about home at shows…
that difference was clear in mexico when i purposely would state during our set that anyone should feel free to use the microphone whenever they had anything to say, whether adding to the topics in our songs, or completely off subject with what we were screaming or talking about, whether in between songs, or right in the middle… the reason behind this is that it has always been important to me to actively disrupt the division between active and passive participants at shows…
in mexico, at more than one show, some of the peeps took action on this and spoke about local issues, personal dilemmas, dreams, and desires…
i have never seen anyone in the united states accept my offer to use the microphone during our set... i know that intimidation technicalities exist strong in the united states but i feel that most shows are small enough that shows could be intimate not intimidating…
this rant-ish typing is not meant to pin up the mexican “punk” i experienced versus the “punk” in the United States, but just to note a difference and a desire... i wish more often i would leave shows on a high because i did bear witness to someone confront a fear or confuse a formality by taking a chance that the gathering they have come across is a supportive one, a revolutionary one… that someone, whether in a band or not, made a spectacle of hope that community was possible… (i have tried numerous times to reword this part but find it one of those ideas that words just seem to do little justice)
i understand that we live in an over-stimulated society and several cities around the country, have a number of good punk shows every week, if not every night, and therefore it is not surprising that we do not use punk shows as much as an arena for release with dance, conversation, and contemplation, as we would is we only had the opportunity, like many towns in mexico, to gather at a punk show once a month...
after many shows both in mexico and the united states there are parties of the potluck kind and/or the beer gut kind… which seem to me to be proof that the gatherings we know as shows can reach beyond the superficial barriers created by limiting definitions of scenes… these happenings are proof that punk does not have to be something that defines people but instead punk can be something that can be redefined show after show, or the morning after the show, or without a show at all...
after tour in mexico, we traveled around the united states and have settled most of our time in pittsburgh in preparation for tour in europe... after attending two shows here i happily noticed the aggressive movement towards reclaiming the potential to redefine punk... at the first show, the moment, a pittsburgh punk project epitomized my hopes by incorporating jazz and hip-hop and stylish suits into their punk and speaking often about the tall walls “punk” can build up around us if we do not continuously tear them down… the last band i watched at the other show was an improvisational act of who-ever wished to play and the set was amazing, and an amazing gift for the birthday boy who planted that idea’s original seed… both shows were extremely intimate and seemed to have a very ambivalent border between audience and band…
many shows in mexico and united states have left me with a desire to call them an “event…” they deserve it... they take my evening, night, and sometimes early morning and over-stimulate it with relations and confrontations that i feel were shared amongst people who will all wake up different people tomorrow, if they ever sleep again…
punk shows, from do-it-yourself-ethic-filled-venues to basements brimming with homebrew, have always maintained their shock value… not because of the dress or attitude but because of how punk has remained redefineable... at various phases of time, i perceive punk shows to succumb to such sickening symptoms of society such as hero worship or heavy disassociation between those on a stage and those in the crowd, but then i am in los angeles at the autonomy reunion show and i listen to a very aggressive looking punk use the word beautiful, as well as tears around his eyes, to describe the band he just watched… this is the shock value i speak of now, and speak of now as a call out for something more… and a thank you for that something more that i have experienced so far… tomorrow… tomorrow…
any questions to the vagabond collective or fear is the mindkiller… about mexico or anything else can be directed to vagabondcollective@yahoo.com … more info can be obtained at www.oocities.org/vagabondcollective/