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, ____, ( 10/08/01 anada411 ,
/ \ ,_____ (--|_\_,,_, _ _| _ __________ ,-.______ _,---._ __ _/ \
/ \+------ _| ) | |(_|(_|(_|_ .net------/ )----.-' `./-/ \
/ / ( |__, ( ( ,' `/ /|
\ / \ `-" \'\ / |
\ / "D.A.R.E.--To Be Responsible In Mosh Pits" `. , \ \ / |
Y-------- ----------/`. ,'-`----Y |
/ by Princess Karebear ( ; mEoW!@/| '
i________________________________________________| ,-. ,-'_______/ | /
| | | ( * | /
|____________________ Anada is cat-friendly! __) |__\ `.___________|/
`--' `--'
Okay, right now I am just sick. I am so pist I am just ill. Over-
exaggeration by use of the word 'just' is to emphasize my pistivity.
Let me start off by telling everyone that I love music, particularly
of the Punk Rock variety. Naturally I was SO very very psyched that
Guttermouth, Deviates and Anti-Freeze were going to be about 45 minutes from
where I live which is in Ballhair, Wyoming. Well, needless to be said,
there are few good shows that venture out to the old west, especially of the
Guttermouth variety.
I made the 45-minute drive with my boyfriend Mie about a week before
so we could snag tickets and be excited because we were going to get to see
Guttermouth. Ah, Guttermouth, the band that we so adored due to their
fruity parodies and lyrics that honestly make you say "FUCKEN YUCK!"
So yesterday was my last day of being a slave to the daycare that I
had been employed at for the last few months. I was vomited on, I had my
hair pulled out, and Kool-aid spilled on my shell tops. BUT I DIDN'T GIVE A
SHIT! BECAUSE I WAS GOING TO GUTTERMOUTH!!!!!
I ended up getting off at 2, I went and primped up for the show and
waited for Mie to pick me up. Our friend Matt-the-Alien was tagging along
with us for the ride up. We went to Wendy's and tried to harness all of our
overly-happy going-to-see-a-cool-band-energy.
When we were there, we ran into Mie's brother and a few of his
friends and tried hard to convince them that the show was going to be a fun
time and that they should come along. We tried and tried, but the attempts
were pretty futile. We ended up making it to the show with only the 3 of
us.
There is this funky, dank and damp building that we like to call the
Underground where we have punk shows around here. It is also a dance club
on the weekdays where middle aged ladies bring their balding husbands for
Marenge lessons to try to bring the spark back into their marriages. There
is a small landing in the back of the building that leads to the musty and
cold basement where shows sometimes are held. Then, somewhat cleaner stairs
the lead to the upstairs half where a hard cement/wood floor meets walls
full of mirrors that have bared witness to overweight women in leotards.
This particular show was in the upper half of the building.
The Underground is ran by this ego-centric long-hair in this mid 30's
who likes to call himself "Howdy." Howdy thinks he is hot shit, you can
tell by the way that he likes to parade around in between bands wearing a
wifebeater so people can get a better look at his 80's metal tattoos. Don't
get me wrong, it's cool that this guy organizes shit, and he really does
know his technical work, but as a person I am unimpressed by him.
We got to the Underground at about 7:15. There were people having a
tailgate party around this fat kid with a grill in the back of a truck. A
crowd of about 100 punkers was sitting on the curbs or cars just laying back
waiting on the show to start. About 70 of the 100 were drunk beyond and
coherency.
Our hometown boys (of whom I have written other text files about)
were setting up for their farewell show. Drake, the front man, was pushing
off a peaceful and buddah-esque aura in a manner that was almost comical
because he couldn't hide the fact that he was just Drake the bassist from
Ballhair, Wyoming. Zeb, the guitarist, thought that he looked cool but
really looked fat. Rodrigo, the drummer, was nothing but Rodrigo the
drummer.
There were about 100 people who were gathered around the stage when
Drake's band started playing. A pit of about 20 younger boys was going
pretty good I jumped in and was having fun getting knocked around. Then
there was a pit of about 60 people, but only a hand full of guys who were
truly out for blood. The boys with the band finished their set and things
were fun, everyone was in a really good mood.
The second band was Anti-Freeze. They came with their own entourage
and about another 100 people filed in. Another 60 people filed into the pit
and the stupidity started in. That was my cue to exit. The happenings were
pretty rough, but no more than any other time there had been drunken
assholes at a punk show. There were about 15 guys who were in the pit for
the soul reason of kicking the shit out of each other.
Things went downhill from there. The Deviates came on and there were
probably about 300 people who had ended up at the show. The fire marshall
came in to count heads. Shit was pretty rough once things got going with
the Deviates (WHO KICKED ASS! They were nice guys too). Right after their
first song my heart problems got the better of me and I had to have Matt-
the-alien, Mie and Rodrigo kick and push through this crowd that was 90%
Satan pit to get me out (heart problems, by the way, won me a free Deviates
CD from the lead singer who took pity on my frailty.)
When we returned from my breather, there were fists and blood flying
everywhere. The bounce off of the mosh pit was so hard that everyone all
the way back to the sound board were getting bumped and pushed all over
hell. There was a tall dickhead in a Harley shirt that was picking up
people at random and throwing them down on to the dance floor. Another guy
was backing up as far into the farthest corner that he could manage, and
then running and hurling himself into the crowd.
It wasn't fun anymore. It wasn't safe. Moshing is dancing and
having fun while being moderately violent, and people who weren't even
wanting to partake in the moshing were getting stuck with it whether they
wanted to be or not.
There were only 2 security guys, who looked like guys that Howdy just
grabbed off of the street because they were big. I elbowed on up till I
could get one of their attention.
"Hey shit is nasty in there, they're throwing fist and people are
hitting the floor and not helping each other. It's just violent."
"Yeah I know," he said as he looked around kinda confused-like.
"No, no, no. Moshing is to have fun and get hurt voluntarily. The
people who are in there aren't there to have fun. They're there to hurt
people, it's not good. That's not what it's about." The guy just shrugged.
Then I was scared. The fear only became more extreme as I watched
more and more people come up to the security guys to ask for help and the
guys just looked around and didn't know what to do.
I tried to get as far away from the pit as I could. But there were
still people flying out at terminal velocity. Above the sound of Deviates
was the sound of heads hitting the floor HARD.
The Deviates finished up and Mie, Matt, some guy with a mohawk who
had been trying to block for me all night, and Syd who also lives in
Ballhair, had a plan for blocking for Syd's girlfriend and me during
Guttermouth so we could all stay together and be close to the stage.
Guttermouth came out and all hell broke loose.
The crowd started getting pretty tight. That was okay. I am sure no
one minded the sweat that was pouring out every where, because that was a
given. About 1/2 way into the first song, the crowd had such a huge crush
around everyone that no one's feet were touching. My shins were smashed
against the stage so hard that I could feel the fishnets that I was wearing
ripping and the blood dripping.
Mie was standing behind me and I was holding his hand to my shoulder.
Then I turned around and watched him getting jerked back as the crush moved
left. I lost my footing and would have went all the way down if my
shoulders weren't pinned so tight between the people on either side of me.
Then I felt someone grab me. That someone was the clueless security guard.
He threw 3 other girls and me onto the stage to sit by the PA. One
of the band's roadies was screaming at him and I could see him making hand
gestures about us getting smashed. It was cool that we got to sit on stage
though, until I looked back and saw all of my friends getting their asses
kicked. The crowd had moved up to the point that me and the other girls
were clinging to the PA that was shaking just to keep from getting pulled
back into the crowd.
Guttermouth was kicking ass. Then the fat kid who was grilling
outside and his stupid friends all started storming the stage and everyone
was pushed off, including the girls and me.
At that point I didn't even care how close I was. Mie grabbed me and
we stood way against the wall with Drake and Rodrigo. The bodies were still
flying out of the pit so hard and fast. I watched a girl have her shirt
ripped completely off while she was just trying to get around the circle.
Drake was just standing there and was literally punched under the
chin and knocked out. His head was hit so hard that he left with a
concussion. I watched a guy that came out bleed profusely all over and
collapse and no one stopped for a second to let him out. Another guy was
getting stomped for about 30 seconds before someone grabbed him.
People were fucking inconsiderate in the worst way. There wasn't
enough security. There were only 2 at the stage and another 3 that stood on
the perimeter of the crowd. But for some reason there were 2 guarding the
band's lounge area and 2 outside.
Even if they had all been at the stage, that still wouldn't have been
enough for 300 people, especially if 200 of them were in the pit and 150 of
them were drunk and looking to hurt people.
People in our scene aren't like this. I am fucking appalled and I
even had to be scared when I wasn't anywhere near the pit. I am pist that
no one tried to help anyone. I am pist that there are that many assholes
who mosh to hurt and not mosh to have fun. I am pist that people were that
fucking irresponsible. But pretty much more than anything, I am pist that I
spent hard earned cash on a ticket to a show that I was more freaked out
than psyched at. I'm pist at the fact that I couldn't mosh and have a good
time anymore last night because people went out of their way to be
dangerous.
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`-.^.-' (c) 2001 Anada e'zine by Princess Karebear `-.^.-'
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