So I wonder sometimes if I could run out of ideas for this column and then boom! something rears its maniacal head that gets me rolling on a tangent …
I got a great quote from Denyss of the Rickshaw while we were chewing the fat on the hypocrisies of Vancouver’s bipolar music scene one day … It goes something like this … ‘convictions only last until they’re inconvenient’…
Now I have the good fortune to still be carrying on my work out of one the last bastions of not-yet-gentrified skid bars in Vancouver…
Being in a legal venue means that we are subject to rules like you need identification to be in a bar…. It’s funny how some punks seem to have their shit together to go to the big punk show that occasionally happens at some oddball venue or arena but then gap when it comes to the venue I work at…. So there I was, ironically working an art show slash fundraiser for a new D.I.Y. space and boom! all of a sudden I’m getting an earful about the bar having rules because this guys buddy didn’t have I.D. and wouldn’t stop fighting in the smoke pit …
I am trying to keep the scene alive in a legitimate sense so that there is always a go to place for our hard to house subcultures and I have someone ripping me a new one because it’s at a place that has ‘rules’…. Gasp… He then proceeds to tell me that is why no one wants to play at my venue… Huh?! I’m certainly there in a pinch when shit goes south on the wild side… I just don’t get how having an accepting venue with wicked sound and a great staff is unappealing to some punks…
Now I know that the Wild-West style underground venue allows certain freedoms but it also has drawbacks…. It can also turn to frustration when the ‘man’ decides that everything you sunk into creating your place is now over…. Period…. I could probably name 20 places that are no more because society cares that you don’t die in a one exit firetrap stampede …There must be phantom bonus punk points for rocking some shitty sound in a cramped house or alternative space with overflowing pissers …… And frankly, I for one, just don’t understand the appeal ….
Since when has punk rock turned into becoming a bunch of elitist snivelling crybabies? WAH – you ask for I.D. WAH – the stage is weird. WAH – there is a cover charge I can’t dodge. WAH – I don’t want to listen to the bouncer who tells me to stop fighting. WAH – I got my heatscore road pops taken away in front of the venue doors … How is this all just not common sense? How do you expect any place to last, illicit or not, without some sort of respect and decorum …. And, as is evident, they do not last thanks to some general idiot that pulls some stupid stunt …
I have to say thanks to the levelheaded punks and all the metalheads out there that actually appreciate what Funkys has to offer and love to play there …. It’s nice to be acknowledged for giving a fuck and that the effort isn’t for naught … We have a good owner now at Funkys who is dedicated to providing us with this diamond in the rough venue… They actually provide upkeep so that we’re not showering in shitwater … Embrace it! Sorry for any inconvenience…
- wendythirteen