Remind me to smack L for scaring the piss out of me before I left. Anyway, the concert was interesting (I'll have some pics for you tomorrow). G and I met Nika (one of the punk rock girls) at the AH at 4:30, and accompanied her to Dom Kulturny Molodyozh (House of Culture for Youth), where we met up with Elena. We arrived an hour before the doors opened, and there were tons of Russian punks everywhere. Now, for someone who was weaned on the early days of emo, let's just say there wasn't an emo kid in sight of this crowd. Russian punks are total hardcore and rather intimidating. But not nearly as intimidating as the large police presence at DKM, and the fact that they kept carting off people and chucking them into the back of police vans for no visibly discernible reason. That had me really freaked out, despite the absolute lack of scary skinheads. G realized that he didn't have his passport on him. Now, Russian police are notorious for asking for one's documents, so we decided that since G lives a 5 minute walk from DKM, we'd pop over to his house and get the passport. We considered not coming back, although having promised our students that we'd attend, we decided to return. At 6:00 we went inside, and the concert began. We only saw the first 4 bands (not the headlining acts, and each group only played 3-4 songs). There was a great atmosphere inside DKM, and everyone seemed to be having a great time... although tiny as I am, I was terrified that I might get pummeled accidentally by a jumping/thrashing/moshing type or twenty. I was continually hiding behind G (for whatever good that did me!). I saw a couple other students of the AH there (they are always SO surprised to see me out of context), and Nika and Elena definitely were having a blast. I didn't really like three of the bands at all: lots of screaming and noise and not much in the way of music. However, the second band to play (unfortunately I don't know it's name!) was *excellent* and they sounded a lot like early Nirvana. I think G and I were the only ones who really dug them, though. We cut out at 8:30, partially to save our hearing and partially because there was the promise of freshly baked cookies at the AH. I wonder where all these hardcore punks of Vladimir go during the day? I had no idea there were so many in this city!
8 comments:
Don't smack me! I'm attached to you guys, I don't want you to die a gory death at the hands of skinheads. <3
You should only smack Layla if you make pictures of it ... cat-fight!
Glad you didn't get pummelled by fascists. I returned just to see if you made it home in one piece.
*raises eyebrow* Somehow I don't see myself and Jane engaging in a cat-fight.
I just got back from a great conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign called "Post-Communist Nostalgia." While there, I saw a rough-cut of an upcoming documentary called The Bastards of Utopia by anthropologist Maple Razsa. It was fabulous! Definitely keep an eye out for it. The film is about Maple's fieldwork among anarchist-punks in Zagreb.
BTW, that post above was me, Brooke.
If you ever are able to see Leningrad, a skapunk band out of guess where, go. They are crass and hilarious and I would give anything to hear them again live. Everyone who has listened to them, likes them and I think they are pretty big there now on the alt scene.
You can get their mp3's from their website http://www.leningradspb.ru/
to see if you like them. I recommend "Ya tak liublu tebya"
You know I work in a high school. And it just kills me now, stores like "Hot Topic" have basically marketed a cookie cutter for the "rebellious" teens...such that here, no one in teenagerland seems to be really doing anything different, the "rebels" all dye their hair black, make it spiky wear the obligatory studded belt ripped jeans, etc. etc. Here it's like "punk" is just another image like "prep" or "jock"...but in russia where true rebellion almost has been squelched out of youth, it seems the only rebellion I saw was basically in private.
I didn't see any scenesters at all until I started hanging around with some musicians in St. Petes (now you know why I am aware of Leningrad) and I was actually quite relieved to see that there was young people who rejected the status quo and pursued a path their own way.
The fascism, as I understand it as a way of thinking that there is only one right way and that right way is usually to some blind leadership to an authoritarian power...well if the punks were skinheads, I guess I could see fascist skinheads...and that they would be present at a punk show is credible. But fascist punks?
I think its funny that your friend was kinda nervous about going, I am glad you went though. And in a way, I think I could see why since the same rules just don't apply there in Russia.
This isn't a good time to be original in the US. To my mind, real punk has been dead for quite a while - there are just a large number of post-punk bands now. But then again, I am basically a fossil and the punk bands I remember were all from the last 70s and early 80s. I was living in Germany at that time
And yes, it is a definite image that is packaged and sold to kids. Anything good is copied, imitated, and mass-marketed these days for corporate America to turn into profit.
I was joking about the cat-fight ... I don't know Jane except from reading this blog - but getting into a knock-down, drag-out fight with another woman is about the last thing I can imagine her doing.
i have to run to my russian lesson, but before i go, i thought i'd post this link, with regards to the whole hot topic issue....
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