I watched a little of this documentary on the DOC channel. As you know, I'm not big into any music scene, but I thought this was pretty interesting. It was cool to see kids who were just a little bit older than me performing on the old locally produced show Kidding Around (I think that was the name). I didn't know Chicago had a thriving punk scene and it sounds like it was mostly driven by people under the age of 18 with 15 year olds playing the Cubbie Bear (who knew a place in warm and fuzzy land would embrace punk).

I remember those mid 80s years as a time when the trendy, paisley silk shirt wearing kids would slum it by going to juice bars in Wrigleyville like Medusa's. Interesting that the two types of music could exist so close to each other...with bigfan favorite The Wild Hare in the middle

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Boy did THAT hit home!

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Aragon Ball room, Public Image Limited, Psych Furs , English Beat, Thompson Twins.

Of course none of that matched an old ECW match there!

Did Medusas once, it was enough.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

awaiting a JORR post(s)....

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@audioidkid

Oh damn, here come some of the old high school memories flooding back.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Medusa's seemed to me like a place twenty something year old guys went to pick up teenage girls.

Those too cool-for-the-room Lincoln Parkers always treated it like they were being adult because they were "getting into a bar". Then I found out they were getting into a juice bar. I always gravitated more to the Roger's Park types for my slumming it anyway.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I think I picture RR much older than he is.

In part because I was 2-3-8 years younger than anyone I hung out with in hs & college. Nothing like hitting the old Warehouse(where actual "Chicago house" music started in the early 80's) or Power Plant and partying until 3-4 am....at 14-15. And I feel the after effects now 30 years later...

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I don't remember going there before 2am much, and never picked anyone up there myself(always brought my own sand to any club beach). Usually I went in with the djs from other clubs around 4am when it used to turn into a house & lesbian party.

But now that I think about it, your description of the people that were usually clearing out when we got there is pretty spot on.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

I know this will shock everyone but I was never really the Medusa's type.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

The Jam played Old Chicago (now long defunct mall for those youngsters out there).

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance

Saw the doc you speak of, surprised at how young those bands were...some were 11-13 years old...the music was just awful.

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When does You Weren't There: The Fireside Bowl years come out?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

I know that one or more of the guys from Rights of the Accused were at Gordon Tech probably around the same time as JORR. I remember thinking how cool it was that there was an album by someone my brother went to school with was for sale at Rolling Stones Records in Norridge.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I thought the point of it was not to sound professional.

I did think it was strange that the interviewees were describing the work as brilliant but I just attributed it to my lack of sophistication. It was funny to see these fifty year old guys in red button down shirts and black ties talking about how they rocked when they were kids and how today's punkers are just posing.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

One of my first concert experiences was seeing Naked Raygun perform an all-ages show circa 1990 at what was then called the Cabaret-Metro. The band was good, but the crowd was insane. Fistfights seemed to be breaking out all over the place for no apparent reason. At about the same time, my underage buddies and I secured fake IDs from a budding computer genius/sociopath at a neighboring high school (he's now a millionaire). Those IDs paved the way for us to see shows at places like Lounge Ax, the Lincoln Tap Room, and Beat Kitchen, among others.

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I also laughed at them talking about the gay scene on Halsted street back in the day. I remember my parents taking my older brother to some avant garde, futuristic play that was being produced at a theater in the district. They came back with stories about the way people dressed on a saturday night going to the bars. They wouldn't let me go to the plays even though I liked live theater and science fiction. I believe the play was Warp. It was a trilogy as I remember and featured obscenity and partial nudity. My brother was much older than me and being the oldest child, had the benfits and budens of being the test kid.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I was probably one on the young kids you "old" folk would see walking out of Medusa's. At least back around '90 as I was still in HS. Was a cool place since they played videos for house/industrial shit you hadn't heard much of. Saw a lot of industrial shows and Wax Trax! acts back then and would go to Punkin' Donuts and The Alley and look at the Doc Martins I couldn't afford.

POINTE EAST!

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Not surprisingly, I have a lot of opinions on this subject. First off, I find it somewhat ironic that during the time-frame the movie covers, filmmakers Joe Losurdo and his wife, Chris Tillman weren't there. Not that they needed to be to make the film, but the title they chose connotes the very worst of hipster exclusion. As someone who was there, that early scene was very inclusive. I don't have any particular pride in being there, but rather, I am grateful for the events that conspired to put me there.

Which leads into my next thought, that there are lots of old guys who I don't know and don't remember who are very proud to say, "I was there". Good for you. I listened to these insufferable boobs for about two minutes worth of the Q and A when I saw the thing at the Chicago History Museum before walking out. What a bunch of pompous fucking turds!

The premiere, which was at the Portage was a good time, and I saw a lot of people I hadn't talked to in years. The after party at Beat Kitchen was also okay and some combinations of guys pretending to be the old bands played. The most intense was the Mentally Ill who I do not remember from that time at all. Maybe that's why they were so good. You can't go back. And one thing this movie did was spawn a bunch of dumbass reunions. Timmy even made an offhand suggestion about us getting back together for a gig. I would never think of it. That was then. This is now. I can't go back. I don't want to go back. Sure, I can spin a tale about those times and recall them fondly. That's as far as it goes. If memories are all I sing, I'd rather drive a truck.



The only band that was that young was Verboten. The main guy, Jason Narducy, has made a career in the music business with Jason & Alison and now as the bass player in Bob Mould's band. If you think the music was awful, you're missing the point. It wasn't about technical proficiency. It was about feelings and ideas and a DIY ethic. What did Bono say? Three chords and the truth. The mistakes are part of the record. Do you think "Louie Louie" would be better if it had been played perfectly by the Wrecking Crew or the Swampers or Steely Dan?



I'm a little older than those guys. I think O'Connell is the only one that went to Gordon. I think Illarde went to Lincoln Park. Jay Yuegner may have been a Francis Parker guy. His dad was a bigwig with the Tribune. Anyway, Mike O'Connell makes that fucking movie. He's damn funny, especially his salvo at Kezdy who still seems angry: "You're a lawyer. I'm a fucking bartender. You win."



Yeah, I find that obnoxious myself. The thing is though, it was definitely something that belonged in a certain time. It really wasn't supposed to be about fashion, although it quickly became that way. If you had liberty spikes in 1980, you were making a statement. If you have them now, you're just a goof with a funny haircut.

Finally, I've never been a big fan of the very strident Vic Bondi, but he has the most poignant moment in the film when he says: "Everyone was saying it was morning in America. Someone had to say, 'It's fucking midnight!'" And say what you want about Articles of Faith, those guys could play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvZZ98riW48

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I wrote that because here we have a group of guys bragging about what non conformist outsiders they were as teenagers (as if every teenager isn't, by the way), who are wearing the uniform of conformity, although not wearing it well.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

No doubt. Not Mike O'Connell though. He's probably in the basement at Liar's Club snorting up a big fat rail as we speak.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

That is what I took away from the doc. It was meant to be deconstructed rock.

Again, I am an untrained ear. If it was all about free form and bad is good, how do you tell the good from the bad?

Was Chicago a center for punk that warranted a look or was this just a peculiar interest of the filmmakers? I don't remember it being a dominant music form among my peers but that time frame is just a little before my time.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I think those guys got angry that Chicago was given short shrift in American Hardcore, another documentary that covered the punk rock scene in the U.S.

There was a certain "Chicago sound" that was propagated by the likes of Naked Raygun and the Effigies. But hardcore is really something that belongs to a certain time. By 1987 when my band was at its peak it was really passe'. And the younger guys that I played with at the time would have considered something like "Elephant's Graveyard" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHESQVnvleM, which was tough and muscular in its own time, to be pussy music.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

This video is exactly why this shit belongs in the past. When I saw this I was overcome with an immense feeling of sadness and recognition of my own mortality. Plus, it just outright sucks donkey cocks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4gjg9Hud3I

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Riot fest does not suck. That shirt is wrong.

Without seeing what those guys originally looked like or sounded like it I can't make much of a comparison.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Here's what they looked like:



Here's what they sounded like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP2A-8VzJWU

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The original isn't bad. The energy, anger and sound seem organic and real. In the recent video it all seems awkwardly forced.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

The guy at the end of the documentary derides punk currently being stuck in some kind of anesthetized suburban era. Meanwhile, these guys probably wrapped up this session by hopping into their minivans and going back to their suburban homes. The songs were valid when they were teenagers. Now they are adults and they seem like nothing but words. An adult who is truly outraged is obliged to act, not just sing in his garage.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

It does have a Spinal Tap feel with the close ups and lip synching.

It would be kind of funny for someone to do a mockumentary on the documentary.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.