When I discovered punk rock in the mid-1980’s (thanks to the movie Return of the Living Dead), I spent many hours commuting Interstate 80 from Reno, NV, to San Francisco, CA, once I got my drivers license a few years later. Most of the trips ended up at 924 Gilman Street Project, a small concert venue created by and run by punks for punks. Those were days when Bad Religion and Green Day, then unknown to the world at large, would play to a packed house of smelly punk rockers (by “packed house”, I mean a mere 200 people). There was a $2 annual membership fee and cost of entry was never more than $6, ever. The venue’s goals were to provide a venue for unsigned punk bands, a goal which continues today, 24 years after it opened it’s doors to us.
There comes a time in everyone’s life when we need to realize we’re too old for certain activities. I had to accept I’m too old to perform skateboard tricks. I can push myself and do basic skateboarding, but anything more is asking for trouble. I believe the same applies to punk rock. It’s not so much the need to stop performing punk rock, but let’s face facts; ideals change as we grow old. My ideology 20 years ago is far different than it is now and I probably can’t relate to the new generation of punks (if we can call it that). In my opinion, a punk rock band with most members in their 50’s need to call it quits. With age, we want more comfort. A 20 year old punk is more apt to sleeping on the floor in his punk rock costume than an old fart in his 50’s that needs the comfort of a comfortable bed. I’m not bad mouthing 50 year olds, I’m just pointing out. Well all grow old (if we don’t die an early death) so to poke fun at them is poking fun at myself, my friends and family since most of my friends and I are not extremely far from my 50’s. I also cannot forget my parents.
Pennywise Logo
On March 20, 2010, Pennywise and T.S.O.L. performed at Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, or GSR, as known to locals. I understand Reno, NV, has limited venues that caters to all ages but they do exist and there are a handful of venues willing to close the alcohol cabinets and sell water for a sold out show. This brings me to my question of why Pennywise was booked at GSR. GSR is not a Hard Rock Cafe or House of Blues, both of which are located inside a casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada (ex: House of Blues in Las Vegas is located inside inside Mandeley Bay), who cater to rock music, including punk rock.
What hurts the most is ticket prices. Casinos aren’t cheap. They rob people (especially those under 21 years of age) with their high ticket prices and fees (Probably no worse than TicketMaster in Los Angeles where they charge nearly a $10 fee for “convenience”. Perhaps GSR believes it has the right to charge high ticket prices because of the grand booths towards the back of the venue where the old folk can sit.). Granted, high ticket prices and fees are relative which brings us to this: where a 20 year old is in life versus where a 40 year old is in life is probably radically different. A 40 year old is more likely to have the money to spend while the 20 year old is not. Why is the older group given a better opportunity than the younger? 20 years ago, I would have cried sell out to both Pennywise and TSOL, but that’s not the case today, aside from the fact that I refuse to pay any money to a casino to watch a punk rock show.
TSOL's Disappear Album
I guess I just wish gigs would remain gigs instead of being labeled concerts. Concert implies a huge, huge audience. I don’t particularly care for concerts because it’s less personal. Unlike the days of 924 Gilman where audience members often participated with the band, there’s always a barrier between the audience and the band. While I understand the importance of separating audience from performer, I don’t accept it. As such, I choose not to patronize venues which hold 2000+ people. I do believe there’s a little claustrophobia in there but for the most part, I like being able to get near the stage, if not on the stage to do a stage dive.
I guess in the end it doesn’t matter how I feel. It’s all about making money. Whether you’re a punk or a capital venturist, you need money to live. But that leads to my next question: How do successful bands like NOFX keep out of casino environments? Even in Las Vegas, NOFX has never played a HOB or Hard Rock (putting them inside casinos). Maybe it was lack of available venues? Probably not. Knitting Factory, Reno’s newest and premiere venue had nothing booked last night even though JMAX Productions books at both venues.
I’m not sure how I feel about these two bands today. I don’t think they’ve sold out but I do think they need to be more vocal about where they perform. What’s the next venue they perform? A library? Last time Pennywise was here (early 2009), they performed at New Oasis in Sparks. What was wrong with New Oasis (assuming it wasn’t booked already)? I still like both bands but odds are I’ll never see them live again but who knows. Weirder things happen.
In closing, the video below has a scene with a huge pit. Would a casino ever let something so big and violent occur? The type of violence here isn’t the violence in which people want to kill each other but rather release negative energy. When on the topic of punk and punk rock, it never occured to me that it would share the same sentence with the words grand, resort and casino. It’s all good though.
[kml_flashembed publishmethod="static" fversion="8.0.0" useexpressinstall="true" movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/99Oix0nLngc" width="480" height="385" fid="movie" targetclass="flashmovie" play="true" loop="false" menu="false" quality="high" scale="noborder" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="false" allowscriptaccess="sameDomain" allownetworking="all"]
Yea, I know… Flash sucks but it is what it is at the moment. So please get Adobe Flash Player to utilize this site.
[/kml_flashembed]
