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SCENE NUMBER TWO
THE FIRST-PERSON PERSPECTIVE
“…back then most big cities on my coast had just such an exclusive club …
The New Loft was the picture-perfect venue for my first big show.”
MY FIRST PUNK ROCK SHOW
Almost three decades ago I found myself at a Circle Jerks show in Baltimore, Maryland, at a club then called the New Loft—a dark, dingy, and smelly place. The ceilings were really high, and graffiti covered one wall front-to-back. As a “club,” it exclusively hosted Punk Rock shows. Nowadays, ambitious promoters can find show-spaces almost anywhere, but back then most big cities on my coast had just such an exclusive club: A7 in New York, Love hall in Philadelphia, and 9:30 Club in D.C. The New Loft was the picture-perfect venue for my first big show.
Lore suggested it was a condemned building spared the city’s wrecking ball for damn near four years, which made the place even more Punk Rock. The original Loft, located just down the street from the “New” Loft, was briefly featured in the film Another State of Mind. In the film, the Stern brothers and other stranded California travelers heap accolades upon the D.C. scene, Dischord Records, and the band Minor Threat, who, ironically, play a show, sans microphone, at Jules’ Loft in neighboring Baltimore.
Between 1983 and 1986, the New Loft was my home away from home. In that time period, every hardcore band that could manage to mount a tour played there. When I finally got my driver’s license, I spent every weekend supporting that scene, so I was lucky enough to see extraordinary bands. At the Circle Jerks show, everything turned around for me. By that time, I was more or less a Punk Rocker (albeit, a “Mall Punk”) for about a year, and I knew very little about Punk Rock’s roots and history. Without a frame of reference, I had no idea that Keith Morris, the Circle Jerks singer, was the first singer of legendary Los Angeles band Black Flag. Being so new, I was concerned with surviving the show without getting the shit kicked out of me, making the long drive home, and then going to school the following Monday more than I was about Punk Rock’s timeline and major players.
Keith Elliott
Age: 36
Home: Lancaster, PA
Occupation: Tattooist
Favorite Singer: Keith Morris
Favorite Song: Six Pack (with Rollins singing)
Will Tarrant 3
Age: 38
HOME: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: New York City Social Worker
Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins
Favorite Song: My War
Favorite Album: Damaged
Sweettooth Hinkley Jr.
Age: 27
HOME: Brooklyn, NY
Occupation: Professional Loser
Favorite Singer: Chavo
Favorite Song: Nervous Breakdown
Favorite Album: Damaged
The five of us arrived in Baltimore that night in my parent’s aging Chevy conversion van. For four of us, this was our first show outside our own tiny hometown scene. Immediately upon arrival, like little children, we tuned our virgin ears to the advice of the scene veteran in our company. In all, everything went better than expected. From the moment I paid my five dollars and placed my foot firmly in this new world, my life changed forever. Besides our personal hardcore “guru,” who’d been going to shows for a full year or two by that time, all of our lives changed radically, since most of us stayed involved in the Punk Rock scene for a long time afterward despite all moving to disparate parts of the United States.
Dan K.
Age: 29
HOME: Ridley, PA
Occupation: Pizza Delivery Person and Solar Energy Installer
Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins
Favorite Song: Depression
Favorite Album: Damaged
Jason Duncan
Age: 28
HOME: Brooklyn, NY Occupation: Dog Walker
Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins
Favorite Song: My War
Favorite Album: My War
After all these years, I can still remember every detail as though it were yesterday: the circumstances surrounding my departure from home; the anticipation of going to my first big-city Punk Rock show; the music we listened to on the way from our tiny little town towards the “gigantic” city of Baltimore; how tough and seasoned the other people at the show appeared to me; the way the room smelled of sweat and stale beer, and the change that immediately connected me to the growing Punk Rock culture of the early 1980s. I wasn’t on the outside anymore. I was finally an insider!
Audrey Dwyer
Age: 26
Home: Philadelphia, PA
Occupation: hair Stylist
Favorite Singer: Henry Rollins
Favorite Song: Black Coffee
Favorite Album: My War
STUFF OF MYTH AND LEGEND
Looking back, one might think that Punk Rock was as accessible as it is now, like a sort of easy-entry situation, or like an easy opt-out of the mainstream, as portrayed on television or in a shitty movie. Today, parents might actually...
