Colin McEnroe Show: On Being A Punk
Sometimes the anger of musicians is bigger than their ability to play.
It was Good Friday, 1982, and I was up in the balcony at the Lit Club in Hartford, a punk rock epicenter housed in the Lithuanian American Club in Hartford.
National acts like Black Flag, Killing Time and the Circle Jerks played the Lit in its heyday, but its local heroes were Jack Tragic and the Unfortunates. Jack was a West Hartford Hall High dropout, and the group had a punk hit called "I Kill Hippies."
I wasn't super comfortable up there in the balcony, and that was before the punks started threatening me. "You've been set up. You've been set up by the Hartford Courant," one guy kept yelling. Actually, if I had been a punk, my first single would have been titled "Set Up By The Hartford Courant." The only other person up in the balcony who looked like me and not like them was a guy I recognized. A sportswriter who had done a tour in a Vietnam. What are you doing here? I asked him. "I miss this," he said. "It's the closest thing I've seen to Saigon."
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***This episode originally aired November 9, 2011.***
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E-mail from John
Great show, so pubks are into Collaboration... Mindfulness... Self-reliance... Self-determination....
They're Amish!
polite corrections
Ralph's Place in New Haven = Rons Place
Club Anthrax that came out last year = Everyones Scene
EMAIL FROM SETH:
I'm friends with Will Toftness I have seen Al Pists new band a few times. But other then the brief conversations about the scene in New London now and the mention of the Connecticut fun comp (well just the song was mentioned) and the even briefer mentions of Will, Al's and Malcolm bands , most of the show was talking about ideals of punk rock, I heard The clash brought up over and over again (maybe 7 or 8 times) like they are the end all be all.
I see you changed the name of the show on your site to Colin McEnroe show: On Being A punk. That title makes more sense with the content of the show then Connecticut punk. All i was trying to say before was that I was hoping the show's content was more focused on Connecticut's scene past and present.
The Simple answer to you question "How was this show about the past?"
It wasn't, it was about the traditional idea's of punk for the most part featuring random updates.
Its just my opinion man. Ill say it again I still enjoyed your show.
influence
Hmm...tons of 60s garage bands were "punk" in sound and spirit. I'd make the case that pre-war blues is just as punk in it's approach--and it's philosophy as well. Early British punks were directly influenced by the bands from nyc that played there. British punks in turn influenced more American bands when they toured the states. You can actually hear the difference in sound in cities where different Brit bands played--the SF scene developed (musically) along the lines of the Sex Pistols (DK's, for instance), who played there. The Damned played LA and influenced the sound of early punk bands there (pre-Black Flag). Also important to consider the work of ohio bands like the Dead Boys and Pere Ubu/Rocket From the Tombs--who all played nyc in the very early days.
Check "Subculture: The Meaning of Style", by Dick Hebdige, a fundamental work on the early days of punk culture in Britain. He identifies the massive influence of reggae and Jamaican immigration/culture on the early punk scene (seen very clearly in the work of bands like the Ruts/DC Ruts and later, the dub explorations of Public Image, Ltd.--Lydon collected reggae singles prior to his stint in the Pistols).
So, yeah, it's complicated. Who remembers Ralph's Place in New Haven? One of the first national stories on punk in America was in Life magazine and featured the Poodle Boys, pioneers from New Haven. Also--years later, check out the book on Club Anthrax that came out last year. Good stuff.
Rebecca wasn't the one who
Rebecca wasn't the one who believes "London invented punk", she was just paraphrasing what another caller had said earlier (which, you had said you missed the early part of the show, but I just wanted to clear that up)
E-mail from Mike
I was just wanted to mention that caller Rebecca was incorrect, London was influenced by New York. London did not
create punk. In fact, The Clash and the Sex Pistols both reported having seen The Ramones live and being heavily influenced by them.
I also wanted to suggest you look at or talk about the film The Other F Word, a documentary about punk rockers who are
now dads and their struggles to raise kids despite the punk ethos not preparing them in the slightest. The idea that you spent you youth publicly rebelling against law and authority and now you need to instill in a child a healthy respect for authority, etc., etc.
I caught only the tail end of the show, so I don't know if it already came up.
Thanks,
Mike
E-mail from Mike
Sorry about that odd email earlier. I was frantically trying to send it from my phone before the show was over. I bounced the first one and just forwarded it and I'm sure it seemed weird.
I was just wanted to mention that caller Rebecca was incorrect, London was influenced by New York. London did not
create punk. In fact, The Clash and the Sex Pistols both reported having seen The Ramones live and being heavily influenced by them.
I also wanted to suggest you look at or talk about the film The Other F Word, a documentary about punk rockers who are
now dads and their struggles to raise kids despite the punk ethos not preparing them in the slightest. The idea that you spent you youth publicly rebelling against law and authority and now you need to instill in a child a healthy respect for authority, etc., etc.
I caught only the tail end of the show, so I don't know if it already came up.
Thanks,
Mike
E-mail from John
Listing to your show and just thought of the song DIY off of Peter Gabriel first album. Though he is nor was punk that song could have been.
Hey all do you guys remember the Beat in Port Chester just over the CT border.
E-mail from Jonathan
The interviewee is talking about the DIY nature of punk. I was into the New Haven punk scene in the late 80s, and carried that philosophy through life. Now in my fortune 100 job as a systems architect, I'm told repeatedly that I'm valued because I still adhere to much of that same DIY attitude, that I think outside the box, etc. I constantly run into punks in my industry, as well as "grown up" organizations like the Masons and Zen Buddhism.
Anyway, thanks for this show - Love feeling so validated! :D
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