Don't let them close down DIY shows

From the City newspaper: http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/letters/MUSIC%3A+Don+t+let+th...

Reposted with the consent of the author.

The governments of Rochester and Monroe County are at war with their own citizens, and it's about time that we started fighting back. It was bad enough when the county closed down the DIY music shows in the parks, and when the city closed down A/V space. Then the DIY Rochester website (on MySpace) went on "hiatus," and then the Treehouse got shut down. Now I read ("Bar Shots," March 26) that the town of Greece is closing down the Landfill, too. It's time to ask: what is going on here?

Rochester has - or would have, if not for the blatant hostility of local government - an extremely vibrant Do-It-Yourself culture. Back in the 90's, Upstate New York was a world mecca for hardcore bands, with bands like Snapcase from Buffalo and especially Earth Crisis from Syracuse - with their brand of straight-edge (i.e., no drinking or drugs) culture - becoming enormously influential.

Bands like these, all over the country, took their cue from the late 70's, early 80's hardcore punk legends like Black Flag and Minor Threat, and built up - and continue to build up - their own local scene with their own record labels and venues, often just playing in each others' garages and basements.

DIY ventures such as these are valuable precisely because they are not mass-marketed and focus-group-tested, which gives them the freedom to create something that's not only ahead of its time, but which adamantly defies its time. The DIY spirit applied not only to music, but to art, film, politics, and a way of life.

Rochester was - and is - unique in this area, because it boasts the most diverse, experimental environment for the Upstate DIY scene. We don't even conform to the non-conformists. Although many here may not even know it, Rochester is home to the world-renowned Carbon Records, which puts out the music of performers from Argentina to Scotland to Japan, and which specializes in the most unusual, uncharted areas of the musical map - and some of the most original acts, like Pengo and Foot and Mouth Disease, are from right here in town.

Carbon has put out more than a hundred records for more than a dozen years, featuring artists like Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and many others. Likewise, Smells Like Records, a label run by members of Sonic Youth, puts out music by the Rochester legends Nod. Now Rochester is the home of the next generation of experimental bands - like Diana Behlke and Science vs. Witchcraft and City Harvest Black: young musical explorers bravely trying to make it in an increasingly difficult economic environment for independents.

Still, we who love this music and this movement are doing what we can, struggling for existence, bit by bit, building up this community.

Or at least we would be, if the local government wasn't trying to destroy this movement. What are they afraid of? Are they afraid of Lyn Hileman, a curator of A/V who is also a doctor of music and a professional bassoonist who has played in several orchestras, including the RPO? House parties, with live music, are one of the most important traditions in American music.

Jazz would never have grown to be the movement that it became had there not been the "rent parties" that were its wild, vital essence. On the other hand, maybe the powers-that-be do have something to be afraid of. Maybe they're worried that our bottom-up, grass-roots community is going to come into competition with the top-down, government-financed, corporate festival scene that they're trying to impose on us.

For whatever reason, the city has started its "zero tolerance" policy towards all house parties, and despite what the mayor has publicly said, the local underground music scene is being targeted first and foremost. Some are saying the local music scene should become a completely secretive, invitation-only affair. I say that's ridiculous. This is no time to be afraid. Many American cities - most noticeably our neighbor, Buffalo - have absolutely thriving scenes of house shows, many of them right in residential areas (unlike the Rochester venues, which were all in places where the noise wouldn't bother the neighbors). They don't live in fear of the police, and neither should we. This is a democracy. This is our government. And we can take it back.

It's time to get together and demand that we're not going to take this repression any more. We need everyone: the hardcore kids, the punks, the indie rockers, the garage rockers, the old-school rock 'n' rollers, the goths, the metalheads, hip-hop culture, the experimental jazz hipsters, the hippies, the freaks, and anyone else who still thinks music can mean something - that it can mean rebellion. One thing's for sure: if you call yourself a punk, but you'll let the cops take this away from you, then your rebellion is just a pose.

I'm just speaking as a private citizen and music fan, not as a member of any organization, but if anyone out there is interested in starting a real protest of the local repression of music and other forms of expression, please contact me at dialectic76@hotmail.com. It's going to be a hard struggle for those who want to build up Rochester's homegrown culture, against those who want to knock it down. But it's worth it. After all, this is our life.

IAN DOWNEY, ROCHESTER