Ben Westhoff has written an article for the Riverfront Times (St. Louis’s corporate-owned “alternative” weekly newspaper) on the Ozark Punk scene, kind of a greatly expanded version of the piece he wrote for Crawdaddy a few months ago. Overall it’s pretty good, although he does focus a bit too much on the negative and sensational elements of the scene rather than its positive points (he opens the article with a lengthy retelling of Born Against’s run-in with the local Nazi crew, certainly not one of the Springfield scene’s finer moments). And what does he mean I’m “reed-thin”? I prefer the term “ethereal”.
Update:
Ben, the author of the above-mentioned piece, also published some material on the Riverfront Times blog that didn’t make the cut for the regular article. The additional stuff tells the story of Roger and Jeanene, who were involved in the bands Encrusted and Initial Detonation, as well as the DIY label/collective Reality Impaired. The blog article also has a link to an in-depth examination of Jeanene’s appearance of Extreme Makeover, with a healthy amount of criticism over her decision.
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4 comments:
Article was fantastic, blew me away to get a link off Punknews.org for something local (Joplin-ite). Brought back so many memories although I was a late arrival to the local scene I guess. I have some CD's and cassettes of a friends band from around that era. They were awful and in on the dying days of that scene, when everything turned into Korn wannabes (I can't remember the band but the singer had facial tattoos and a song called "Pig Vomit" I think I have that album). I still break out my Vaginal Discharge albums now and then to laugh (especially at the references to the Joplin area and making fun of the other bands around here).
Thanks for starting the blog and linking the great articles. The nostalgia is awesome.
Drop me a line at sayten (at) gmail dotcom. I can get you rips of the stuff I have.
I've never even seen a Vaginal Discharge album, but I love several of their songs thanks to Napster and a college dorm room T3 connection, circa 1999. I was shocked to find out later that they were from Joplin since I grew up in Lebanon and was completely in the dark about any decent SW Missouri bands.
I'm sort of surprised the article didn't mention The Night G.G. Allin Came to (Joplin). It was a fun read, though. I was just a few years to young to be around for any of it, unfortunately.
VD released a full-length CD called “Froth” as well as a couple of demo tapes and CD-Rs. I may post them here sometime. I wasn’t at the infamous GG Allin show that happened in Joplin circa 1993, but I’d like to get a first-person account I could post on the blog.
Hahaha, Yeah Shannon and I had a conversation about that show after he published that article. I was shocked that he bought into it as being real... Seeing as how he's been on tv shows himself. The whole show was scripted. I got some free plastic surgery. All I had to do was cut my dreads off and take my jewelry out and do a little acting. Dreadlocks and piercings don't make you punk... And I don't ever recall claiming to be part of the body modification community. I'm still me... Only now I'm full of tattoos, don't have dreads and I have a 1 1/2 yr old son whom is more important to me than anyone or anything that I've ever done. BTW, your boy Ben is a tool whom took a lot of what Roger and I said out of context. I guess that's what "reporters" do though right?
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