{"id":1097988,"date":"2017-11-27T10:29:20","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T15:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/?p=1097988"},"modified":"2017-11-27T10:29:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T15:29:20","slug":"30-years-ago-fugazi-blew-up-the-paradigm-at-the-weinberg-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/2017\/11\/27\/30-years-ago-fugazi-blew-up-the-paradigm-at-the-weinberg-center\/","title":{"rendered":"30 years ago, Fugazi blew up the paradigm at the Weinberg Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/c_5OZOwAhas?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Note: The following was written by Roy Ghim and appeared in last week&#8217;s edition of 72 Hours. And \u2026 well, you all\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArtomaticMusic2016\/?fref=ts\">know Roy, right<\/a>? Right. So enough with the explanations.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Mosh pits, stage diving (and a few seats getting torn out)\u2026at.the.Weinberg. Just let that picture settle in your mind. A remarkable and unlikely a concert ever to have taken place at the Weinberg really did happen.<\/p>\n<p>November 25 might not register as a particularly important date, but on that day in 1987, a weird and wonderfully unexpected thing happened. A new band calling itself Fugazi \u2013unknown except to the DC punk scene \u2013 drove an hour north and played the Weinberg Center in Frederick Maryland. The unlikely events that transpired featuring THE most influential underground band of the 20th century took place at a venue the least likely to host a jarring punk concert. What would happen next would reverberate through the years and become the stuff of Frederick music lore.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CAPTURING A MOMENT IN TIME BEFORE IT BLEW UP<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nobody could fathom what that moment would mean, for Fugazi &#8211; on the verge of changing the course of modern music, and for Frederick\u2019s underground music community that was quickly outgrowing it\u2019s makeshift all-ages venues.<\/p>\n<p>That this seminal band played at the Weinberg is remarkable for a number of reasons. The Weinberg wasn\u2019t known for hosting many rock shows (still isn\u2019t). That\u2019s not a knock on the facility necessarily, but it\u2019s fair to say that Frederick\u2019s oldest performing arts center doesn\u2019t offer much in the way of rock shows in their menu of programming.<\/p>\n<p>But this was not your ordinary rock show; Fugazi was not your ordinary rock band. I talked to Jason Murphy who went to one of the Weinberg shows, \u201cI thought it was a crazy rumor &#8211; like \u2018no they\u2019re not, they\u2019re not playing the Weinberg.\u2019 Then we found out it was real &#8211; I said, \u2018the Weinberg has no idea what they\u2019re in for.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For starters: Fugazi famously eschewed the corporate nature of the music industry &#8211; and then some. In response to ever rising ticket prices, the band demanded only $5 for admission. As they got bigger, they fought venues across the country to make their concerts affordable. The punk DIY ethos was at the core of a build-by-hand record label and DC music incubator, Dischord Records, which Ian MacKaye had helped create. MacKaye had forged his credentials with Minor Threat earlier in his career, helping to put DC hardcore and Dischord records on the map.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, they played this show\u2026for free.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LET&#8217;S RECONSTRUCT HOW THIS CAME TO BE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>According to various accounts, Frederick had already developed a burgeoning underground scene. By the mid 1980\u2019s, a second wave of punk bands began popping up, looking for places to play in the city &#8211; except bars weren\u2019t an option for the teenage bands. \u201cAll there ever was to play in \u201985 and \u201986 were battle-of-the-bands contests at high schools and community colleges,\u201d explained Chris Stup, who was a drummer in a band Second Nature (later changed to Why).<\/p>\n<p>In 1986, 15-year-old Chris Stup approached Mike Daye, then the director of the Frederick Action Community Agency on South Market and All Saints Street. \u201cWe\u2019re going to bring 50-80 people there, but they\u2019re each going to pay $5,\u201d Stup said, \u201cPart of that would go to the actual soup kitchen operation for the homeless.\u201d Daye didn\u2019t turn them away and before long, Stup and another teenager Josh Hart (with his band Balance of Power) began booking all-ages shows there.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018Soup Kitchen\u2019 started to take notice. The small space provided atmosphere; gradually more people showed up. DC acts like Soulside were making their way to Frederick. \u201cIt was getting bigger. I needed a bigger venue,\u201d Chris explained. He knew where to go.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Stup was the director of the Weinberg in the late 80\u2019s. As building manager, Stup senior threw in his hat with his son, Chris for this uncertain venture. The time was now to put on the biggest punk rock show Frederick had ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe took a risk. Chris recaps. \u201cNumber one, you\u2019re in business with your son who\u2019s just a teenager, number two: you\u2019re going to bring these bands in, which, you know, something is going to get damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The next step: find headlining bands to attract punks within a 50-mile radius. \u201cI just called Dischord,\u201d said Chris. \u201cTheir phone number was in the back of every record they produced.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ian MacKaye picked up the phone. \u201cIn my naivety at the time,\u201d Chris recalled, \u201cthis is punk rock royalty, and you don\u2019t realize who you\u2019re talking to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stup laid out the plan: a benefit show for the Heartly House (a Frederick based organization still in existence, assisting survivors of sexual assault and child abuse) with Dischord curated bands, plus Stup\u2019s band to open at an \u2018old theater.\u2019 Stup remembers asking, \u201c\u2019Who can you send from Dischord?\u2019 And Ian said, Hey, I got this new band called Fugazi.\u201d The Dischord lineup would add 3 (Jeff Nelson\u2019s band, ex-Minor Threat and Dischord Records co-founder), and Soulside.<\/p>\n<p>Another remarkable footnote: there was no contract -it was all verbally arranged!<\/p>\n<p>Josh Hart was stoked, \u201cEveryone was fired up to see what Ian was going to do next. It was exciting to see what was going to happen there.<\/p>\n<p>Talking to Ian MacKaye by phone, he was able to find his personal journal and his notes about the Weinberg show. (Picture my jaws dropping).<\/p>\n<p>While Ian described the theater as \u201cVery ornate,\u201d there were technical challenges for soundman Joey Picuri to work out, \u201cJoey gets to work trying to get the inadequate PA to get as much as possible.\u201d (Ouch, bad mark for Frederick.)<\/p>\n<p>His notes then heaped kudos for the opening bands. He even thought Fugazi had a great night. \u201cMany dancers on stage and I was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mark Anderson, with the social action group Positive Force and in the band Embrace with MacKaye, drove to Frederick: \u201cIt was a great show, one of the first Fugazi did outside DC. They were carrying some weight of expectation there. We started to get a sense how powerful a reaction the band would receive beyond its DC base.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From audio files available from Dischord, MacKaye from the start set the tone for the night: \u201cI\u2019m glad to see such a big to do about the Heartly House. The word is we made over $1500 for them tonight (cheers from the audience.)\u201c<\/p>\n<p>There was a bit of mayhem however. \u201cWe were all jumping around and stage diving and stuff,\u201d said Josh Hart. \u201cIt was pretty rowdy for a place like that. People were packed up in the chairs up towards the stage. It was chaos. I think some of the seats got damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are certain punk rock rituals that Fugazi was not interested in,\u201d Mark Anderson clarified. Moshing and stage diving, he argued, was getting to be tiresome. \u201cIt was a matter of wanting their audience to participate in a way that created space for everyone to participate. And they\u2019re not afraid to confront\u201d to achieve that.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YE4RwruMMkw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" gesture=\"media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>8 songs into the set, Fugazi started up a song that would define their new sound, \u201cWaiting Room.\u201d It seemed to have arrived from the future. It had propulsive rhythm with some of the frenetic urgency of hardcore, yet quite different. Ian\u2019s call to Guy\u2019s response was so out of another parallel hip-hop universe. There is this heart-to-mouth start\/stop syncopation, a touch of DC go-go music, and a beat that allowed the punks to dance properly. The response was immediate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first time I heard Waiting Room\u2026You could see this whole flood of people bouncing up and down &#8211; like this huge wave &#8211; I\u2019ve never seen that before,\u201d explained Bolling.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Anderson remembers \u201ca segment of the audience being open to that and some people seeming to be puzzled and it all feeling\u2026great. Something real was happening. It wasn\u2019t just a consumer product pristinely wrapped in plastic and delivered. It was something much more interesting and alive then.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They won over the crowd with honest and uncompromising music; it challenged as much as it moved people. For the few hundred that walked away into the night, it was as if a cultural tsunami had come through the city. \u201cThere was this whole genre shift. It pivoted, and we didn\u2019t know it yet,\u201d said Bolling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>THE AFTERMATH<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe shows did very well, and we had minimal damage,\u201d said Stup in relief. \u201cDid my dad take a risk professionally, allowing a bunch of young folks in there that wasn\u2019t standard for that place? Sure, but those shows raised money for worthy causes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ian MacKaye of the show looking back, \u201cEverything we did, it reflects our sense of community responsibility. The fact that this benefited the Heartly House was totally in keeping with our local shows. Every show in Washington was a benefit. We never made a dollar. That was a decision for us to do community work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A Frederick\/DC connection was forged. Stup\u2019s band was invited by Fugazi to play at their protest concerts in Washington and at Positive Force shows too.<\/p>\n<p>The local music scene enjoyed a surge of new bands forming and national acts coming in. Moving on from the \u2018Soup Kitchen\u2019 to a larger space in 52\/54, west coast bands like All and DC\u2019s Swiz would arrive in Frederick to sizable audiences. Fugazi may not have intended super rock stardom, but nevertheless, they rode a zeitgeist that spilled out as a consequence from \u2018Nirvana-mania.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Fugazi played the Weinberg 14 months later. The 1987 turnout was eclipsed by hundreds more people showing up. Fugazi in turn brought along more Dischord bands, Ignition and Fire Party. Jason Murphy drove in from Falling Water, West Virginia for another Weinberg in February 1990 and recalled, \u201cThe neat thing about that was that everyone was there. All the different splinter scenes united at the Weinberg. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen that kind of turnout for an underground band in this area EVER.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fugazi may have helped amplify a wave already underway in Frederick, but it would not last. The all-ages venues like 52\/54 went dark. Chris Stup moved on to college; bands like his started breaking up. The scene dried up.<\/p>\n<p>After 14 active years, in 2002, Fugazi filed into indefinite hiatus.<\/p>\n<p>Micheal Stup passed away in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Today scene continues the cyclical waves. Bands in several underground genres continue to push in interesting ways. Despite a lack of all-ages venues, musicians keep finding resourceful ways to play out. Just as their punk rock DIY forbearers did, house shows such as the Slayground are filling the gap, hosting an array of touring and local bands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe underground is beneath us,\u201d MacKaye reminds us. \u201cIt\u2019s not always obvious, but there\u2019s always stuff going on. I\u2019m always interested in seeing what that next salvo will be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>FUGAZI&#8217;S FINGERPRINTS REMAIN IN FREDERICK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tim Reardon was just 13 years old when he attended witnessed Fugazi\u2019s \u201987 Weinberg show. \u201cI\u2019m not sure I understood how much influence seeing Fugazi would have on my life,\u201d said the present co-owner of Pitcrew Skateboards. \u201cNone of us fit in, so we started something for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scott Maceron was there too. He now runs the Frederick Rock School, leading a new generation with big dreams and better guitar hooks.<\/p>\n<p>At Gravel &amp; Grind bike and coffee shop, hand crafted bikes are being assembled while Fugazi\u2019s \u201cRed Medicine\u201d album spins on the turntable.<\/p>\n<p>At the Bike Doctor, Brian Wisowaty shows a handwritten postcard from Ian in March 2013. It thanked Brian for hosting his band the Evens in February of that year. The Bike Doctor was a highly unusual venue, in that it\u2019s not really a venue. MacKaye wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. \u201cThat was a great gig, that was super fun,\u201d Ian said about his last trip to Frederick. \u201cIt\u2019s the unpredictable nature of these events that makes it more interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The lasting legacy of Fugazi is in this mantra: anybody can create culture. Go do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: The following was written by Roy Ghim and appeared in last week&#8217;s edition of 72 Hours. And \u2026 well, you all\u00a0know Roy, right? Right. So enough with the explanations.\u00a0&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1097989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-1097988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-concerts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1097988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1097989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1097988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1097988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fnpsites.net\/playlist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1097988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}