Date: May 25th, 2026 9:29 PM Author: exhilarant haunting selfie
i was at the first-ever show at the black cat. it was a hardcore show. it was october 20-something, 1993. the lineup was Killing Time, Endpoint, Avail, and Ashes. avail didn't show up. killing time completely killed it.
it was a saturday matinee and the place didn't have its booze license yet (didn't matter for that show, everyone was sxe). endpoint was really great too. $5 cover charge.
i think they had a proper indie show that night.
this is when it was in a different building from where it is now. i forget when it moved, i think like 2004ish?
DC9 is where the original club asylum was. i went to a show there in june 1993, the hottest day of the year. unbroken, mean season, ashes, and my friend's band for one cause. the floor felt like it was going to cave in from the moshing.
Date: May 25th, 2026 9:33 PM Author: exhilarant haunting selfie
lol i might have been at that with my wife, gary. i used to drag her to shitty hc shows. i love marginal man
one of the best shows i ever went to was at a hall called the betapunk warehouse. lineup was outspoken, worlds collide and grip. the singer of damnation was WC's manager. a HUGE fight broke out. mace everywhere, guns got pulled. mike mcternan (manager/damanation guy) was screeching in tears "thanks for rtuining the last five years!"
the guy who pulled the first gun gave my friend gonorrhea. he died a few years ago from an OD.
mike mcternan is a fucking faggot and damnation sucks.
I only knew Strike Anywhere on that lineup. I first got into them because they had a song on a Punk Goes Acoustic compilation ('Chalk Line', both versions are 180). This feels so crazy to say now but that's actually the first show I moshed at. It was my first time meeting my formerly-raided-up former-bodybuilder WGWAG spawn friend, still one of my closest homies. Now he's setting national powerlifting records in Canada.
Date: May 25th, 2026 9:49 PM Author: exhilarant haunting selfie
goddamn it the dc hardcore scene is full of absolute fags. the first generation guys were 180, minor threat and all them dudes, but the people in my generation (third - 1991 - 1999 or so) were just wack as shit.
in 1994, we saw shelter play at the safari club. my friend accidentally punched out a flourescent light while stagediving. the krsnas were tending to his hand and the club was cleaning the mess, and during this break, ray cappo said "hey guys, porcell got a new krsna name. wanna hear it?"
the club went dead silent. i have no idea why i did this, but i screamed "COCKSUCKER!" he didn't see who said it, but he looked out into the crowd with the angriest look i've ever seen. he never did tell us the new name. to this day, i have no idea why that came out of my mouth. i didn't think about it, it just came out.
another time, we were in the mall in georgetown and we were getting on the elevator to go up and a black guy was getting off. the second before the doors closed i yelled HEY NIGGER. we took off running when the elevator opened upstairs and didn't stop for like 5 blocks until we got to our car, at th exorcist steps.
Date: May 25th, 2026 10:08 PM Author: hyperactive area
I miss the era when bands just let kids be kids and rock was about letting all your emotions out. Now it seems like every band has an anti racism message and they're all about lecturing you on social issues or shouting fuck trump or something equally gay. When Fat Mike came out as TDS it felt like the end of an era. Young people shouldn't be subjected to tone policing nonsense. Rock should be about free speech and universal acceptance (including people with Very Bad Thoughts) etc..
Date: May 25th, 2026 10:05 PM Author: Brussels Sprout (Apropos of the Wet Snow)
I lived in dc between 2010 and 2018, so I could only tell u that back then u could stand so close to the band and meet lots of cool people in the crowd-- it was a neat culture, maybe a little naive