consistent timeline. The next staggering event which was life
changing was a call from Ian MacKaye. Ian buzzed the store, and
asked if I would like to help put on a Fugazi show. Seems none of
the local clubs would allow the all age show & $5 cover (which is
now the a touch stone for Fugazi shows). I'd never put on
a show before, but I eagerly said "SURE".
OK, so I have no experience … ummm how hard could it be? Well,
let’s see a place to hold the event … Done, got a friends
warehouse for the show, but oh yeah, there will need to be a stage,
and lights, sound system … wow, I’m in way over my head! Thank
God for good friends. Mike put up his warehouse, which was where
he lived – so basically opening up his living quarters for mayhem.
My main man David, who worked at “The Science Place” and built
the exhibits for rotating shows, built the stage we needed for Fugazi
to perform. And what a cooool stage it was. David placed a beat-
up, dead car underneath which was the central structural and
visual force of the stage. Through various other friends and a lot of
begging and borrowing, we pulled together a VERY DIY venue for
the event. We put out flyers, praying and hoping that some people
would actually show up (always that fear of throwing a party and no
one shows up). Well, you could say we WAY underestimated the
power of “word of mouth” or rather the phenomenal force that is
Fugazi.
I think everyone that even remotely thought of themselves as a
music enthusiast showed up for the event … we were anticipating
100-200 folks but well over 400 showed up. Our “security / door
people” (who were friends that had never done anything like this
before) kept letting the mobs into the arena. Last Rites, a local
Dallas band with a funk-rock feel (side note the drummer for this
band now plays with the Goo Goo Dolls in Hollywood – it blew my
mind when a NYC friend called me one night and told me to turn on
the TV to a 90210 episode – eghads! There was Mike beating on
his drums with the Goo Goo Dolls who were playing at the 90210
prom! What a scream) … so Last Rites warmed up the crowd. Yes,
this is Texas and it was hotter than hell. By the middle of their set
we knew we were in trouble. Too many people in too small a space.
The crowd was pushing on the stage, and the structure we thought
was solid and sound as a rock, was actually teetering and tottering
– very precariously on the smashed vehicle. If the car had not been
placed underneath, I’m sure the whole stage would have collapsed.
Can you feel this building to a breaking point? Well things were
about to get even trickier. I can’t remember if Fugazi actually
started playing or if it happened right before – but I’m telling you,
every type of legal enforcement agency in the state of Texas
showed up at this warehouse. TABC (Texas Alchohol Beverage
Commision) equivalent to the ATF fed types, Dallas Fire
Department, and last but not least the Dallas Police Department
with their Patty Wagon in tow. This concert was bubbling into riot
status not to forget mentioning all the skinheads inside the
warehouse (we had members of the Hammerskins a white
supremacist skinhead gang as well as members of DSB a non-
racist skinhead gang which both were endlessly “at war” with each
other). Not to be dramatic, but it was getting ugly. Kids were being
cleared out of the warehouse, but no one was leaving from the
area outside. Everyone from the inside was now on the outside and
demanding their Fugazi show.
But Lo’ and Behold, our master of ceremonies, Ian MacKaye
stepped up to the plate … what a charismatic force. Ian was the
only one in control and always was. He was the one who told us
knuckleheads to stop letting folks in, and dealt with the skinhead
element by getting their word of a truce during the show. So
naturally when the authorities started demanding the shut down of
the show, it was Ian who powerfully negotiated a solution. So there
were too many people in the warehouse with no proper emergency
exits. No other venue to move to, besides that is why we were here
in a warehouse anyway, and hundreds of kids standing outside the
dock door of the warehouse.
With the warehouse empty, the TABC could see that there was no
“illegal” selling of alcohol and seemed satisfied. Only a few bottles
of alcohol littered the floor (amazing considering all of the chaos).
The Fire Marshall was satisfied since all the kids were not in
danger inside a warehouse with no “exits”. Last to contend with
were the DPD. Would everyone erupt into fights and be loaded into
the patty wagon? Actually this is the last thing anybody wanted
including DPD. So how could this be avoided, well through Ian’s
negotiations, Fugazi was allowed to play their concert, but the big
hitch was that no one could be inside the warehouse to see it.
Somehow this worked. The energy was so high, from the mass of
folks outside and combined with the pure energy which Fugazi
created from inside with their music, it was an incredibly charged
concert. The audience and band were separated by a brick wall
with only a chain linked fence dock door to make connection. With
every song that Fugazi performed, the fans sang every lyric while
dancing in a furious mass. A string of people climbed on top of
Fugazi’s touring truck and leapt into the mass, for one hell of a
stage dive. In between several songs, the band would run from the
stage and climb the chain link fence to touch the fans. By nights
end, everyone was pumped up and spent out from the whole event.
Unbelievable that no one was arrested and only a citation from the
fire department being issued This was an incredible event which
could not be stopped.
