Believe it or not — and these days, many people likely wouldn’t — Anchorage used to have a pretty active underground scene. I spent many, many years as part of it, both as a spectator and as a participant, and it went a long way to shaping the person I am today. I’ve got a lot of fond memories of those times.
Yesterday in my post about Symphony #2 for Dot Matrix Printers, I mentioned Anchorage industrial/noise band Fsunjibleableje (eff-sun-jib-lee-ah-ble-juh). Phil asked if I had any .mp3s of their work, and unfortunately, I don’t — to my knowledge, they never recorded anything. I was prompted to do a quick Google search of their name to see what I could find.
There weren’t a lot of results (though, amusingly enough, the third result was for my old DJ Wüdi propaganda page), but one of the results I got sent me on a long, fun trip down memory lane. Back in October 2000, the Anchorage Press (Anchorage’s version of Seattle’s Stranger or Seattle Weekly) published a retrospective of the Anchorage scene by Josh Medsker — The Decline of Northern Civilization, Part One and Part Two.
The article is a great look back at the rise and fall of the punk/band scene in Anchorage. Josh is a year older than I am and discovered the scene a bit earlier than I did, so the first few paragraphs are good historical information, but aside from knowing many of the names, I wasn’t around for much of the early events. By the time Josh gets to the early ‘90’s, though, I had started to get out of the house and explore the world around me.
Another venue that opened in 1990 was the Ragin’ Cage, a dive across Spenard from the Fly-By-Night Club. The sound at the Ragin’ Cage was bad, and the decor was non-existent, except for the neon paint splattered on the black concrete floor, and dilapidated couches in the corners.
The Cage — home to regular shows by Hessian (featuring lead singer Brock Lindow) and Ted “Theo” Spitler of Heavy Season — quickly became infamous for it’s violent patrons. The owners eventually put a chain link fence up around the stage to protect bands from their audience.
Ragin’ Cage became a hang-out for skinheads. Vox Populli, a local underground publication, started out as a straight-up punk ‘zine before gradually turning into a platform for editor Mark Watson’s white-power views, and a rallying cry for Anchorage skinheads.
“There have never been many SHARP skins (Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice) in this town,” said Jennifer Morris, who was host of “Amber Waves of Ska” on KRUA. “It’s mostly been nazis.”
I never made it into the Cage, though I went by it a couple of times. Unfortunately (well, possibly fortunately), every time I drove by, there were fights going on just outside the front door — often skinheads pounding some person that had ticked them off in one way or another — and I and my friends always decided we’d go somewhere else for the night. The skinhead clientele of the Cage was so well known of around town that I heard more people refer to the club as the “Racist Cage” than by its proper name.
As for the skinheads…I’ve had a few run-ins with them, which I’ll probably go into more detail about in a separate post later on. Briefly, though, I was fortunate enough to meet a couple very intelligent, well-spoken skinheads that I had some very interesting conversations with, and I was unfortunate enough to be threatened (though not beaten) by a group of them, so my experiences ran to either extreme. I ended up with a slight fascination with the subculture, though, and while I’ve never invested a lot of time or research into that particular scene, I’ll often keep an eye out for movies that explore that side of the underground culture (John Singleton’s Higher Learning, Russell Crowe’s early film Romper Stomper, and American History X are all worth watching).
The above-quoted Jen Morris, by the way, was a friend of mine at Bartlett High School. A few years older than me, I got to know her while on tech crew for the theater department there, and kept up with her off and on over the years before I left town. I also had quite the crush on her for a while, though I certainly never told her that (though, me being the oh-so-subtle type I was back then, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she knew).
The article soon turns to the Anchorage warehouse scene, which dominated the underground scene for quite a few years, usually in spaces run by Trey Wolf and Rex Ray. Amusingly enough, the very show that I mentioned in my post yesterday — Fsun’s car demolition performance — is mentioned, along with another performance I attended which culminated in Trey’s crucifixion on a cross made up of circuit boards.
One early FSUN show at Spatula City sticks out in Wolf’s mind. The band took an abandoned car off the street, and they and the audience members took turns wailing on it with saws and hammers.
…at one show, Wolf suspended himself by halibut hooks through his hands to a cross made of old computer parts. With Wolf dangling above the crowd, the rest of the band created a violent soundscape behind him using electronics and found metal objects.
I truly think that I have Rex, Trey, and Fsun to thank for my fascination with early industrial, “noise” and experimental bands like Einstürzende Neubauten. While even at that age I’d never been much of one for the pop scene, and had started searching out some of the lesser-known, darker, “alternative” bands (ranging from Violent Femmes to The Cure to Shriekback, Bauhaus, and many, many others), here was something so bizarre, so unstructured, so primal, and totally unlike anything I’d heard before that it blew me away.
Nineteen-ninety-two was also the year the rave scene broke in Anchorage. DJ Fuzzy Wuzzy began spinning techno at Sharky’s on Fifth Avenue, and DJ Drewcifer was spinning grooves from Bauhaus, Ministry and Throbbing Gristle at the Mirage in Spenard.
Both the Mirage and Sharkey’s were all-ages, non-alcoholic clubs. I hit the Mirage from time to time, but I practically lived at Sharkey’s during the time it was open. Originally a top-40/hip-hop club, word started to spread around town that the owners of Sharkey’s were considering opening their basement to the alternative scene. I, along with many other of the kids in town, started dropping by on random weekend nights asking about the rumors, and was always given a “We’re thinking about it…” response — until one weekend, another door was open. I went in, sparing only a quick glance at the upstairs, headed down the stairs, around a corner…and found my home from that night until the club closed.
In some ways, there wasn’t really much to Sharkey’s. The owners had done little to nothing to prepare the basement for use outside of clearing it out and installing a DJ booth and speakers. There was one main room with the dance floor (that had a concrete support pillar smack-dab in the middle of the floor) and space around the side for standing and watching, and two smaller rooms towards the back with a small selection of ratty couches and counter space for kicking back and hanging out. Over time, people brought in paints and decorated the walls, the floor, and the entire space, and as it was all unplanned and uncontrolled by the owners, the decor tended to change from week to week as new paintings went up, stayed for a while, and then were covered by the next round of artistic outpouring.
Steve Kessler, who I’d gone to high school with, got his start as DJ Fuzzy Wuzzy at Sharkey’s. He was one of two or three regular DJs there (unfortunately, I don’t remember the others), and eventually went on to form a promotion company that kept the Anchorage rave scene going well into the early 2000’s (though my fondest memories of that particular scene all stem from its first few years in the late 1990’s, before ‘raves’ started becoming reported as the latest evil to befall the youth of today).
I’d be at Sharkey’s every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night, hanging out with friends, dancing, and at that time, going a long way towards exploring who I was outside of the manufactured “trying to please everyone” anti-personality that I’d been saddled with for many, if not most, of my younger years. Eventually, of course, Sharkey’s closed down, but it will always be one of the clubs that I have the fondest memories of.
[1992] was also the year KRUA 88.1 came on the air. KRUA was born a few years earlier as KMPS, a campus-only radio station, but on Valentine’s Day KRUA went FM.
Another watershed event in my life. Suddenly, there was a station in town playing music that I liked, not just the pablum of top-40! I was a constant listener of KRUA for years, from the day they went FM on. At one point, one of the shows was asking for dedications. Being terminally single at that point, and not particularly happy about it, I called up and dedicated Depeche Mode’s ‘Somebody’ “to all the single people in Anchorage.” Years later, while talking with a friend, I found out that not only did they remember that show, but they still had a tape of the show itself, and I got to hear my dedication going out all over again.
In the fall of 1992, in a small art gallery next to Spatula City, several blocks away from the old Wherehouse, a group of artists and scenesters gathered, forming the core group that would dominate Anchorage for most of the coming decade. The B.A.U. (Business As Usual) Gallery was run by Brian MacMillan, a transplant from Boston known to most as just “BMac.”
While I never got to know BMac well, he and I ran into each other many, many times over the years, either at shows, or through work. As I’d been working evening/night shifts in copy shops for much of this time (first Kinko’s, then a local shop called TimeFrame), I was quite used to helping run of flyers for shows or articles for ‘zines, and along with Rex, BMac was one of the constant (and more successful) ‘zine publishers in town.
Eventually various monetary problems forced the various warehouses into obscurity, and things moved into other venues. Various coffee joints sprung up around town catering to the alternative scene, with the two most known likely being The Java Joint and Mea Culpa. Given the strong punk contingent of the scene, however, things at the coffeehouses didn’t always go over spectacularly well…
Some bands had a few things to say about Mea Culpa, however. “It was kind of yuppie to us,” says singer Sam Calhoun. One night, at the end of a sweaty, rockin’ set, Calhoun and members of her band, Phillipino Haircut, purposely threw up on stage and in the bathroom. They were kicked out of Mea Culpa indefinitely. “We actually tried to projectile vomit on stage,” Calhoun recalls. “It was just [us] being young and being punk.”
That’s a show I missed. I think I’m okay with that, though. 
Of course, all of this has been for the all-ages set, either at warehouses where there wasn’t much in the way of rules, or non-alcoholic clubs. The over-21 set had had a good thing going for quite a few years with the Underground bar, which became something of a local legend among those of us not quite old enough to get in. Unfortunately, the Underground died a fairly quick and very sad death after one of its regular patrons, Duane Monson of local band Broke, accidentally knocked over the beer of another patron — who proceeded to pull out a knife and stab and kill Monson. I turned 21 just a couple months after this event, and was able to get into the Underground before it closed on my birthday, but it was obvious that the bar wouldn’t be open for much longer, as there were only eight or ten other people in the bar (including all on-duty staff) the entire night.
However, the Underground did have one last blowout show before they shut the doors that I was lucky enough to attend — twice even, as they had a 21-and over show on Friday night, and then an all-ages show Saturday evening — when the Washington-based Black Happy came through town. Great show, great music, and the place was packed, giving me probably my only taste of what the Underground must have been like in its heyday.
Nature abhors a vacuum, though, and soon, another club opened for the band scene that would also play a big part in my life for the next few years: Gig’s Music Theatre.
Gigs was owned and run by Mike Sidon, Scott Emery, and later Mark Romick. Gigs, along with the Java Joint and the UAA Pub, were pillars in the local music scene for the next several years, though Gigs intended to be more mainstream than it turned out to be. “It kind of gravitated toward being a punk rock place,” says Emery.
Gigs thrived at first, with shows from the sloppy, classic punk band Phillipino Haircut, the hardcore Beefadelphia, Hopscotch, 36 Crazyfists, the ska/punk band McSpic, the unclassifiable, insanely loud Contour Chair, the rap-rockin’ Freedom ‘49, and the punk trio Liquid Bandade.
My brother Kevin was one of the members of Beefadelphia (named after a Denny’s menu item). 
Beefadelphia’s logo was a stylized man wearing a fez, which at one point was turned into a painting by band member Aaron Morgan. The painting was given to Gig’s and hung in the office for years. When Gig’s finally closed down and we were emptying the place out, I was able to get ahold of the painting, and it’s been hanging on my wall ever since then. Not long before I left Anchorage, Aaron came by my apartment and saw the painting. Laughing, as he’d not realized that I’d ended up with it, he whipped out a Sharpie and signed it for me on the spot.
Gig’s, of course, along with the Lost Abbey, was where I spent the majority of my years DJing for the Anchorage scene. Each night, we’d generally open around 8pm, I’d play music for a while, then we’d have one to three bands playing with me providing between-set music, then I’d DJ until we closed down (generally around 3am or whenever we ran out of customers, whichever came first).
By 1997 and 1998, though, the scene finally seemed to be on its last legs. Many of the bands had split up, moved out of state, or both. Gig’s closed, and there were few other places providing spaces for bands to play. The rise of the hip-hop scene was in full swing in Anchorage, and I, along with many other friends, came to the sad conclusion that the “glory years” had finally passed us by.
I bided my time in town for the next few years, catching the occasional show here and there, but eventually decided that it was time to find something else, and in the summer of 2001, I joined the ever present exodus out of Anchorage.
Still, with as little interest as I have in living there again, I have many, many fond memories of my years there. Lots of good people, friends, bands, parties, and shows.
Sometimes it can be a lot of fun to go wandering down memory lane.
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Were you still there the summer of ‘93. I was camped out at the UofAA campus for the Dante expedition - the robot which got stuck inside the caldera of Mt. Spurr. We may/might have run across each other then - I was running a “blog” about the mission and providing voice commentary for the NASA-net and tv shows as well as appearing on all the local TVs. We had a bunch of open houses, you might have dropped by one of them. Made me want to spend more time in a) Alaska and b) Anchorage. Thought it was a rather fun place, way bigger than it should have been for the number of people there. Something about being the last city on the planet - or something like that.
I was definitely around in ‘93 — graduated High School in ‘91, and didn’t escape the state until ‘01. I remember the Dante expedition, though the only information I got about it was via the news…very cool that you were a part of the project!
My standard line about Alaska these days is that “it’s a wonderful place to be from” — great state, gorgeous, and I like the fact that I grew up there, but I also like the fact that I’m not there any more. Very worth visiting, though.
Hey Woody, you gave me the idea to post about this (kinda) in my blog. Check it out here. Talk to you later, take care.
-Rebecca aka “Apple”
re: Lost Abbey — it is now one of the “non-denominational” churches that are growing all over the city. I wonder if they had whatever a general Protestant version of an exorcism is before meeting there as a church — or if they even know its history from The Abbey Restaurant, through the Lost Abbey to its current incarnation.
I was quite fond of Fsunjibleableje. Those were the days
Ahhh, memory lane. I too enjoyed Fsun.
What? You cats are talking with your Seattle blinders on, talking like Anchorage is dead and gone, like small talk remembrances at an open-bar funereal ceremony. Fact is, this town is more alive than a hundred walking-dead stateside scenes. As I write this from my 19th an Arctic home, local sk8punk outfit Spitshine is wrapping up practice downstairs in SunkDeep Studio. Trey from Fsun is back in town (and standing right here) working on SoleoEyeWhy tunes, colaborations promise good noise from our expira-mental group Muskitodung. I’ve got Richie B. from Contour Chair here saying come on! His recent group Fats Tunamelt is going off weekly featuring Tall Tim on drums. I’m going on two years busting bimonthly summertime free outdoor mega-shows, Cinco-style. Bitoz pizzaria on fourth is hosting punk and hardcore all ages shows every weekend. Visitors from the deep south have been rolling through, Coachwhips, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb whipping up mad crowds. Spenard Core records is putting out disks for Billy Dirt Cult, Eu Vasham, and a brand new release by favorite Valley cowpunk band Stubby’s Crack Co. Check Jen Hugh’s punk zine online at AKink.com. Better yet, get your azz back in time for this weekend’s ten-band do up at Bitoz, next week’s pub crawl with the Spenard Satans, Anchorage’s hard-drinkin’ mutant bike club. Follow that up with a free ten-band outdoor show on the sixteenth behind Loussac Library. The Autonomous Mutant Festival is sending satellite groups up the Alcan for a midsummer backwoods throwdown that promises to be revolutionary. Punk-rock musicals are in the works, and Spun Hard Films is putting local bands up on Eddie P’s latenite TV show The Venue. I remember all those shows, and I remember all of you. You only think it’s dead because you got old and left it behind, and what do you think all these crazy mohawk kids are going to write about when they are 32 and live in Seattle about this day? “Man, I remember back when Anchorage was cool”.
glad to hear that Anchorage still inspires such ennui, love, frustration, etc… god damn i miss those days. but then again, people have always accused me of being overly sentimental. ha ha. Hey Woody, whats yr email? —josh medsker
Mr. Medsker,
I hear that you are getting married (are married)? You should email me sometime!
the scene is still cool.
Whoa! I just did a random google search for ‘anchorage rave scene’ and got this page. I really enjoyed reading your chronology of the scene in the 90s. I didn’t start going to raves till 2000 w/ progression 2 by icemen being my first. Icemen, serotonin and chaos have all faded up here. Welllll…Icemen’s still doing 21+ bar nights at the alley and this new club @. I opened housewreckin productions in 2002 after some advice tad sumner had given me. Right now theirs currently Housewreckin, Souledoutdjs, kounterstrike and permafrost. Bigger parties up here (500+) are totally unsuccessful anymore. And from my generation’s perspective, the scene was absolutly wonderful from 2000-2002. After that, it seemed that all the support and partiers skipped town and we were left to fend. I also attend bitoz every now and then and that scene seems to be hella strong. I produce a lot too and am working with this girl on a electroclash band. I think once we get it together we’d like to play at bitoz. Anyways, hit me up some time or you can swing by our very active message board, just goto http://www.housewreckin.com
Peace! Zach
Hiya, Wow, interesting blog. I moved to Anchorage in ‘88 from San Francisco. I knew all the standard folks in the scene, but was less than out-going or sociable, so I was something of a wall flower. I was more of a silent witness, than a pariticipant in many of the sub-scene goings on, but I remember a lot of stuff, so feel free to email me. I left Anchorage for good (after having moved back to SF or to Seattle or wherever) in ‘99. I moved to Portland, OR and oddly enough I encountered several Anchorage people, (notably, Flower (Woody’s ex) Sommer (Trey’s ex) and a few others. I now live in Ashland, OR and naturally there are about 3 of us old Anchorage people here as well. I don’t know if you ever knew Dustin and Shane, but they’re here, and I think Sommer is as well, and Mischa (the father of half the kids in Anchorage) lives in Williams. There was even a reported sighting of old Heath Risinger at some point. If you would be so kind, I would really be interested in a copy of Vox Populli if you could scan them and email it to me I would be eternally grateful. Eternally. I used to have some of them, but who knows what happened to them. There are issues with people I miss terribly, and well……if you could, I would love you forever.
Whoa, I used to hang out/live @ Sharkey’s as well. Never could remember the name until reading your post. The Underground was a lot cooler when it was underneath the Beef & Sea, and luckily for us they didn’t seem to mind our fake ID’s. You brought back some memories.
Theo Spitler, lead singer/guitar player from Freedom 49 is still laying down rock-n-roll history…and that is a piece of history- I will carry with me forever-as those that follow his music… do!
Memory lane, not much left of it.
I want to see if I can get in touch with my ol friends from 1994-86 punk scene in ANCHORAGE. My memory is not the best, but I remember a handfull of my close friends, from then. I was 14 in 84 and me and my best friend skinhead chris went to the carpenters hall to see The Exhumed, Skate Death and the Klyn-onz, err maybe it was the psychedelic skeletons. I remember seeing this super kewl chick on a skateboard their, it was TIGER.
I had alot of friends then, Mohawk mark, his brother ralph and Doug and Marty of The Exhumed, Greg (epwr) and Peggy, and Nima. hmm damn
Well ne how,
Anyone from then still around?
Cameron
Hi, this is Andy, drummer from the Psychedelic Skeletons from Anchorage. I saw this site decided to drop a line. After the Skeletons went to Austin, TX in 1985 we decided to check out Manhattan where I stayed and played with the “Reverb Motherfuckers” and the “Shaved Pigs”. I am currently in Up State NY playing with all original musicians and still play and record. I had a great time Anchorage at the Wherehaus on Karluk Street. Playing side by side with Skate Death, Exhumed, ABDK(A bunch of dumb kids)….Anyway, I’ll this site for other comments and other “skeletons” from those years when all original/punk/alternative rock bands was jump started in Anchorage.
Take Care, Andy Malm
Hello all its been a long journey for sure. found site on Google.
turning 40 this year, son of a bitch…
any clean (10 years) married & two kids
living in Seattle.
-Marty
(hello Cameron! BTW Mohawk Mark turned into skin-head Mark. of course he was no longer fun to play with after that)
Man, I love this thread. really brought back memories for me. Especially Jen, or Amber. I am proud to have dated her for a bit and she’s cool as hell. A couple of the names I recall for sure!
Anyhow, Mark and Ralph are living in Washington now. Both have kids and are doing great. Vox Populli has evolved into a anti-government website at: http://groups.msn.com/VoxPopulli ; and an online radio station at: http://www.live365.com/stations/ne033x .
This is Dan and I’m currently living in Copenhagen, Denmark, on my way to Ireland. Would love to hear from any of the old school folk out there. My e-mail is at: ne033x@gmail.com .
I’m on the air now, but not for long. Handing over the reigns to another punk who truly wants to take the station on. Any takers - it’s a paid for stream until next March?!
Anyhow, great to see everyone and hope you all are doing great!!!
Dan Watson
MArty!! Holy fuck man, I can’t believe it..Yer off the tar, so am I. Woohoo, I had almost forgot about this page…. Dood come by and see me at work for lunch, err sumthin. I work In Wallingford…. Man the last time I talked to you was like 87? We were drinkin at gasworks in your grey VW Bus. I think it was after a dri show in Tacoma.
My Website http://www.thebizlist.com Email me!
Cam
Hey Andy, Were you at the acid party at that like hubcap collectors place in anc. I forget the name of your guitarist, but he was playin the guitar, and some one said plug it in, and He says, IT IS! lol NE Way, awsome to here from yah. I had been posting on a few sites, looking for you guys.
The Skelatons kicked ass man! Along with the scene…
Cam
Sounds like fun - this nostalgia for Eighth People’s Werehaus Republik. I press this electrode to see what happens ZAP!!! glass imbedded in rear wall from the 40 oz beer missiles. punk monoply board. VW rabbit, like a ship in a bottle. unfinished fly on the refrigerator. HaHaHa black bathroom & washroom bats. Bone puppies. Lollipop and candy TV. Dg’s acid squished turtle. sheetrock tunnel from 1984 Halloween as it decayed into 1987. The 2-4-5 combo lock. ZapZap Logan OHNO Logan’s smashing everthing aaagh Lobsters strobes. I know I’m not Elvis but I have left the building. In ablue 1962 Ford Falcon.
Woohoo, Greg has been here. This iz kewl! Greg, I remember one wintery night at yer house, you were cooking up a big pot of spaghetti, and you needed something for it so you sent me an, I think it was Ralph to the store for what ever it was. I think I felt apart of a household for the 1st time, since getting kicked out of my dads house, for punk rock hair.lol
Thanks for dropping a line.
Cam
hi, i remember a lot of you folks from mid 80s not really fond times when i look back,, broke ,angry,kinda lost,,fun was shows and my punk rock friends tho,,i remember cam pretty well,,who doesnt remember the president??love to hear from some of you,marty,surprised to hear youre alive?glad to hear it tho,, i live on the canadian border,recently retired,was a pls last 15 years,have 15 year old son 3 month baby girl,much older wife,,gimmy a call hwatson@nas.com love to hear from some of you… mark,,mohawk mark…
The prez just hooked me to this. Marty, Mark, EPWR, the Exumed. Holy Fuck, I am alive and well down here in the swamps of southern Louisiana. Halloween has always been a special time for me. But the cops here did not think so, went to a costume party dressed as you guessed it SID, went to jail with three counts Saturday night got out Monday morning, friend of mine at the DA’s will make it all go away, SID LIVES. Do I know who is running this site? Keep the Faith
wow OTTO in the deep south eh?still got that unquenchable thirst for budwieser?got punk rockers calling you to bail them out of jail??i hear youre sucking the earth dry of her oil these days?wonder what them southerners think of you??always remember sid comeing home with a case of bud that unmistakable sound of engineer boots comeing up the stairs,,then digging up bones by randy travis blaireing from his room,,same guy??hey send me an email,, mark hwatson@nas.com
So,some of you people are not dead? mike belyea- thehumanthumb@yahoo.com
Heya Mark! Wow man! Congrats on your family! You were always like the older brother I never had,
I remember hanging out in the basement of Tammy’s apartment talking about the universe and things with yah. And bummin cloves off yah, or gettin yah to buy us packs ov cloves. 
Looks like I have started somethin here on this site, pretty cool to see so many poppin in to say hey.
Im working in Seattle at a pc shop, and live down in kent with my girlfriend and her two kids, 17 and 14. Kicks ass taking them dirtbike riding and hangin out with them and there friends. Guees I am still a big kid.
Peace,
Cam
Mike! Elvis! Thumb! We’re no dead, but we kinda worried that wuz you they found inna chili last year at Wendy’s. Prez- greg.granquist@acsalaska.net
That WAS me in the chilli! But I pulled a Def Lepard and am typing w/ my one good finger.So, whose site is this? They’re probably wondering who all these ancient people are showing up. But the real question-WHERE’S TYGER?
You Will like this one… [URL=http://img438.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ralphpics0635xu.jpg][IMG]http://img438.imageshack.us/img438/7395/ralphpics0635xu.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Like this..
http://img438.imageshack.us/img438/7395/ralphpics0635xu.th.jpg
I ran into Tyger at the northgate mall like 10 years ago, here in seattle.
Try this one it’s bigger and better..
http://img438.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ralphpics0635xu.jpg
How about-Sunni? Doug? Jason Riquellmy?
I lived with Doug fer awhile in Auburn, like a long time ago. He was in the Military reserves and going to green river college at the time. I havn’t seen him since, Marty might know though…? Marty?
Cam
Doug lives here in Seattle he is a registered nurse he works at a convalescent home
Jason lives in Houston
don’t know what happened to Sunni
Just now getting caught up Mark has been sending pics and I talked to Greg pretty cool
still trying to digest.
wow.
hello Mike
-M***y
hey cam i remember you very well..nice to hear from you,,and glad to hear youre doing good,,nice work on this sight..ive wondered about all of these people from time to time its been close to 20 years since ive seen most of you,,hey mike are you still in texas???yeeehaw..
greg is it appropriate now to ask you if you remember almost smashing that small car into the brick wall in the warehouse??its all a blur to me but you were steering and a lot of deviants were backing it up and pushing the car like hell towards the broken glass wall and im all like “dont hit the brakes this time”when i could catch a breath between laughs…couldve ended out a bad night huh??geez i never get to do shit like that anymore???
Hey M***y (hehe), I was just kidding about caring what Jason Riquellmy is up to. He lives in Austin and plays drums in my band!
What’s up with the only posting one-? That’s not what I wrote!******************************************************************************** Maybe you can write it like-M888Y? * * *
It did that to me to….
maybe this will work
M * * * Y
there.
Tell Jason I said howdy
or he can email (or anyone for that matter) me at martyL23@msn.com
Ayy I just remembered a show at carpenters hall. The exhumed were playin, and Marty,
……. had a beef heart hanging from his teeth while he was playin the bass!!! hell yah! then it got thrown into the pit….
Any one remember that…
I remember the beef heart. I don’t remember much bass playing going on… (sorry M * * * Y)!!
i remember that show,, i thot marty just coughed up a part?? soo is skatedeath now on horseback and wearing big belt buckles and 10 gal.hatz?? remember jason well.. the punk rock version of the energizer bunny?? HEY ! what id really love to know is what ever happened to floyd?? you know the first skinhead in anchorage ,, used to wear a sign on his chest that said “say hi to floyd”???stole my idea!!!!! hey i came across a skatedeath album in the celophane square in bellingham,,couldnt bleeve my eyes,, dig this sight ,, always wondered what 20 years had done to most of you??? mark…
I played in a band for two years yet I never quite learned how to play
I recently got a old piano (1949 Kohler & Chase) and I cant play that ether but my 8 year old can play the heck out of it.
I guess actually playing an instrument skipped a generation
the beef heart was was to distract the crowd from my Bass playing though the taste never really goes away.
maybe when the family is over on Thanksgiving and ask me to play a tune I will put a beef heart in my mouth to distract em while I play.
-M-
Update on Floyd, the unofficial town greeter and Saint Spenard. He passed over about a year ago. So the position is now open. Mark? The Anchorage Daily News got it right and honored him with a special obit. I sat across from him on the bus once. He kinda reminded me of the Dalai Lama. Maybe he was his VP.
Hey guys. Just wanted to drop in and say hi — I’ve noticed a couple of you wondering just whose site you were on, and, well…that’d be me.
I don’t think I know any of you, as from the sound of it, you were all around the scene before I got into it (while I hit the Wherehouse a couple of times, most of my time running around was during the Sharkeys/Fsun-in-a-warehouse days). I did end up making some slight name for myself for a few years as DJ Woody (or DJ Wudi, or DJ Wüdi, or however I was spelling it that week) at City Lights (very briefly), The Lost Abbey, and Gig’s Music Theatre.
In any case, whether or not I knew any of you, I’ve been having a blast watching all the comments roll in — it’s been a lot of fun watching from the sidelines as all of you hook up again after all this time. I’m glad my little spot on the ‘net is coming in handy for something other than my usual pointless rambling!
Here’s the article the ADN wrote about Floyd when he passed away that Greg mentioned. While it was bound to happen eventually, I was sad to see him go, too.
Anyway, that’s it from me. Have fun!
yah nice sight mike,,,look what youve done!!youve opened the gates!! hey anyone remember “wild bill” like heres what i remember ,,okay yah get tanked up downtown right at the capt cook monument,,well into the afternoon a train leaves anchorage,,you hop on,,then when whoever knows when you all hop off and roll into some guys yard ,,kinda nowhere behind spenard???i never met wild bill to my knowledge,?a band always played at his house,and he wasnt about running out of beer,,really some great times there..i remember asking who he was and i think he was never home for his partys??always wondered if there was a wild bill ??or some poor bastard had a huge cleanup every summmer after he got home from vacation??
I heard his last name was Sheffield and he hadgreen hair???
“Wild Bill” was Otto’s brother
a very nice guy Basically after a party Sid would make Doug, Brian and I clean up
if we complained he would simply lift up one of those big engineer boots of his and give us one of those “Do you really want this boot up your ass?” looks…
We cleaned in fear.
Sorry to hear about Floyd
-M-
Sie sind Kameraden, aber sie sind nicht Blutsbrüder. Robert ist Bruder Ottos. Charles ist Bruder wilden Williams. Ich habe ihre Pässe und Identifikation Karten
Ay I want to put up our own website.. I can get server space at work, no prob.. So just need a domain name for the site…??
Cam
oldfartpunkers.com just kidding epwr.com? Uberpunkers.com
Oh.. sorry ‘bout that Oberkrautfuhrer Von Liverworst
Wild Bill was Sids “brother” but not “blood brother”
you know I think I knew that at one time…
you will have to pardon me, I did a whole bunch of drugs and got kicked in the head a lot.
My memory is a little rusty
-M-
Cam, whatever you do dont have the word “Exhumed” in the title
Though the irony doesn’t escape me….
Thanks Mike for the use of your comment thread I guess there are other old folks out there after all
Human Thumb I found this Canadian band I could of sworn you were in http://www.ermineonline.com/about.html but your still in Austin
I guess everybody has a twin.
Cam,
hey, let’s build it and see if anybody comes. I vote for “werehaus.com”. The reason for the exact spelling is as follows. Once upon a time, 1414.5 Karluk Street was actually a “warehouse” for a candy distributor. Then in the hippie era (Cafe Wha, the Who etc.) it became the “wherehouse”. Then, in 1984, the year of a mega-Halloween party with Orwell’s novel as the theme, it became the “werehaus” to take in to both the macabre (werewolf etc) and the totalitarian (Eastern Germany, haus) thereby getting two big horrors under one roof. The name then fit the punk scene with its relish for shock value and anti-authoritarian expression.
Yes Marty, I too have googled ‘MikeBelyea’ and know of that canadian imposter! I just wish his band would play in Austin, so when he shows his ID at the clubs, he finds his status as “currently banned”!!
Woooowww…
Hey, guys. This is Amber of the ska show. Nice to see that some of the Watcons are still alive; there have been so many rumors about their demise. Well, I don’t think anyone ever killed off Mark, but Dan was either hit by a truck or fell off a crabbing boat. Or shanked. I don’t remember how Ralph “died.” i do notice that he hasn’t posted, though…
It’s very cool to see some of the things and people here that I’d completely forgotten about. I’m still in town, Anchorage has changed a lot.
Do you guys remember Tony Gallela? I talk to him sometimes. He was in San Fran for a long time and now he’s east of that, I don’t remember where.
What ever happened to Sid? I’m talking about the tall, skinny Sid who used to live in the apartments at 15th and Cordova…
Uhh… WatSONS.
Sid I versuchte zu email Sie aber es Schlags zurück…, bin ich es tuend falsch?
Ha ha Mike
had some good show’s eh?
I just… I mean “the Pessimist” I mean C’mon thats damn near identity theft.
-M-
werehaus.com it is ne webdesign savvy’s here, let me know and I’ll email the goods to access the site..Should be typable in address bar inna couple of days.
Cam
hey happy veterans day sid,,,marty,, doug?? werehaus is a good name eh?? be sure and put epwr in the search string… hey jen/amber,, yeah its me mark watson,,,i heard you do a radion show in anchorage now?? amber waves or something like that?? how are you?? me and jenny got married about 3 years ago,after a 17 year courtship,,,, have two chilluns but i think you knew that,,, hey cam make sure theres a scratch and sniff section i can post on or at least a photo section..nice you have bandwidth access at work… Amber dan is in denmark now a citizen last i hear married some danish chick,, dont hear from him much,,, i heard ralph was dead from bikers once but then heard lots different,,i thnk people like to think of us as dead ,,cant imagine why he he….??? soo far the only casualty is floyd,,,,R.I.P.
It being veterans day, whatever happened to that damned flag shirt you freaks shared??
Well, you still haven’t discounted or confirmed Ralph’s untimely end.
Yep, I did ska on the radio for about four years, I think, mostly on KRUA, then I switched over to “commercial pablum” and managed to get ska on KWHL while it was an alternative station and ska was The Thing. That lasted more about a year and a half, to my best estimation.
I actually became a full-time rock dj and put 11 year in professional radio, then I decided to grow up and get a real job (aided in part by the fact that they moved me onto the local rap station without my consent). I assist a mortgage loan officer now. I still do a shift or two every week at KWHL just because it’s fun.
Let me tell you, going to KWHL after being raised on “our music” was really strange. They couldn’t understand why I didn’t already know the complete Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith catalogs. Now, if they’d asked me about the Specials or Dead Kennedys, that would have been different.
Don’t know what happened to the Flag shirt I think Evan had it last but who knows?
Thanks Mark I spent Veterans day working a double shift (and playing on the computer on and off)
Nice huh? had to rebuild the X-axis guide rail on a Water Jet The Master rail went out didn’t have to rebuild the slave
Praise all the Jesus’s!!
so… I assume they painted over the Monument? I was last in Anchorage in 99 but didn’t play with other’s. did the whole camping thing plus showed the kids off to the grand parents
then couldn’t wait to get the hell out of town
funny thing that.
Anchorage is still cool, you just have to be one of the cool people and know where and when to go, and then there is this issue of acting your age and conforming to the man. True I have not been in Anchorage for many years but all cities have an underground just have to find it. This is that tall skinny SID, still alive and well here in the southern swamps of Lousiana. A web site with photos great idea very interesting in learning other peoples memories of events as Marty said our memories are asque and even blank, I have been told many things i am suppost to have done but have no memory what so ever, so lets keep that history coming and spread this around. And to all you kids, drink and do drugs, but if you are a drunk or drug addict then stop and get help or you will not remember a thing either, or end up in prison, or dead. And for those old folks like me go to local shows, liston to the local collage station and pick a band you like and PAY for some studio time and help these kids out they need it. With this war going on a great emotion base is here now for some really good music, seek it out and support it and help it grow. Again hello to all and if you want to contact SID, e-mail mohawk mark as he posted his address and knows how to get ahold of me and I am never home as I travel all the time for work. As far as Anchorage history, 1984, anchorage, met the exumed and skake death. Cool people many beer parties and punk rock was a hard thing to do at the time in Anchorage. The red necks and rockers would chase me and through shit at me as I walked down the street, as you all remember. The cops were cool, I was pulled over many times in my 1975 chevy blazer or 1975 blue monty carlo packed with underage boys and girls and beer and the cops just let us go. Now at the time I was 28 years old and now I would be doing jail time for the same stunt. That is why anchorage was cool the cops let us do our stupid shit and they busted the real bad people. Bon fires at the tracks, huge beer parties, no way could you do this now with the post 911 I am scared of my shadow situation. The whole bush thing is going to spiril out of control be ready in one year for the start of the next prez race as this one will be one to see and be a part of if you dare. I am ranting, later, keep the faith. Sid the kid Vicious (the skinny one with many tattoos)
Hey Mark,
i missed your post earlier about the VW. I was just helping you get ready for your driver’s license. remember? Trying to point out 1 car length for each 10 mph, especially if your following a wall. Also, if you must drink and drive, do so only INSIDE your living room. I hope you strictly followed this advice over the years. The reason, i suspect, you don’t do stuff like that anymore is that you dont have a car IN your living room, right? And by the way, to be clear on this - DONT drink and drive if a car IS your living room.
Seems like a few people out there had a some good times back then… Hey, Greg, I still like “Wherehouse” best cause I actually ran into people in Anchorage during those times and they would asked ,”So Where is this House”? “Geologically speaking” of course. Hey, It’s “sideburn” Mike and his witticism’s… Mike, I still get kick out of that time when you sent me my fan mail on our way to Manhattan….Also I think you should have stayed in the City when you came up for a short visit in1992? Hey, on a musical note, I’m playing with this guitarist as a duo and we are crazy, chaotic, loud, intense, but tight. Kind of like the Flat Duo Jets times ten. or like SevenDust but more heavy. So maybe we can get down your way and play a show together? Or you can come up here to the Big Applet? We are recording in December in Manhattan at Fun City/Wharton Tiers.
Hi Cam.
Anybody else out there playing?
Well stay loose.
Does anybody like the band the “Strokes” I know you do Greg…. What bands do people listen too these?????????
-Andy Malm
16 Horsepower, the Boggs, Amy Rigby, and Clem Snide -I likes em uh huh I do.
Bad Wizard
Jason Webley, Edith Piaf & Blue Aeroplanes
Marty — you’re a Webley fan? Very cool — I’ve been a fan of his for the last few years, and have hit every one of the major fall (“deathday”) and spring (“resurrection”) shows for the past four years or so.
Jason is awesome Mike!
I was at Bumbershoot in 99 or 2000 cant remember exactly we went to see Children of the Revolution who we like
Meanwhile I was bored and found I was more interested in the food booths then the lousy collection of musicians with the same tired puppets playing the same tired Doors songs (I think spoonman was there as well I remember wishing I had a big spoon to hit him on the head with)
when I this guy playing the accordion sounding like Tom Wait’s or something but before I could get closer “Event Staff” chased him away yelling at him to leave then I saw him playing about an hour later at another spot his case was full of money and he had a large crowd I was able to get a copy of Viage before he got chased off again I listened to that CD everyday for like months so I had to get the rest of his stuff after that
we are going to this years “resurrection” we should say howdy. -M-
hey andy,, i remember you very well..one night at greg seals house..you stomped my ass at pool lost like 15 bucks,,i wanna rematch,ha… im diggin “clutch “these days..lately though last few years i been diggin up all the old punk rock stuff i hadnt heard in years..funny some of it i liked i cant stand today.. some of it i hated i really like??brings back lots of memories tho… mark
Anyone heard of “Jon Wayne” He’s great. I still love a good game of eight ball Minnesota Fats style.
Jon Wayne played here a couple years ago. The odd thing was they had a huge tour bus, yet their tour was like 4 shows and they could’nt have been making much money. No-go-diggy-die mb
That’s exactly how it should have been. Money!! who needs money??? Mike, so what do ya think? to play or not to play that is the dilema. Texas funeral’s suck. I’v been listening to Schooly D lately been awhile I still like it.
Does anyone like “Frank Black”?
Jon Wayne wouldn’t have it any other way. Texas Funerals susck.
is this the john wayne that died of like 4 feet of impacted stool?? just axen mark
Well Michael Hanscom, I sure you’ll be relieved to find out that we won’t be camping out in your living room too much longer. Andy and Mike, and who ever, there’s some beds available for flopping over here and if things get too crowded, I’ve got some space on the floor
Nice digs, Greg! Didn’t mind at all having y’all camp out around here for a time, either…it’s been fun!
Wow…I just stumbled upon this blog and this post…what memories!
I’m Linda, a member of the band “Sky is Blu” back in the late 80’s early 90’s. In order to allow myself the ability to play music as much as possible, I kinda created a bunch of music-oriented jobs for myself and tried to piece together an income.
One of those came as a result of walking into a brand new coffee house on Spenard called “Java Joint.” I convinced the owners, Lenny and Alec, that they needed me to book nightly music and put together a monthly entertainment calendar for them. I also convinced them to pay me for it.
Thus my roll expanded from musician to an “insider” into the entire Anchorage local music scene. That was a great 2 1/2 years!
I remember TS Scream’s music (and Scott’s incredible alcohol consumption) - I remember being blown away by the Disastronauts (especially their singer) and being absolutely sure that they were going to be famous. (That’s before I learned that most bands self-destruct right when it looks like they might take the next step…Sky Is Blu was no exception.) I remember Sad Happy at The Underground…god they were good. I remember Dylan and Mea Culpa introducing the entire “Internet Cafe” concept to Anchorage. I remember organizing a fund-raising “Anchorage Women’s Music Festival” (which had as many musicians and vendors as it did patrons) and watching BMac in a dress dance around the campfire with his girlfriend…it felt perfectly normal at the time.
It was nice to have been there.
I moved on to working for the gov’t full-time and a side job running sound at Blues Central and working backstage on the first 4 “Blues on the Green” concerts before I “retired” from the music scene after having my daughter.
It’s so weird now to see commercials with Dylan “Mea Culpa” Buchholdt in his present roll as a personal injury lawyer. It’s even weirder to watch my transition into a soccer mom.
Perhaps it’s indicative of the changes in Anchorage to realize that both Java Joint and Mea Culpa ended up as Pawn Shops.
I need to write a book.
hey, is this site still up? hangin out in montreal quebec. hoppin’ freight west then back up to AK….later
Hey Heath, you were my first love…aawww. I talk to Philip all the time… email me sometime peace_rhino@yahoo.com
I remember the Watson brothers…Ralph used to hang out with my brother Chris (Chris X)… Amber, well we were friends until she ran off with my boyfriend to SF… Bill Rasey was my brother. I dated Heath. Man, I remember some crazy nights at the Cage… some skinhead broke my sisters arm and nose in the pit… Kicked some girls ass for hittin on Billy… I left AK for good after Billy died, like someone else said “it’s a great place to be from”
nice thread. i played music with Bill. i love you, Anchoage!
What a great site! Thanks for bringing back some memories. I played drums w/ Skate Death in 1984 for a while including Carpenters Hall opening for Suicidal. Got hooked up with Mike because we went to Dimond. Hey Mike, I agree - Bad Wizard is good to go! I also played with the P-Skeletons before they were the P-Skeletons with David and Jason because they went to Dimond as well. Before they were the Skeletons it was called the modern pause. Still have some of those tapes…Hope everyone is doing good…
Glen
hey. this is april. i lived in anchorage from about 1992 to 1997, when i left for seattle with my son. only been back a few times to visit. went to a lot of the places you mention and wondering if anyone i know is still around, possibly in the seattle area?
April Angel?
I lived downtown (Orange Door & Strathlorn) off & on in ‘88 - ‘89 and in Spenard (also off & on) in the early ’90s. Rumors of my death have also been greatly exaggerated, though rural Kansas can pack its own kinda wallop. I’d move back tomorrow if I could get my damaged brain around the logistics.
yeah. but you spelled my last name wrong, angell. which jess is this? i knew 2.
Hi April, it’s Jessica Newman. I dated Heath years before you. Email me sometime. Peace_rhino@yahoo.com
-Jess
I graduated from West Anchorage High in 1993. I remember Sharkys and Java Joint. Hell, the Space station where you can play video games right behind the $1 movie theater which was sticky with coke on the floor.
THe drummer for the Disastronauts Rich Nurre and I formed a band called ‘Seismic’ where I played a 5 string electric bodyless Upright Bass as well as 4 string standard bass with about 5 FX pedals. The singer Katey for the D-Nauts as well as Rich are living in Seattle.
The rave scene is something that shaped me and I remember those times some very well some not so well. Jesse Burgos a great guitar player which we wrote many songs in his apartment with occasional gigs at Java Joint and other small cafes.
Anyhow, it was well put by someone on the board when they said, ‘Anchoarge is a great place to come FROM but maybe not move back to.’
I now run multiple .com websites as a programmer and marketer.
http://planetxmail.com http://pxmb.com http://digipanel.com
A wonderful thing about the internet is that it can transend time when I come across a message board like this… memories never lost if only we remember and many share with those in the same Time and Space.
Peace.
wow i remember f-sun. smashing tvs and using electric saws shooting sparks everywhere. out at the old spatula city. who could forget bands like grin and spawn, or places like the OLD underground (under the beef n sea) and of course talkeetna bluegrass festival. good vibes on the old ak daze….
i was reflecting a bit more
wasnt the “java-joint” located in the old “G&B Skate Shop”? right next door to the old original “db music” location? spenard is where the heart is… anyone remember the “oregon-house” crew? im going to do some random shout-outs:
BMac - B.A.U. Michael Allen - promoter of good bands coming to anchorage Steve Wright - iller artistry Norman - O-house mastermind T.S. Scream Sonic Tractorhead Disastronauts The Drunk Poets Surreal Studios - recorded skate death i think and others The Downbeat - used to be the underground before it moved anyone remember “The Monkey Wharf”?
what about the anchorage music-tv channel that only lasted for a short while called “Catch-22”?
my rambling is finally over…
also, i once ate a “love-burger” (i think it actually had twigs in it among other things) out of a vw bus sitting in the where-house (near the airfield) the morning after a fsun show. mmmmmm good
Jesse Burgos is in NYC now… His Website is http://WWW.KiddzDizzy.com... Still rockin……. You might recognize the face.. but not the name.
It’s great that old friends can reminisce, but just because you moved away/got older/quit paying attention doesn’t mean the scene ceased to exist. It’s had a lot of ups and downs, but don’t think for a second that it started and ended with you.
I agree with Shane in that the last time I was in Anchorage (May 2007) there was a lot going on. Many of the people from the old days are still active with new blood from more recent years making for an increase of local goings-on. In fact, I’d say Anchorage is on a new up-slope of the historically bell-curved music scene. As long as people don’t start competing with each other, things can only get better. It’s when people try to take control away from other people (who are just trying to help) that Anchorage’s insanity kills the scene again. I see a lot more community up there these days than in the past. Shit’s goin’ on!
Heck, I’d almost say it’s exciting.
wow hey matt whats up? whats up all? i sure do miss all those times ive read about and lived lol all those great bands , i got a chance to catch 36 crazyfist a yaer back here in nyc times square and hung with steve, brock and scotti gomez here in nyc ,twaz a trip let me tell ya.. i WILL NEVER FORGET WHERE I CAME FROM EVER!! alaska is my heart, i got alot of great gigs just cuz i was from ak i tell everyone about the talent that exists there.. anywayz if there is anyone here who knew me hit me up at my myspace , enyone from chinook elementry? mears? i dont care but i would luv to hear from anyone of yall.. take it sleazy.. alaskan 4 life in brooklyn jesy myspace.com/kiddzdizzyrecords myspace.com/priestworld luv to dnaughts,t.s scream luv to j.d/ crazyfist/hopscoth/seven/spun the whole music scene then and NOW!!1
Have too admit, often wondered what happened to the old punks in Anchorage. Traveled around with Allen D. back in the late 80’s thought I saw tyger once in Seattle about 8 yrs ago but couldnt be sure. Lived with Dennet and April in Seattle for a summer But that was the end of any relationship from the old scene. Good to see most of u are still kicking. Been living in Salt Lake City for about 11 yrs now.
I grew up in Anchorage lived there my whole life, got involved in the skate scene early on around 1985. bought my first board at G&B skate and sport. Also remeber them hosting a dogtown skate demo, at the Red Robin parking lot. Eric Dressen, Neil Blender, Jesse Martinez and a few others did a pretty decent demo for us. They also had a skate contest. Anyone remember that? Good Times
Even though I never lived in Anchorage, I was lucky enough to be in bands from Wasilla and Fairbanks (37SCDW and Mr. McFeely) who got to play at places like the Java Joint and Gigs back in the day. I live in Seattle now, but I still think back happily on my days playing to a local scene that actually made every band willing to get on stage feel welcome.
bird beach! yeah and G&B skate! I think I took 3rd for the 12 year old division. perhaps those were the days. Fsun was pretty incredible too: the crucifixtion on 72nd and one of the bunker shows stick out in my mind. …………..
I used to be in a band, back when “Anchorage was still Cool”, Imodium. We were around very briefly, much like any other local band of the times. Im in a new band with another member of Imodium, called Nipplepotamus. I never am usually the kind to comment on these sort of things, but being drunk and reading this has brought back some good memories. Especially of the good old days of Gigs and all the great bands.
Holy shit, what a trip down memory lane. I just ran across this idly searching for Anchorage Punk in google. I went to my first show in Anchorage at the Spenard Rec Center to see Flooddawg, TS Scream, and Fester (3 bands for 3 bucks), I think it was 89 or 90. I still maintain that the scene in the early nineties in Anchorage was as good as it gets anywhere. Spatula City, Industry 13, good stuff.
Ahhh memories. I haven’t been back to Anchorage in nearly 10 years. Lived in Seattle for a while, then ran off to Sydney, Aus for five years and now I’m in NYC. Will have to make it back to town some time just for the stroll down memory lane.
I can’t believe this site is still going… Scott Weeks I remember you and I remember that show very clearly. Billy Rasey was my brother, I went to almost every show!
I just saw 36 Crazyfists in Indianapolis IN a couple weeks ago.
Anyone remember Brandon Ashby, played Bass in a few bands? Would you believe he’s a cop now? HAHA
Billy Rasey died 11 years ago - RIP Big Brother JD Stuart died 12 years ago - RIP
Jess
Holy Shit! Brandon’s a cop? That’s great, I remember when he ran off to the Marines and actually, if I remember right, (there’s quite a few cobwebs) he was an MP when he was with them.
36 Crazyfists played Sydney but I didn’t find out about the show until afterward. My girlfriend went to it though and I had a bit of a gloat about AK music when she told me.
wow i entered that skate contest in red robins parking lot lol and kept losing my board neil blender and jesse martinez kept handing my board back to me lol anyahoot any anchorage folks in the nyc area hit me up so we can walk down memory lane.. jesse burgos aka pornstar” krua “dj priest rock guitarist
I love Alaska, “The State Where Bullshit Is King!” Spenard Rec center shows. Mark and Ralph coming to your party and fuckin’ your place up or worst yet the pack of Samoans that would roll through. Purple Dinosaur or Golden Global but NOT MAX HEADROOM.
Shit I’m at work so I gotta cut this short.
one more RIP, Andy Roach of The Guests.
I came across this site doing a Google search for Brandon. He was a really good friend of mine. I took off to join the Corps about six months after he did. I knew he got out of the Marines, but a Cop? Do you know where he is?
reading some of the posts have really took me back to a time of just having fun. I forgot about the places and people. Thanks guys!
For those that are still living in the Motherland. Your right there still is a scene in the Anc, but its not its just not the same scene that the rest of us remember.
fascinating. i was part time dj / part time bartender for the underground bar, at both the old location, then in spenard in the years 90-92. the original underground was supposed to be a political bar set up by bob bradley and bill parker. it wasn’t until dynlan buchholdt showed up (son of a local failed politician) and started playing alternative music did it kick off. i was in the usaf, a captain, no less, at the same time, which kept my life interesting. dylan, spiderman, the lisa and leanne alliance, dan la pan spinning the dishes, tee the bouncer….. all good days. erin brady, if you are ever on planet earth again, please look me up. i miss you.
WTF!!! Where has everyone gone? I wish I had found this site in 2005 when Mark, Marty & Cameron were posting! Used to be known as Charlie but had to grow up. Some of my favorite memories were hanging out at Marks house- especially when I cut & dyed Camerons hair. Hanging out at the wharehouse on Karluk with Party Harty Marty. Doin’ poppers under the Cook monument & on the roof of the Capt. Cook Hotel. Turning 40 sucks- I miss those days like nothing else. Still doing hair - dog hair that is. I have a salon outside of Vegas that keeps me busy, married for 15 years, no kids (thank God). Remember you too Siobhan - poser. Does anyone know what happened to Theresa Powers? If anyone has any contacts- write me at disfordog@earthlink.net
Correction- I think it may have been Gils hair. Anyways found a page with tons of photos from the 80s warehouse days
Just found a page with lots of photos from the 80s werehaus days. http://www.flickr.com/photos/epwr/page3/ and correction- that may have been Gils hair I was thinking about. Who knows, its all so fuzzy
Anchorage is still awesome and getting better all the time! We got Bernie’s 4thest fair, Viva-voom burlesque, Snack Pharm, Delmag, Matt Hopper and the Roman Candles, open-mic at TimeOut Lounge every Monday (shameless plug cause I’m bringing back shameless…it’s the new black…and red is the new gay) I literally lived in the Anchorage music scene, and I say literally, because couch surfing, sleeping in my car in parking lots, dropped out of highschool to play, dance and be music…working at the Java Joint, starting a band called SpeakEasy (our first show was at one of Trey’s Where-houzez) after falling in love with the Drunk Poets, who’s guitar player was my highschool sweetheart and spurned Fleck’s Frenzy with Ben Balivet…just adding a few memory jogs that were left out in this amazing trip down memory lane: Under Cyranos we used to play, first Disastronauts show ever, and I was there—the newborn press covered one of the first ever SpeakEasy shows as one of their first ever music reviews—damn, I wish I had that article, written by the original publisher Barry himself…The Algae (Under the Rock—Rock U on Old Seward) later grew out of a tiny room into The Rat Cellar! Remember the pirate radio station at Java Joint after it had morphed into the Firehouse Cafe—Rick Brooks living up stairs, Freedom living in the parking lot in a bus (now that is poetry I couldn’t have written if I tried)…I was at one of the first TS Spenard Rec shows when I was just a kitten—Now we have Double Aught with Wupt and TS members…Helena’s Dream, Economy Car, Pikal, Duke Russell Experience, Spenard Spring Social, Poetry slams, Anchorage Underground TV, AKVerve…old scenes never die, they just morph…we’re still out here workin it…get out-cha houzez and off ya couchez…super-hero movers and shakers activate!
Crystal — that’s awesome, both the memories (many of which are very, very familiar to me) and knowing that the scene’s still going on. Thanks so much!
Also, I just realized why you seemed familiar: my brother Kevin and I (though Kevin more than myself) used to hang out at the Rainbow House from time to time, and Speakeasy’s album ‘Common Grounds’ is in my iTunes library and still pop up from time to time.
You worked at Timeframe? I left there in 1992, I only went back for a wedding in 1996 and I haven’t been back.
Mike Swenson was a close friend of mine, him and Ian of Flood Dog. Mike Jaeger the, the stoner, played drums for a awhile and had a show at his house. They got a standing ovation ( not that anyone was sitting) for their cover of “Add it up” These two brutes showed up and got in a fight with Rob Hillman’s older brother. It started inside and worked it’s way into the street. They pretty much beat him senseless and left. Then the police showed up and busted it up. Fights continued in the street, people lingered and drank. It was way more punk rock than any of the contrivances at “Spatula City.” My best memories was when punk happened, not when it was planned That’s what I remember about the scene. Parties at Dean and Kathy’s playing SOD covers, Jeremy Bryant beating people up in the mosh pit at he Spenard Rec center. Then the Underground came along and brought in all these Seattle acts. It was a whole new world for Anchorage scenesters. It changed everything including inspiring people to leave Anchorage, like me….
Anyone know what venues punk bands are playing in Anchorage now? In Fairbanks I know UAF has brought some bands up (the BOuncing Souls), and the Blue Loon too (Tat). Just trying to figure out what websites to check to see if anyone is headed to anchorage. thanks -nate
Morbid Chicken? Are you in Portland or Florida?
PS I would rather be married to a bailbondsman than a cop or a MP..FYI Anchorage..left there and was afraid to go back because it didn’t work out with the cop……but Anchorage was a beautiful place and I will take my husband and son there someday
What happen to that werehaus website, you guys need any help email me, wasnt part of that scene in anchorage back then but you guys had a solid scene with all them bad ass bands, I live in SE Alaska anyone here involved with the current Hardcore scene in Alaska also drop me a line, I want to bring up some of my buddies from cali for a HC Show. Would like to put up a AKHC site as well with show listings so some of us know whats up and when to go out to anchorage or Juneau to jam out. Just click my name and email me.
Apparently on that last post my email did not post with it, xixchtlein@yahoo.com
I thought I’d give a little update from a second wave hardcore/punk kid up here.
The Warehaus on 8th and Karluk is now called Tha Wasteland, which holds punk/hardcore shows as well as indie/acoustic sets sometimes. Besides this, the only other places to play all ages in The Downstairs (Club Millenium in the Sunshine Plaza run by Hellen Fleming and Robinson Garcia) and house shows.
Hardcore bands up here now: Grim Life (my band, fast and pissed off hardcore), Disconnect (melodic hardcore), Unworthy (heavier hardcore), She (super fast and pissed off hardcore).
Punk bands: Spitshine, Stuntcock, Double Fines.
We’ve been trying to get it revived, but kids are too worried about their hair and the girl wearing a Devil Wears Prada shirt. I would love to see the pioneers of AKHC come out and check out the new bands, keep in contact via our myspace if possible.
http://www.myspace.com/grimlifehc
What a post, I ran most of the venues that all of these bands played at back in the day as well as threw some of the biggest Raves Anchortown ever saw. Dan Watson? No flippin way - I can still see those Doc Martens to this day..lol- the Oregon House crew, Norman , Steve Wright and his little brother we my pals too. I opened the Cage’ with the loser owners of The Roxy where I used to promote and run the club on certain nights, as well I was one of the original bouncers and promoters for The Underground - I heard Dylan is a personal injury lawyer- how funny is that - TC adn his band “Rev Jims Purple Passion” Sonic TractorHead ” TS Scream you name it , I devoted my life to making sure these fools, had places to play. I was a total pioneer of the ANchorage scene until 97 when I left. I have spoken with Josh a few times and keep in touch with many others from AK still, actually after a 12 year break am on my way back up ,,belive it or not. Wo remembers Priscilla and Dan the Scammer Man ? and the House downtown on 5th with the green house room ont the rooftop, we had some major parties there..
Remember when Dwayne died, he was one of my closer frineds RIP I will miss him forever..I had no Idea JD passed away, How did that happen?.. Trey and all those fools, yeah I remember them we had a friendly rivalry going for awhile when he first go the warehouse going. Man those were the days………we made so much noise , I guess we thought it would never end.
Brian Allred- Anchorage - 88’ through 97’ ………………….Peace , Love and good memories to all of you .