Back When Anchorage was Cool

This entry was published at least two years ago (originally posted on April 4, 2004). Since that time the information may have become outdated or my beliefs may have changed (in general, assume a more open and liberal current viewpoint). A fuller disclaimer is available.

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].

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). My Beefadelphia paintingBeefadelphia’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.

144 thoughts on “Back When Anchorage was Cool”

  1. 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

    • Eric Dressen wasn’t there. Although I skated the demo with Neil and Jesse. Perhaps the guy you thought was Dressen was me? I did have short hair at the time.

      It’s a funny story but Juan didn’t want me to skate in the demo. I think he thought my skating goofiness would reflect on his business or something (he was always a bit weird towards me, like he was embarrassed that I wasn’t a cool jock type. It was strange.) But in the end, both Jesse and Neil wanted me to skate the demo with them, so I did. It was such a huge honor. After the contest, Neil, Jesse, and my whole crew piled into my old Subaru and drove out on Turnagain Arm with a couple of bottles of wine and went cave exploring along the shore while we got sauced. They were really cool guys. I remember Jesse being completely blown away that we could have so much fun just exploring some caves on the side of the road in the middle of the night.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.
    …………..

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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

  7. 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.

  8. 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

  9. 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.

    • That’s awesome to give a shout out to Andy and the Guests…I think they had the now of the best shows I’ve seen. I loved their version of GLORIA..
      And to heck with those skinheads and their buddy Sam Mcbride

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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

  13. Correction- I think it may have been Gils hair. Anyways found a page with tons of photos from the 80s warehouse days

  14. 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!

    • Hey Crystal I still remember y’all playing great music and and that back then you were working for us in your pajamas like a bunch of the other folks! I stay in touch with Rick Brooks and Ben balivet somewhat and Jason Agron who used to play drums for a couple different bands. I was out with Jason and ran across some of the other kids (you are all still kids to me I’m 60 now haha) from TS Scream and a few other bands. I was coming up to Anchorage a lot of the Summers but went down to Texas to take care of my mom who passed away but then I got a bunch of concussions from working and dealing with neck and memory problems but hope to make it back there one of these Summers! If you come across this again find me on Facebook and I’ll try to find you if you want- I really liked yalls music and was happy to be part of making a place for what I considered a lot of really talented folks to play! take care, Lenny Horton

  15. 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. :)

  16. 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….

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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.

  20. 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

  21. 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 .

  22. Wow man, never actually read all the comments… really cool to hear some of them names.

    Still makes me sad reading about Monson, I had beers and filled in for a couple songs with him early early 90’s at Rock U.

    As for Dylan Buchholdt… yep, an attorney. I played some hockey briefly with him in the late 90’s.

    DP

  23. I remember when the alterno club under Rock U opened around 1990. It seemed like it was just a room with black curtains on the walls and a smoke machine in the corner where they alternated between playing the Cure and the Smiths, but at least they’d heard of the Smiths. Was it called Algae, or The Underground, or both? I left in ’91 and don’t remember much.

  24. Hey; I was in FSUN while (voc.)Trey got up on his cross. we got many of those chip-board from used computers and the Army/Navy surplus on Spenard. Mea Culpa kept playing house/hip-hop to either attract certain sellers of certain things or chase the white trash as they saw it away. well it was effective and we did go underground. Remember the University venue. I fronted Tomko there and Humanid Kollapse (same people)@ the 300 person shows at bunker /ware-house and FSUN again at industry 13 and the Apokolypse Lounge I lived right across the str. from Lost Abby. Legitimate Edgar moved off to Seattle and Portland respectively Both Vocalists Nate Preston and my self fronte bands in Omaha,NE and Portland(sleep Mute Night Mute and Die Monitr Bass) There is a site with some truly great singles on myspace.com/JulianEdgar

  25. I was a DJ at KRUA in 1996 – had a punk show wednesdays 10pm – 1am called Stop, Drop and Roll; which was a reference to Dan Mohr’s and Sam Trout’s punk show there before mine called Duck and Cover. I was in a short-lived punk band named Nowhere Fast and used to put out a feminist punk zine called Whoremoanz. Haha – those were the days. It was a fun underground punk scene back then.

  26. funny. i lived in Anchorage from 91 to 96. i was at the underground the night Monson was killed, well, assaulted with a box cutter not a knife. i had broken up a fight between him and his assailant just a bit before the whole thing went down. Monson had bought a beer to replace the one he had spilled, and make an apology. a real tragedy. my landlord at the time was the head of the public defenders office at the time, and the kid got years for manslaughter. i also knew the spatula city crew, having maxed out some credit cards in support of the project. lastly, I knew a bunch of the people mentioned here, but yeah, Billy Rasey RIP, i lived in Portland (still do) when he died, was pretty tight with his roommate when it happened. drank with that crew the day it happened.

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