Cro-Mags at CBGB’s Summer 2001

I think the last show I went to was in 1998. There was a Burn reunion somewhere in South Philly, I went there and sold most of my records and a lot of t-shirts to buy a new wheelset for my Paramount.

I sat next to Burn’s table and ended up selling and giving away a lot of stuff to friends and people I didn’t know. Track Bike Justin bought my Token Entry albums. I remember someone buying a pile of 7″‘s saying “that’s a lot of memories right here.”

I can’t remember the actual show to much, I have some pictures, but I don’t think I was that into it at all.

So fast forward three years into the future. I really wasn’t thinking about anything but graffiti. Sima and I both worked at Angelica Kitchen. John Joseph was a regular there and a neighborhood/world legend.

A lot of celebrities and hardcore personalities would eat there, some people were cool, some people thought they were cool, and some people were straight up dickheads. People would go into that place and do an interview and tell the interviewer they ate there every day when they didn’t-I’m looking at you Rosie Perez.

Bloodclot was above all of this for sure. He was like part of the restaurant. He was friends with the owner Leslie and Brahma Bill who worked in the kitchen and ran the Hare Krishna temple on St. Marks. On more than one occasion he physically solved a problem related to the restaurant.

We got to know him slightly, I mean in whatever way we could. He called me “Old School” when we’d see each other outside of Angelica. It was probably a halfway diss but I took it well. I thought it was cool, the oldest school, baddest hardcore dude would have any kind of recognition of me.

So there’s the background.

Bloodclot told us about the show, he said that him and Harley were getting along and it was going to be good. We were physically sick that night, both of us, like both of us got the flu at the same time but we had to go.

We stashed our paint and markers in some garbage on E 2nd and went in. I remember getting so sweaty and destroyed. Danced and stage dived. The crowd was aggro-I think this was the first time those two had been on a stage together since the early 90’s. If you take a look at the pit you’ll see a ton of slightly out of shape NYHC personalities going anaerobic. I wish the whole show was online, I think I got some good mic time yelling “Skinhead!” during Hard Times.

We walked up 3rd ave towards 14th and stopped at a deli and each bought a jar of robotussin. By this time I was getting cold sweats and all of the “I’m really sick” feelings. We were beat up, with clothes soaked in sweat, struggling back to our apartment on Avenue B. It was a great show.

So that was in 2001. A few years later Bold played a reunion at CB’s. I actually bought a ticket for this one. You know buying tickets was really not hardcore at all. You were a buster if you bought some ticketmaster shit.

Bold was on of the first bands on the reunion train. They played a pretty dismal show at Trenton State in 1995 or 1996 that I attended. Did I say it was dismal? It was fucking dismal.

So I wanted to go in 2006 or whatever. I don’t know why, I thought maybe it would be better at CB’s a few years later I guess.

I went there, there was a bunch of older NJ straight edge people hanging outside. It was one of those deals where the show was a matinee that started at 2pm but there was 14 new straight edge bands playing before them. I went to go in, the guy who posted this Cro-Mags video, Brendan from SFA, was also the door man. I asked him what time Bold went on and if there was re-entry. He told me no re-entry and like 10 o’clock or something. I told him I’d come back later.

He said something along the lines of “Oh I forgot straight edge kids don’t support the opening bands.” He got me there, not even close to straight edge and at 29 years old, I wasn’t at all into seeing whatever new metal, hardcore, screamo was going on that stage first.

I went back outside and Bloodclot was sitting on his Litespeed in full kit.

I told you he was a legend.

“Yoooo Old School what’s going on in there?”
“Bold is playing”
“Bold ? I always hated them.”

laughter.

Hey I also saw Maceo from Kinfolk etc out there. He was just walking by.
He asked me what was going on too. I told him Bold was playing.

“Bold? The straight edge band?”

I never went in.

I don’t even know what I did instead.

2 in the afternoon on a Sunday in the summer? Beats me.