OK, my name is Mike Fekula and this is my first time posting here, but I am far from being new to the 930 Club. A few of you may know me from my
years at WMUC-FM in College Park. However, I was also a very frequent patron of the club down on F St. from 1981 to around the mid-80's and
occasionally thereafter.
I guess mine is going to be a very small minority viewpoint on the film as there seems to be near unanimous opinion on this list that everyone was very happy with it. While I feel that the film has many strengths and some entertaining moments (especially Lisa White's description of the research that went into the club's famous odor) there are some fatal flaws to the film that limit its value.
First of all, this is not really a film about the history of the 930 Club per se, as much as it is a history of the 930 Clubs' relationship with Dischord and the DC punks. That is a valid subject indeed, but not representative of the entire history of the club. And before anybody
goes accusing me of pissing on a DC icon, let me say that I do respect the work of Ian Mackaye, Dischord, and the local punks. Their contribution has been very significant in many ways you already know about, but it is far from the only contribution that any local musicians have made. I simply do not feel that there was a balanced view of the contributions others have made.
Looking at the overall formatting of the club, even after the punks were allowed back in with their all ages shows, we are not even talking about 20% of the total shows that have ever been produced at the club, and I am being generous when I say 20%. I would be surprised if punk was even 10% of the shows that took place there. So even if you want to argue that punk was the most important music ever played in the history of DC music, it is an exaggeration to focus so much time on it in a film like this. What about the rest of us who went to all kinds of shows including punk?; who supported the music, pretty much regardless of who was playing it and what genre it came from?; who saw indy pop, techno, industrial, reggae, avant-garde jazz, etc etc and valued all of it equally?
However, the most glaring omissions were some of the people who worked there and were left out. It is absolutely, utterly inexcusable to do any kind of history of the 930 Club without even mentioning the contribution of Lamont Prince. As someone who was there from close to the beginning, I know for fact from mine own eyes that Lamont was crucial to the early success of the club. If you are going to recognize the contributions of Dotie Disanto and Mark Holmes (and justifiably so) you have to talk about Lamont as well. He was one of those guys like Chad, Norm, and others who would do whatever it takes to make a show happen. I often saw him DJing, working the door, tending bar, helping bands load in and out, helping with set changes, and then mopping up the floor at closing. Sometimes all in one night. As the DJ manager, he had quite an influence in setting the musical direction of the club and he did it for more than ten years, at least.
Yes, I know he has been out of the country, but he has still been available through his own website and through other friends and associates who are around here. And while maybe there was no intention to disrespect him by the filmakers, I frankly find it to be totally inadequate research by the filmakers if someone like Lamont is left out of the story.
The same could be said for others. Dotie Disanto was recognized and mention was made of her first husband, John Bowers who bought the building at 930 F St. But what about Dotie's second husband Charles? Much of what I just said about Lamont could also apply to Charles in regards to all the hard work he did, doing whatever it takes to make an event happen. Charles and Lamont practically lived there in the early years.
Bottom line: when I was most actively attending there early on, there were four people who I saw working there most often: Dotie, Charles, Mark Holmes, and Lamont Prince. Two of them were left out of the story and it is a big mistake.
And what about Alyson Palmer? Leaving aside the fact that she is probably the most recognizable employee the club ever had, she was also a bartender there for years, AND her band Betty has out lasted nearly every other local band on the scene including most of the Dischord bands except for perhaps Fugazi. She was recently featured in the Style section of the Washington Post (on April 27th) for her work with Mamapalooza. You can check their history and current projects at:
http://www.hellobetty.com/ And no, I have no business or relationship connection with the band. I just think they deserve their props.
Furthermore, I have always been totally pissed off at this endless rehashing of the Punks vs. New Wavers argument. What I am going to say
here may sound like opinion, but I consider it to be fact: the VAST majority of us who attended the 930 Club enjoyed music from both camps and WE DIDN'T GIVE TWO FUCKS ABOUT THE CONFLICT!! As far as I was concerned, that whole argument sounded like a bunch of teenage boys having a "who's got the biggest dick" contest. It may have mattered a lot to the die hards of one persuasion or another, but to me and most others, it was so badly overblown. Unfortunatley, the filmakers fell for it. Why? Because Chris Haskett said so.
And another thing that was always exagerated back in the day was that whole Straight Edge religion we used to hear about ad nauseum. Yeah sure, while the punks were living their lifestyle upstairs, the downstairs men's room was a hash den. You could get a contact high just walking down the steps of the place. Sorry, the vast majority of us, including more than a few of the punks, were never such good Boy Scouts, but you would not have known that from watching this film.
OK, so again, the film does have a lot to offer. It was good to see Chuck Brown interviewed along with Peter Buck and the others. Seth Hurwitz had some interesting points to make about the club and what it all meant; a very worthwhile summation and an emotional one at that. The film footage of bands playing was very worthwhile. And yes, as someone said earlier on the other thread, there was indeed a sense from watching the film that we were a part of something very special; something that may be difficult if not impossible to reproduce again.
But that is my point: some of the most important parts of the history of the club including some of it's most important people were left out. I realize that there are time limits to any film; that you can't turn it into a PBS 10-part documentary on the history of the club. None the less, when we are getting so much face time with Ian Mackaye and so many other people are being left out, I just feel that a more balanced view of the club history could have been produced.
I mean no disrespect in saying these things to you, but I do feel that, however unintentional, there are people like Lamont Prince that were disrespected and it could have been avoided.
