I played in Kalamazoo, Michigan on my second tour in 1993. I remember very little about the show itself, but I remember and hanging out with the organizer, a fellow named Joel Wick, and I remember having a place to stay after the show. Places to stay were rare on that tour, lots of "camping" in rest stops and a few motels (in an era when you could still score a shitty room for $20), but we didn't have the option of staying with people very often and, as a result, we missed out on many of the personal interactions that are the foundation of DIY punk in general, and of DIY touring specifically. But while that night was probably nothing exemplary for Joel - a place to crash, hanging out until late at night talking about bands we had never heard of and checking out his then awe-inspiring collection of set lists, maybe some food in the morning - it was a standout night for us because it felt normal, and normal didn't seem to happen very often on those first few adventures (sometime, kids, I'll tell you about the show Grandpa Wiz played in Asheville, NC on that tour....a night that involved hot tubs, intense fog, FOGHAT, a red sports car and BUTTHOLE SURFERS...1993 was weird). I got a copy of this SPORK tape that night, lost it through attrition and/or carelessness over the years, then my buddy was doing some spring cleaning last year and asked if I wanted his copy (I said that I did, surprising exactly no one). It holds up extremely well - a relic from that period of USDIY when SubPop and AmRep would be filed alongside Dischord and Touch & Go because it was all part of a progression, and the scene/s just hadn't quite decided where to land yet. So you've got HELMET and you've got NAVIO FORGE crammed into the same box. You've got Revolution Summer ripped from the clutches of '80s hardcore, and you've got kids trying to blaze their own path in Midwestern basements. It's discordant, passionate, clunky, crunchy, intense...it just sounds real. That was a good night...and the collection of set lists really was pretty damn cool. I hope he kept accumulating.
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If it weren't for Joel & Doug Earp / Wyatt Earp Records (RIP), there wouldn't have been much of scene in mid-Michigan, & i wouldn't have gotten my brain warped at an early age properly. Repulsion came out of that scene. Glad that Joel has held on to keeping a scene alive back there.
...aaaaaannnnndddd my post-covid affected brain messed up - i just realized i mixed up the flint, mi (Joel Rash) w/ the westside mi (joel wick). both of these dudes have showed me a good time more than twice, & i still have some lifelong friendships garnered from both of those scenes. there's still hope for the kids, man.
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