Punk'd Punk ? ... hardly. Bloomington punk rock is "too-tough-to-die".

The last few years have been rough on national punk rock, with the deaths of Joey and Dee Dee Ramone of the Ramones and Clash front man Joe Strummer. Punk rock is usually associated with electric guitars with lots of energy and lyrics filled with teenaged angst. The original punk bands were made of the first musicians to express anger in their music, IU music professor Andy Hollinden says. \nPunk has existed since the '60s garage-punk predecessors, such as the MC5, The Stooges and the Monks, becoming widely known through the mid-'70s punk revolution of the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. The music went underground with the hardcore of the '80s, touring America's basements and small venues, helping to spawn indie rock movements, says Hollinden, who teaches History of Rock and Roll.\nIn the '90s, punk revived, breaking into the forefront of rock consciousness with the grunge movement and the resurrection of mainstream pop-punk in bands like Green Day. \nOver the decades, punk has split into hybrid forms, such as hardcore, pop-punk, ska-punk, post-punk and several others still popular today.\nBut the deaths of some of punk's founding fathers, interlaced with the splintering of punk into subgenres can leave some wondering: Is punk itself dead?\nSeveral Bloomington residents and students would say no.\n"It ain't even close to dead," Hollinden says.\nIt's the "music of the dispossessed, angry youth," as Hollinden put it. He explains punk's longevity as a result of its ability to express youthful anger. \n"It gives people a voice, a chance to get out there to say what's on their minds," Hollinden says.\nBloomington has been host to a diverse music scene for decades, and punk continues to thrive here despite the closing of several venues in the last few years. The Cellar Lounge closed down in early 2002; Space 101 and Second Story (although recently reopened) each shut their doors within the last couple of years as well. Dave Adicted of local pop-punk band the Nicotones says the closing of Second Story last year was a real downer for the Chuck Talor and safety pinsporting scene.\n"That let a lot of people down. If a punk band came through and they didn't play Rhino's, they played there," Adicted says.\nPossibly the most often-cited of these former venues in terms of the punk scene was Secret Sailor, the alternative bookstore that hosted many free or donation-only punk shows from early 2000 until January 2002. Secret Sailor was a gathering place for people with specific political views, including anti-authoritarian activists, free thinkers, revolutionaries and radicals.\nBloomington punk bands were notorious for rocking the bookstore.\nOne of these bands was the Sissies, who was together from 1998 until the end of 2001, when it played its final show at Secret Sailor. \nFormer Sissies band member and head of local punk label Plan-It-X Records, Chris Clavin, chalks these losses up to simple changes over time in the punk scene. \n"Things always change here, it keeps it interesting," Clavin says. "I do wish we had more venues but they will come back, they always do. Just wait."\nClavin has been involved in the Bloomington punk scene since 1994, playing in several bands which have since broken up, including the Ted Dancin' Machine and Operation: Cliff Clavin in addition to the Sissies. He's currently a member of the Devil is Electric and The Ghose Mice, who are on tour in Europe right now. \nPlan-It-X Records was founded by Sam Dorsett in 1994, and Clavin has been heavily involved with the label since its inception. The Plan-It-X Web site, www.plan-it-x.com, expresses a non-profit policy toward the music business. It reads, "Plan-It-X records is not about making money. We are about getting punk music heard." On the site, Clavin explains that Plan-It-X only charges $5 for each CD it sells, and began by charging only $1 per cassette tape in 1994. \nThis emphasis on a scene that is not heavily profit-driven seems to permeate many accounts of the basement show scene in Bloomington, especially. Even before several of the concert venues closed in the last few years, basement shows have always been an integral part of the Bloomington punk scene. Often, bands will play a show in a friend's basement either free of charge or on a donation-only basis. \n"[Basement shows] are always the most fun," says Adicted, vocalist and guitarist for the Nicotones.\nAdicted says basement shows are more party-ish, and fun to attend with a group of friends. He says the Nicotones, formerly called the Abercrombie Skins, played several shows at a friends' former home, which was then called the Octopus Palace. "They lived there two years, and they did more shows than god," Adicted says.\nThe friendly atmosphere of basement shows might be a little off-putting to people who are not friends with the hosts or the bands, however. Clavin says, "They are intimidating but they are also very fun. I wish kids could get over the intimidating factor. If they could I think they would really enjoy themselves." \nAdicted, too, agrees people should go to shows even if they aren't friends with the band. "We have friends that just come to see us, but you should support your local punk scene," Adicted says.\nRhino's has also become a very important venue for punk bands. Ali Haimson, guitarist for local punk band What the Kids Want and former Sissies band member, emphasizes the importance of having an all-ages venue for punk rock. What the Kids Want only plays all-ages shows. "It's mostly just because all of us, when we were teenagers, we liked to go to shows, and I remember how horrible it is not to be able to go," Haimson says. "Rhino's has become a really awesome place where lots and lots of kids go every weekend."\nRhino's Assistant Director Bob Nugent says the venue hosts around four or five punk shows per month, including both local and national acts. \n"In our lifetime we've had the privilege of having some of the biggest names in punk play here from hardcore punk legends the Bad Brains, the Queers, Earth Crisis and Greg Ginn of Black Flag, to more modern punk acts like Hot Water Music, Alkaline Trio, Tilt, Against Me, The Teen Idols and Thursday."\nAll Rhino's shows cost $5, keeping with the low-cost trend of free or donation-based basement shows. In addition to Rhino's, bands also sometimes play free shows at the on-campus student radio station, WIUS, or at local book stores, Clavin says.\nChristopher Taylor of What the Kids Want says it would also be good for Bloomington to have a venue that "catered to people of all ages, and people who want to drink," in order to have a more inclusive punk scene.