Back in the day when I was in high school. I’d drive down to the Firexit every night for a show, exhibit or performance. It was great. The LOD was active then, sXe was the scene. It’s funny how many kids I know who got sXe tattoos and then lost the edge. Of those I know with tats last I heard one was living on the streets of Chicago as a heroin addict, another sits in his room and gets high all day, another sells a little on the side and is often found drunk at clubs on the weekends.
Anyway the point is things were different then, I guess. One of the things I always enjoyed at shows was playing the “slap ass” game with this guy, Seth, I had a crush on. What you do is during a concert (mind you these were in art/punk spaces so it was easier to get away with) you slap as many asses as you can without getting caught. Straight men are the easiest to slap, they never pay attention and if they feel anything they keep looking forward because they think someone just accidentally brushed against them. Straight men are worth one point. Gay men and women are worth two points. As soon as someone turns their head to see what happened or you get caught you have to start over. When I was 17 this seemed like the coolest thing ever.
While now I think it is kind-of-lame, I admittedly still miss it or rather miss hanging out with people like Seth. Part of me thinks indie kids repeat themselves in cycles each time thinking they are the leaders of the scene.
My friend Jason put it well,
“everyone in the so-called scene in a decade later will be living their thirtysomething episode. ‘ahh, used to like against me! well, how’s your john edwards giraffe stock doing?’ you know clearly who you are & who you are not…that’s the important thing, scene or no scene.“