Concert at a Now-Defunct Club

What’s it like to be a no name band traveling across the country playing hole in the wall clubs with reject Salvation Army furniture? It’s a plywood floor and the brick walls and exposed pipes make it look like the walled in the alley. The punk kids pour in, spikes, chains, colored hair. I can’t help but wonder if this is the cutting edge of the music scene, or just a hole in the wall. Cigarette smoke lingers, adding an interesting contradiction to the words from the stage about this Jesus. The lead singer has the look of a rock star. You think he does it on purpose. His skateboard shoes, tattered jeans, and old Cincinnati Reds T-shirt. His hair hangs down past his chin in tangles. But it’s not on purpose so much as it’s the life on the road. It’s not fashion so much as necessity.