Punk and Gentrification

The History of Punk recently examined the history and ongoing consequences of gentrification. Part one traced the origins of gentrification, its subsequent history, and its ongoing effects. A case study of New York City’s ABC No Rio serves as an example of resistance to gentrification, despite the removal of its physical space in 2016.

Here’s the reading list:
– Dawson Barrett. “The Direct Action Politics of U.S. Punk Collectives”. American Studies, Vol. 52, No. 2 (2013), pp-23-42.
– Ruth Glass. London: Aspects of Change. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1964.
– Jane Jacobs. The Death and Life of Great American – -Cities. New York City: Random House, 1961.
– Neil Smith. The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. London: Routledge, 1996.

Here’s the playlist:
Malvina Reynolds – “Little Boxes”
Jonathan Richman – “New Kind of Neighborhood”
Arcade Fire – “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)”
Pretenders – “My City was Gone”
The Kinks – “Scrapheap City”
Talking Heads (official) – “(Nothing But) Flowers”
Lou Reed – “Hold On”
Reagan Youth – “Urban Savages”
Aus Rotten – “American Ethic”
Oi Polloi (Official) – “Let’s Go!”
MDC – Millions Of Dead Cops – “Church and State (Live at CBGBs 1983)”

And here’s part 1!

Part two examined the gentrification of Seattle’s Central District. Before the USA’s Civil Rights Era, the urban core of Seattle was where African-Americans could work, live, and go to school. Nowadays, as Draze raps, “The Hood Ain’t the Same”. We also looked at how punks have reacted to gentrification in Washington DC (and how agents of gentrification in DC have reacted to punks like Ian MacKaye). Finally, we looked at the wider punk reaction to gentrification and the myth of ‘progress’.

Here’s the reading list:

-“Chapter One: ‘Hit the Road Jack:’ The Rise and Fall of Seattle’s Black Music Scene, 1945-1960s” from, “This is Not For You: The Rise and Fall of Music Milieux in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, 1950s -1990s” https://era.library.ualberta.ca/…/a5ea3770-1f0b-438c-a4b4-d…

-“For Punk Music, Gentrification Is the New Ronald Reagan” https://www.citylab.com/…/gentrification-is-the-new…/379711/

Here’s the playlist:
Corb Lund– “That’s What Keeps the Rent Down Baby”
Ray Charles – “Rockin’ Chair Blues”
Jimi Hendrix – “Machine Gun”
Draze – “The Hood Ain’t the Same”
Fugazi – “Cashout”
Jack on Fire – “Burn Down the Brixton”
Jello Biafra & D.O.A. – “That’s Progress”
Wraths – “My Home”
Sick Of It All – “District”

And here’s part 2!

Part three focused on gentrification in Vancouver and Edmonton. Edmonton’s current wave of gentrification started with the development of a publicly-funded downtown arena and entertainment district. This is an example of what Peter Moskowitz refers to as “stage 0” of gentrification, when city governments enable “corporate control of neighbourhoods” though municipal policy.

Here is the reading list:

-Peter Moskowitz, “How to Kill a City: Gentrification, Inequality, and the Fight for the Neighborhood”, 2017.
-Amber Dean, “Remembering Vancouver’s Disappeared Women: Settler Colonialism and the Difficulty of Inheritance”, 2015.
-Daniel Johnson, “This Is Our Land!”: Indigenous Rhetoric and Resistance on the Northern Plains. PhD., Diss, University of Alberta, 2014.
-Dwayne Donald, “Edmonton Pentimento: Re-Reading History in the Case of the Papaschase Cree.” Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies 2, no. 1 (2004), 21-53.
-Jay Scherer, “Resisting the World-Class City: Community Opposition and the Politics of a Local Arena Development”, Sociology of Sport Journal, 2016, 33, 39-53.
-Jordan Koch, Jay Scherer, and Nicolas Holt, “Slap Shot! Sport, Masculinities, and Homelessness in the Downtown Core of a Divided Western Canadian Inner City”. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 42(4), 270-294.

Here’s the playlist:

Robin Grey – “The Hackney Gentrification Song”
Alien Boys – “Gentrification”
Paroxysm – “White Picket Fence”
audio/rocketry – “The Way Ahead”
Latcho Drom – “Shit District”
Rebuild/Repair – “Burn Edmonton to the Fucking Ground”
Rebuild/Repair – “Above Ground Cemeteries”
Chain & the Gang – “Devitalize”

And here’s part 3!

The History of Punk Show 91: You’re not Hardcore unless you live Hardcore!

The History of Punk Show 91 traced the history of hardcore punk, looking at its origins, characteristics, and ongoing legacy.

The show aired on CJSR 88.5FM in Edmonton on 15 August 2016.

Here’s the playlist!

1. Slapshot (Boston) – “Ole Tyme Hardcore”
2. Minor Threat (DC) – “Guilty of Being White”
3. Jodie Foster’s Army (Phoenix) – “Jodie Foster’s Army”
4. Cro-Mags (NYC) – “Hard Times”
5. Circle Jerks (Hermosa Beach) – “Question Authority”
6. Hüsker Dü  (Saint Paul) – “The Girl who Lives on Heaven Hill”
7. Sham 69 (Hersham) – “Who Gives a Damn”
8. The Germs (LA) – “American Leather”
9. The Middle Class (Santa Ana) – “Out of Vogue”
10. The Fartz (Seattle) – “You Got a Brain (Use it)”
11. Bad Brains (DC) – “Sailin’ On”
12. DOA (Vancouver) – “Slumlord”
13. Black Flag (Hermosa Beach) – “Damaged”
14. TSOL (Long Beach) – “Abolish Government/Silent Majority”
15. MDC (Austin) – “I Remember”
16. Vibes (Edmonton) – “Unafraid to Believe”
17. I Hate Sex (Edmonton) – “Sleep Paralysis”

And here’s the show!

The History of Punk Show 64: Mean things Happenin’

On the History of Punk Show #64, Dr. Daniel Johnson picked the tunes and discussed SARS, media, Treaty 6, colonization, US politics, and, of course, how folk = punk.

Show 64 originally aired on CJSR 88.5 on 8 February 2016.

Here’s the playlist!

1. Propagandhi (Portage la Prairie) – “Note to Self”
2. Blackfire (Flagstaff) – “Mean things Happenin'”
3. Bruce Springsteen (Long Branch) – “John Henry”
4. Chris Brown and Kate Fenner (Toronto) – “Oklahoma Tape Deck”
5. Gil Scott-Heron (the Bronx) – “New York is Killing Me”
6. Gil Scott-Heron (the Bronx) – “Winter in America”
7. Odetta (LA) – “Easy Rider”
8. Kris Demeanour (Calgary)  – “One Show”
9. Hurray for the Riff Raff (New Orleans) – “Everybody Knows”

And here’s show #64!

The History of Punk Playlist #46

Here’s the History of Punk Playlist on CJSR from 5 October!

The guys from Snake Legs and Old Towns co-hosted and we talked about the bands’ upcoming Blackout West Tour, the awesomeness that is the Edmonton punk scene, the unawesomeness that is displacement of the homeless in downtown Edmonton, protest music, and the upcoming Solidarity with Survivors: A Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton Fundraiser.

1.  The Clash (London) – “I’m Not Down”
2. Old Towns (Edmonton) – “Freight Train Blues”
3. Snake Legs (Edmonton) – “Desperate Times”
4. Fire Next Time (Edmonton) – “Chorus of Crows”
5. Audio/Rocketry (Edmonton) – “Hey Dynasty, Don’t Forget”
6. No Use For A Name (San Jose) – “Justified Black Eye”
7. Anatomy Cats (Edmonton) – “Shared Existence”
8. Johnson From Accounting (Edmonton) – “I Wanna Skate”
9. Youth Brigade (LA) – “One in Five”
10. Blue Rodeo  (Toronto) – “Stealin’ All My Dreams”

The History of Punk Playlist #37

Here’s the History of Punk Playlist on CJSR from 29 June, when Professor David Mills returned to the show!

This show focused on the protest music of the Boomers. Professor Mills had 5 main themes:

1. As baby-boomers came of age, they discovered the world really wasn’t that great. They decided it had to change, and they’d be the ones to do it. With music specifically, they built on the existing foundation of folk and protest songs and wrote about what affected them.

2. The 1960s were a period of growing awareness of social problems like Civil Rights, the environment, and Indigenous rights, and the popular music of the time reflected this.

3. The Vietnam War was the issue impacting white teenagers most directly in the USA – because of that whole draft thing. The war also heightened existing social problems domestically.

4. Canadians were especially prescient observers of the situation in the United States – while not having to worry about being drafted, they could still see how the behaviour of the country was in sharp contrast to its founding myths. Such as, you know, liberty!

5. By the end of the 1960s, folks increasingly believed that the war had come home (at Kent State for example). Because of this, the Boomers were in conflict with the older generation and those in power. This led to the politics of generational identity.

Playlist:
1. The Clash (London) – “Know Your Rights”
2. The Yardbirds (London) – “Shape of Things to Come”
3. Thunderclap Newman (London) – “Something in the Air”
4. Hedgehoppers Anonymous (Peterborough) – “It’s Good News Week”
5. Barry McGuire (Pasadena) – “Eve of Destruction”
6. Rolling Stones (London) – “Street Fighting Man”
7. Steppenwolf (Toronto) – “Monster”
8. Creedence Clearwater Revival (El Cerrito) – “Fortunate Son”
9. Country Joe and the Fish (Berkeley) -“The ‘Fish’ Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag”
10. The Bossmen (Toronto) – “Brainwashed”
11. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (Not in Laurel Canyon) – “Ohio”

“Art = the Clash = Politics” The Clash play Edmonton, 29 June 1982

Today in 1982, The Clash performed in Edmonton at the Kinsmen Fieldhouse. CJSR volunteers contributing to the station’s fanzine, Airtight, were there to cover the show.

An interview with Paul Simonon and Kosmo Vinyl:

A review by Marc Coulavin:

And another review by none other than Marcus Aurelius!

The History of Punk Radio Show #28

Here’s the History of Punk Playlist on CJSR from 20 April, when Blake from the Anatomy Cats was back on the show!

“Social Justice” 

1. Adam’s Mind (Toronto) – “Bad Guy”
2. Suicide Machines (Detroit) – “Black and White World”
3. Gorilla Biscuits (NYC) – “Degradation”
4. Reagan Youth (Queens) – “New Aryans”
5. Antillectual (Nijmegen) – “The New Jew”
6. Dead Kennedys (San Francisco) – “Kill the Poor”
7. Choke (Edmonton) – “Bent on Profits”
8. Propagandhi (Portage la Prairie) – “Refusal to be a Man”
9. War on Women (Baltimore) – “Say it”

Readings:
“Racism-free Edmonton report”
“Canada’s Racism Problem”
“US is an oligarchy, not a democracy”
“Ending Poverty in Alberta”
“Outrageous Fortune: Documenting Canada’s Wealth Gap”
“Duncan Campbell Scott: The Poet Who Oversaw Residential Schools”
“Canada’s Nutrition Experiments on First Nations: 1942-1952”
“Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women: A National Operational Overview”

The History of Punk Radio Show #24

Here’s the History of Punk Playlist on CJSR from 9 March, when Blake from the Anatomy Cats visited the show!

1. Propagandhi (Portage la Prairie) – “Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes”
2. Dead Kenneys (San Francisco) – “Well Paid Scientist”
3. Minor Threat (DC) – “Seeing Red”
4. Minor Threat (DC) – “Straight Edge”
5. Conflict (Eltham) – “Conflict”
6. The Rebel Spell (Vancouver) – “Please Resist”
7. Bad Religion (LA) – “You Are the Government”
8. War on Women (Baltimore) – “Servilla”
9. Refused (Umeå) – “The Deadly Rhythm”
10. Good Riddance (Santa Cruz) – “Indoctrination”
11. Fugazi (DC) – “Cashout”
12. Bad Brains (DC) – “The Big Takeover”
13. Against Me! (Gainesville) – “We Laugh at Danger”
14. Jughead’s Revenge (LA) – “Hit and Run”
15. Down the Hatch (Edmonton) – “No Apologies”
16. NOFX (Berkeley) – “Dying Degree”
17. Zero Cool (Edmonton) – “Square Pusher”
18. Blag Flag (LA) – “Revenge”
19. Rebuild/Repair (Edmonton) – “Summary”
20. Against Me! (Gainesville) – “Pints of Gunniess Make You Strong”
21. Micelli (Edmonton) – “Seize”
22. Refused (Umeå) – “Coup D’etat”
23. Exits (Edmonton) – “Save Yourself”
24. Propagandhi (Portage la Prairie) – “Night Letters”
25. Thoroughbred Racing Pigeon (Edmonton) – “Pigeons”
26. The Anatomy Cats (Edmonton) – “Disaffected”

The History of Punk Radio Show #21

Here’s the History of Punk Playlist on CJSR from 16 February!

1. The Ramones (NYC) – “Somebody to Love”
2. The Misfits (Lodi) – “American Psycho”
3. The Anatomy Cats (Edmonton) – “Shared Existence”
4. The Rebel Spell (Vancouver) – “Beautiful Future”
5. Propagandhi (Portage la Prairie) – “Albright Monument Baghdad”
6. Anti-Flag (Pittsburgh) – “Post-war Breakout”
7. Art Bergmann (Vancovuer) – “Drones of Democracy”
8. Mahria (Edmonton) – “Guilt”
9. Borscht (Edmonton) – “Tipton”
10. Vapid (Vancouver) – “Dangerous Liaisons”
11. The Sonics (Tacoma) – “Money”
12. The Hives (Fagersta) – “The Hives Introduce the Metric System in Time”
13. The Frank (Blackfalds) – “Corey Hart”
14. The Versions (Edmonton) – “Half-man”
15. X (LA) – “We’re Having Much More Fun”

The History of Punk Radio Show #20

Here’s the History of Punk Playlist on CJSR from 9 February!

1. The Dils (Carlsbad) – “Class War”
2. Generation X (Chelsea) – “One Hundred Punks”
3. Mission of Burma (Boston) – “This is Not a Photograph”
4. Los Saicos (Lima) – “Fugitivo de Alcatraz”
5. Death (Detroit) – “Freakin’ Out”
6. Flamin’ Groovies (San Francisco) – “Slow Death”
7. Kim Fowley (LA) – “Night of the Hunter”
8. Hüsker Dü (Saint Paul) – “Monday will never be the same”
9. Bob Mould (Saint Paul) – “Kid with Crooked Face”
10. Hüsker Dü (Saint Paul) – “Whatever”
11. DOA (Vancouver) – “A Season in Hell”
12. Fugazi (Washington DC) – “Greed”
13. The Exploited (Edinburgh) – “Dole Q”
14. The Minutemen (San Pedro) – “Untitled Song for Latin America”
15. The Rebel Spell (Vancouver) – “Fight for the Sun”
16. The Anatomy Cats (Edmonton) – “The Aftermath of Apathy”
17. Rancid (Berkeley) – “Everybody’s Suffering”
18. Tracings (Fargo) – “Shoreline”