Thursday, December 17, 2009
Crickets / Music Death of a Punk House
Posted by Miles Raymer on 12.17.09 at 03:55 PM
The Kansas House was one of several legendary, long-lived punk houses in Arlington, a suburb that offered a cheap and safe alternative to D.C. proper—whose neighborhoods in the 90s were either ridiculously overpriced or incredibly sketchy—while still being handily tied into D.C.'s public transportation system. The bulk of Leitko's article details Arlington's most prominent punk houses and what they contributed to punk culture (as well as to the culture at large). Those contributions include Dischord's massively influential DIY ethic, the Simple Machines Mechanic's Guide, which launched a thousand indie labels, and the Riot Grrrl philosophy born at the Positive Force house.
Apparently Arlington's gentrification has priced DIY punks out of the area. It's a shame, but considering that we live in a world where major labels are being eaten alive by swarms of DIY indies and where pop stars are dissecting the patriarchy from the heights of the Top 40 charts, I'd say that mourning that time and place should probably take a back seat to appreciating what the people who were there actually accomplished.
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