G-Sync: What’s The Frequency, Kenneth?
When people hear the question, “What’s the frequency, Kenneth?,” most typically think of one of two things.
The first is the obvious pop music reference from the R.E.M. song. That song was, of course, inspired by the second: a question poised by a couple of unknown muggers who who beat the crap out of CBS News anchor Dan Rather in 1986 as he was walking home in New York City.
However, a third item has always lingered in the back of my mind, and, apparently, in Mr. Rather’s mind, too. In a post-mugging interview, Rather addressed a question about the meaning behind this strange line of random and disconnected questioning posed by the muggers. "I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn't, and I don't now. I didn't make a lot of it at the time, and I don't now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea," he said.
His responses, in many ways, perfectly suits my thoughts, as well as many others', as I wander the streets thinking, “What’s the frequency, Grand Rapids?”
As I dial up my editorial this week, it is with the hazy glow of questions from the night before that will be at the forefront of my thoughts (and others') who attended Stella’s tribute event for the '90s ultimate hipster club, The Reptile House.
When it opened on Division Avenue in the early '90s, the city was different because we as a people were different. We had survived decades of policies where the inner cities of most urban centers were abandoned as many, many jobs were shipped from the U.S. to other shores or over neighboring boarders. We had been battling a big disease with a little name: AIDS. Locally, many people were hopping in their cars to drive to Detroit or Chicago to dance the night away.
While we had places like Gippers (for the office set) and the Carousel Lounge (for the gay and original ‘80s dance crowd), there just wasn’t a bar that captured the underbelly we were all looking to have scratched.
At The Reptile House, patrons from places far off the avenue sat side by side at the bar with the street people of Division Avenue. It became the place that rocked with a variety of beats -- an instant icon to the counter culture and one that no one has been able to replicate as effectively since that time.
A Reptile House party would include nods to the music of that time as well as some of the key players on that scene including Reptile-a-Go-Go’s Colin Clive (Mustard Plug, Control Dance Party), among others. Top it all off with Skull Beer served in the same mason jar glassware that Reptile House made edgy when they opened and which is now, unsurprisingly, a part of the regular barware at Stella’s. It’s not a bad thing at all.
This drive to revisit and host events like this alongside of last year’s Domicile homecoming on Fulton Street, as well as a gathering of former Grand Rapids’ record store chain Believe in Music workers, points to a warning sign: Be careful of nostalgia.
Why?
It kills. It sucks the air out of the room. We want people to innovate and create in our region those new, unique experiences for the generation that is assuming the reins of the city we are today.
In its place, I hope that the talk will begin to transition to preservation of the counter culture. Or, how can we as a city ensure that we have a place that remains, for lack of other words, dangerous?
The Reptile House was truly rock and roll before the corporations showed up to market it to us in overprinted T-shirts and endless reissues of the original vinyl pressing.
No matter how much Stella’s -- the perfect and only venue worthy to host this event with its dark interior and street-art-inspired interior -- bills this as a tribute party, members of those in attendance will truly represent the first time in a while that this group who used to frequent the Reptile House has reunited.
It is my hope that we begin to cut down on the I-remember-when chatter and begin to move toward documenting key points in our counter culture or entertainment legacy by returning to the historical table of biography as we seek to create a record of past phenomena and movements. Signs are here that maybe this process has already begun.
For example, over the past couple of years, Jeff Smith has documented the LGBT movement in Grand Rapids in his documentary “The People’s History Project.” Rapid Growth has profiled a few early settlers of the new urban landscape we now enjoy. In November 2003, Curt Wozniak, then a writer for Grand Rapids Magazine, captured one of the best music moments in our city's history with his overview on the New Beat Club.
Consider this: Woz’s piece (Woz is my nickname for Curt Wozniak) is not online. I found it going through a paper archive.
Sadly, if we are not documenting these periods, the culture of those times will be lost. Let’s face it: the average age of the those who were around during The Reptile House's opening days are approaching, if not already, in their 50s now. Those who remember the '80s club scene -- like the New Beat and the super clubs of Shout, Club Eastbrook and Carnival -- are even older.
The city we are becoming deserves to have these places and movements recorded and handed down. Those were edgy times and for those of us who lived our younger lives back then, we need that era properly documented. It may seem odd to use the word civic pride when recalling the historical significance of The Reptile House, among other hip spots noted, but that is exactly what placing these locations in the historical record engenders.?
Yes, pride, since many of the relics of my early days in Grand Rapids are being reproduced in the form of tribute parties and even as T-shirts in places where the culture seekers still gather, such as Vertigo Music on Division Ave. For many, Division Ave. is the place where it all began.
Our history is important if for no other reason than the same reason it is important to me and so many who lived it: we need history to help us inform our present. It makes sense and at the same time, it helps fill in the blanks many forget with the passage of time.
I am not sure what chapters will be told. This is the work of the historian, the archivist and the artist. Our stories make us attractive to the outside, and ground us at the same time. Rilke summed up my feelings a long time ago: “We need to love the questions,” but at the same time, record the answers discovered in time.
The Future Needs All of Us.
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
Email:
[email protected]
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Editor's note: Big Thanks to Curt Wozniak for the clipping, Jim Starkey for his photo, David Winick, Herm Baker, Colin Clive, Stella's and everyone who helped make this editorial happen this week. Reptile House T-shirt purchased at Vertigo Music on Division Ave. is made with the original screen for the popular Grand Rapids Club. All proceeds from the Vertigo Music T-shirt sale go directly to Al of the Reptile House, currently residing in Portland, OR.
If you happen to have any images of the Repitle House, please feel free to contact Tommy Allen at the address above.
Press Releases for upcoming events in the West Michigan area should be sent to
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