We walked down Sheffield past the skinheads hanging out on
stoops and approached Belmont. Tracy
walked close to me, obviously uncomfortable with the skins, drunks and junkies
lining Sheffield.
“Are all of these people homeless?” Tracy asked
“Some of them. Other
ones live in pay by the day hotels around the area. Some of them are squatters.” I said, “The skinheads are a different story;
the ones that are security at Medusa’s live there – well, most of them. The Terror Crew mostly live at The Factory
over on Fullerton. The Nazis hole up
wherever it is that scared white people live.”
“There’s Nazis?” Tracy asked
“Yeah, but they’re cowards.
Their numbers are smaller than they were a couple years ago when we
started coming down here. Terror, Medusa
Boys and the SHARPS kind of united and are constantly warring with CLAS…” I
started
“CLAS?” Tracy
interrupted
“Yeah, Chicagoland Aryan Skins.” I answered, “Those gangs were constantly
fighting. Over time, the Nazis moved out
of town, went to jail or just grew their hair out and went rockabilly. If you want to know more about skinheads,
talk to Anna – her sister is in Terror.”
“Wait, you’ve been coming down here since you were twelve?”
Tracy asked
“Yeah, Anna and I started going to shows at Cubby Bear and
then started exploring the area.”
“Are you two dating?” Tracy asked
“Who? Anna and
me? God no. We’ve known each other literally our whole
lives. She’s my best friend. Our parents are friends from the old
country. My cousin Violet from the
record store and Anna’s sister Diane used to watch us, so they started bringing
us to shows and to the Punkin’ Donuts.” I replied, “ Violet went death rock,
Diane went Skin Byrd and that’s when they sorta parted ways.”
“Wow. So you’ve been
punk for a while now?”
“I guess. I mean, I
like other stuff too. I got really into
Agnostic Front and Life Sentence, but before that I was really into Metallica
and Anthrax.”
“Wow, so how did you get into all of this music?”
“Well, my parents both work and I spent a lot of time
watching music videos and listening to college radio.” I answered, “How about
you? How did you get into music?”
“Over the summer, I was up late on a Sunday and saw a Cure
video on 120 Minutes and I really liked it.
This boy that works at Tower Records by Woodfield told me to check out
Depeche Mode and the Jesus and Mary Chain, so I did.”
“I love the Jesus and Mary Chain!” I interrupted “Have you
ever heard Bauhaus? I put them on your
tape!”
“I’ve heard of them.
There’s some older kids at school who wear their shirts.”
“That’s really cool.
So like, that Tower Records guy sort of showed you the way?” I asked
“I guess.” Tracy answered “He told me about Medusa’s, so we
came down here looking for him, but instead we met you!”
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