Guest writer Greg recounts a wedding gone wrong because they hired a punk band to play Toxic Beach.
June 1978 wedding party versus punk rock band with extreme prejudice the true story from the Detroit influence the youth of St. Louis in order of appearance the players are Greg, Mark, Steve and Don this was a happening still burning through our memories some 45 years later.
When most people had not seen punk bands in person anyway I was hired by the next-door neighbor to play a wedding reception because their original band couldn’t make it for some reason. The pay was $300 and at the time that sounded great we got set up in the lovely American Legion Hall next to the Times Beach police station.
The fun part was setting up in the reception area and being stared at by A non-punk rock audience. The bass player Mark loaded with a Precision bass. I had a leather vest with no shirt chrome dog chain attached to my Levi’s 501 one button up jeans as to make my crotch larger.
My girlfriend at the time was the famous Lyla who I was told by the girl that hired us, Patty, was already getting hit on with a guy putting his hand on her ass as we were in Soundcheck. Within a few minutes we were ready we started with I Wanna Be Your Dog by the Stooges. As I started crawling around on the floor doggy style I could see the unrest in the quickly rushing audience like 30 to 40 people looking at us as if we were the red death of the 70s.
We were probably three minutes into the song when the bride came running toward me crying as I stood up she started beating on my chest saying that I was ruining her wedding for which I had already received the money. She started swinging her arms for the band to stop. I was in shock because a lot of people were really digging it but the elders who put up the money backed me in a corner of the room wanting their money back. The groom angry that the band was being dismissed stormed out of the reception, got in his car and left. Mark was putting his bass back in the case wiping it down with a nazi flag that he used as a rag. He was approached by some angry people about why he had such a thing. More people were rushing towards the stage when Mark Sheridan released his shoulder strap on his bass ready for combat with the zombies but I gave up the money it wasn’t worth it. We didn’t wanna Times Beach beating and they suggested for us to get our equipment and get the fuck out. It seemed like the thing to do at the time.
A lot of people our age we’re booing the older zombies what a shame. I was told by Patty that my girlfriend stole a bunch of booze off the table so let’s hurry and leave before they find out. There were quite a few military people there I noticed on the way out we went back to Patty‘s house got wasted and laughed about the whole thing the moral of the story is never play punk in Times Beach again yours truly Fahrenheit 451 the name of our Band That evening.
