SCUM

Back in Florida, I lived across a set of railroad tracks marking two different parts of Riverside Jacksonville. I lived in the crummy ‘ghetto’ part, while a 3-minute bike ride across the tracks lead to skyscrapers and a park right on the St. Johns River. So naturally, I spent any time I wasn’t working on the nicer side.

There was a place known as Five Points where five streets met at a roundabout. There was Park Street, where the fancier restaurants were. Lomax Street, which went directly to the river (my first job was also on Lomax Street), and the other street was Margaret Street. This street leads to the grocery store, some business offices, and some more restaurants. It was only about two and a half miles from my house to the Memorial Park, which was right on the river. Very metropolitan.

My work schedule was really strange, but some of the times I could get a Friday night off. At one of the bars, Rain Dogs, there was a door in the very back that went to a small room with a tiny stage. This is where I met a lot of people who were into the same music as me, the same fashion expression as me, and some really weird things. I was super into it. After dropping out, I had pretty much lost all of my friends, so this was the perfect place for me to feel welcome. We also had Thursday night karaoke at Rain Dogs.

One night, I met these people who were in a band called SCUM FLORIDA. They were basically a punk/reggae/thrash metal band. I had never heard them play before but they were local so I got invited to their first performance. They said they were going to all meet up in the middle of Five Points, right on the grassy circle directly in the center of the roundabout.

I went with these two girls that I met at a house show. We had to park on Lomax street because it was Friday night in the middle of the city and parking was basically impossible to find. We got there around 8pm and the band members were setting up their equipment right in the middle of this busy roundabout. There were extension cords and amps all over the place. We all took turns running instruments and wires across the road and into the big circle.

I don’t remember any of the members’ names (my memory is absolute garbage) but these were some of the nicest, easygoing alternative guys I’ve ever met. The lead singer was wearing some tan hemp shorts and a loose fitting, dirty tie dye shirt. He was the only black guy in the group. He and the bass player had dreads down to their shoulders. The bass player was also wearing hemp shorts, but had on a sweater that looked like it came from the women’s section at Hot Topic. The guitar player had long hair down to his back, and was wearing a leather outfit. I couldn’t tell if it was all one piece or if it was leather pants and a leather tank top, but he was rocking it. The drummer had this great afro for a white dude. He was wearing hemp shorts too. Everyone was so grateful that we were willing to help them set up everything. That’s one thing I really miss about Jax; the metal scene.

There was a pretty decent crowd by the time SCUM FLORIDA was ready to start. The age range was probably about 15-33. Most of the crowd was wearing jean vests with band related patches poorly stitched on the back. It smelled like beer and cigarettes, typical for Five Points since there were so many bars nearby. The band started playing and I was totally wowed by their ability. Like, how was this their first show? They were great! Totally unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. They would alternate between reggae sounding songs, screaming metal songs, and then they’d combine the two genres and turn it into something amazing. Like if the bands Sublime and Deftones had an unwanted pregnancy and gave birth in the middle of a shithole in North Florida and left it to fend for itself. Everyone was moshing, but somehow managing not to let anyone get pushed into the street.

Then the unexpected happened and everyone was freaked out, EXCEPT for the band, in midst of their first ever live performance.

All of a sudden, we heard sirens. It wasn’t unusual for the city, especially since there was a fire station maybe a mile away from the center of Five Points, but it wasn’t a firetruck. It was (I counted) 17 police cars! The crowd paused their moshing to watch the 17 cop cars, all with their sirens and lights on circle around the roundabout. SCUM kept playing, the lead singer screaming a song about hating authority, and then we all started moshing again. The cars just all kept going around and around, and then every other car or so would go down a street, turn around, and come back into the circle. Suddenly, the singer yells as loud as he can into the microphone, “F— TWELVE!”. And everyone in the crowd followed.

I don’t think any of us really cared about what 17 cop cars would do about a bunch of artists in the middle of a roundabout. They had permission to play there. No one was getting hurt, and those who were drinking were (probably) of age. We all were just having a good time.

And as the cops circled us one last time, they all headed in the same direction, down Lomax street.  And, just as in Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince, when the old guy with the beard fell out of that tower in slow motion, despite the strange feeling, the night went on.

Photo by Bernhard Johannes Vogler on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND