Mazz-1 (The Pests)
SPB: What was the first punk show you attended?
Mazz-1: If I remember correctly, the first one I attended was one that I played at 15 years old. I don't even remember the name of my band at the time. We opened for New Jersey band Catch 22 at Storyville in New Orleans French Quarter.
My very next one however was the one to remember. The Ramones played at Tipitina's. Dee Dee was still with them. I’ll never forget that one! Both of those are memories that I cherish, Storyville is gone but Tipitina’s is still open for business. Storyville, named after the famed red-light district from the 1800's, housed many awesome touring acts including the afterparty for the first Lollapalooza. It was sold to (ugh) Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and was recently closed again, I believe. It was on Decatur Street which was at the time a scene oriented, locals only area. Margaritaville was definitely a harbinger of change. Any given night on Decatur had a random array of celebrities. Marilyn Manson was a regular and there was a famous fight with Roger McDowell, Vince Vaughn (I believe, my memory is fuzzy) and a doorman. I had seen the Ramones several times at Tipitina's, actually. The smoke machines and the intro from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, would send chills because you knew the place was about to go nuts. “Durango ‘95” would start, so would the fists and you better look out. That crowd took no prisoners. You eventually got used to the set list and after “Psycho Therapy,” hold on because “Warthog” was next. To this day, I never experienced a crowd as rough as that. Dash Rip Rock opened for them and I was a DRR fan ever since. I believe they were the birth of "Southern punk" for sure.
New Orleans was full of venues that had the classic bands. I was too young to attend, but I'll say my first flyer that I tore down and kept was for Samhain's Initium tour. The flyer touted them as "from the ashes of the Misfits." That was my introduction to Misfits, hadn't heard of them before then. I was probably 5 years old when the Misfits played there. That show was at Jed's. Around the same time, Black Flag did two shows on the same day there. The Dead Kennedys played at the 601 Club down the street from Tip's. Again, I was just a kid taking flyers at the time, but the city was heavy in the scene and the local scene was just as happening. All of the above mentioned clubs except Tip's are gone and there were probably 20 more that I could ramble about, but they are all gone the way of gentrification, noise ordinances, fixie bikes and overpriced artisan shit. Wait a minute, sounds just like my adopted home of NYC now too.
