Local punk
bands ready to rock for charity
■The Punk-a-thon will be
held Friday in the EMU to
benefit Food for Lane County
®Good Clean
Fun
By Josh Ryneal
Oregon Daily Emerald
The holidays have a strange ef
fect on people. Just as Christmas
won over the Grinch, the spirit of
giving seems to have replaced
punk rockers’ “kiss-off” nihilism
and replaced it with a desire to
help the needy.
Four punk bands will be hosting
Punk-a-thon, a concert benefiting
Food for Lane County in the
EMU’s Fir Room Friday night. Lo
cal up-and-comers Compact 56;
on-again, off-again punkers Mul
let! and first-timers La Peste and
Self-Inflicted are all bringing their
three-chord frenzy to help the
homeless and hungry.
Chris Spinelli, singer for Com
pact 56 and an organizer of the
concert, said that Punk-a-thon is
foremost a benefit but hopes that
maybe it will change some peo
ple’s perception of punk rock and
its listeners.
“I think that a lot of people think
of punk as really loud music that’s
listened to by scary people, but
that’s pretty untrue,” he said.
Spinelli said everyone partici
pating in the concert is doing it
gratis, even if it means losing mon
ey.
The bands are paying for fliers
and the EMU Fir Room out of their
own pockets, and any canned food
or money that comes In goes di-'
rectly to charity.
This year, admission to the con
cert is two cans of food or $1.
“We did this last year, and it was
really successful,” Spinelli said.
“We had a lot of people come, and
we collected around 200 pounds
of food and about $60. That may
Courtesy of Compact 56
(Left to right) Drummer Mayer Mecham, singer Chris Spinelli, guitarist Ben Clement and bassist Glenn Shires of Compact 56 will be hosting a benefit concert for Food for Lane Coun
ty at the EMU Fir Room on Friday at 7 p.m. Also on the bill for the Punk-a-thong are Mullet!, La Peste and Self-Inflicted.
not seem like a lot, but it was a big
turnout.”
.While punk music hasn’t had a
lot of success promoting its giving,
caring side, members of the other
bands are ready and willing to give
their talents to a good cause.
Jon Baker, a Lane Community
College student and Mullet!’s
bassist, said his band is getting
back together one last time to bene
fit what he called a “good cause.”
“We were breaking up because
our lead guitarist decided he did
n’t want to play with us anymore,”
Baker said, “but he came back for
one last show after he heard the
show was for charity. It’s a cheap
way to see a punk show, and
everybody wins.”
The members of Mullet!, who
play what Baker called “pop
punk,” are going their separate
ways after the show, but Baker said
that he hopes to keep playing mu
sic in Eugene.
“I had a good time in this band,
and I’m glad that our last show is
for a good cause,” he said. “I’m go
ing to miss those butt-rock solos.”
Andrew Hanna, guitarist for La
Peste and a South Eugene High
School student, said this show will
be his band’s first, and after eight
months of practicing they are
ready to rock for charity.
La Peste, which means “the
plague” in Spanish, has been look
ing for any opportunity to'piay,
Hanna said. They weren’t even
aware that it was a benefit show
until after they signed on to play.
“We didn't know that it was for
charity, but it’s a good cause, and
I’m glad to be a part of it,” he said.
Punk-a-thon starts at 7 p.m. Fri
day in the EMU Fir Room.
15 MINUT6X
The following is an unscientific poll sampled
from 25 students in the EMU*
The movie industry has been out of new ideas for some time now and is constantly
searching for old ideas that an be made new. This season, three big movies rein
vented old ideas. Students expressed their opinions about whether it was good that
these movies were made or whether they should have been left alone.
Good (64 percent)
or Bad (3o percent)?
“It brings back tbe good story about Christinas.”—Sean
Stroup, senior architecture major
Good (52 percent)
or Bad (48 percent)?
“I really lie the movie, but some adults don’t want to see it
because it’ll rum tbe TV show.”—Debrah Forrest, freshman
general science major
Good (52 percent)
or Bad (48 percent)?
that
geo
Submit YOUR original work to “15 Minutes”!
1 movie out of somethii
(existed ■
orations.”—Lisa Biggs, freshman, undeclared I
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