Aug 05 : "Government Skatepark" - Trash Boy (Philly)

Philly Music!

THE EYES HAVE IT!

"Skating is an act of resistance," Chris Fortunato told me as we talked after his band's show at Kobol nine days ago. This was my second time seeing Philly punk-rock band "Trash Boy". (May 11, Jul 27)

Chris told me skating is an act of defiance, taking parts of an otherwise inhospitable urban landscape and making a personal play area out of it. And it's an act of defiance because there's an element of risk; it's re appropriating off-limits areas for one's personal pleasure. And, as people come together, skating is also a community.

While all of this may seem innocuous, it's something that the government can't tolerate, because it's still a nuisance and it's still breaking the rules. People skating illegally in urban areas make noise and keep taxpayers up at night. And there's the danger that that aura of boldness and flagrant disregard for social order might overlap into (gasp!) the political.

So something must be done. Better to have the skating and the people all under control. The solution is to build a government skatepark where all these people will be moved away and kept out of sight, as far out of the way as possible (The song says under I-95). Make the government skatepark nice, so the skaters' minds will be anesthetized and there will be no chance that their skating will evolve or meld in with any other type of social action or protest. And, of course, in the spirit of turning this "resistance" into an officially condoned "sport", make sure the skaters buy the new branded merch.

One of the most awful examples of this type of move was the destruction of the original Love Park in Center City Philadelphia several years ago. Love Park was a skater's paradise, a mecca that was known internationally as THE place to skate. People came from all around the world to skate here. I asked Chris whether this song was about Philly specifically and what he thought about that destruction. Chris said it was about Philly and its environs; he was angry about the closure and says he does skate in the new skateparks but still has some favorite (secret) spots and (decaying) infrastructure where he skates as well.

So what was different between the first time I saw the band and the second? I would say that in the second show they brought their stage presence to a new level, increasing the impact of the music through enhanced body language. Some and most bands show the emotions of what they're singing in broad brushstrokes. But in the second show the eyes and facial expressions of Trash Boy were tuned in to the lyrics line by line and word by word. This definitely undergirded the power of the lyrics. Something you don't often see.

Here is "Government Skatepark" by Philly band Trash Boy. This is from their 2017 album, "The Future Is Trash".

To read the lyrics as you listen, click here: Read the lyrics as you listen CLICK HERE.

From their web page, "Trash Boy is actually 3 people (not one boy alone) who love Philly & its DIY world and hate rules that oppress the marginalized & uphold bogus meritocracy." Trash Boy is Chris Fortunato, Dan Baggarly and Nolee Morris. They don't have any shows coming up in our area soon, but here is the click to their Facebook page, so you can follow what they're doing ::: Trash Boy on Facebook (CLICK HERE).