Ode To Destroy: Southwest Florida's "Scene" Is Dying

And I'll be dancing at the funeral

Look - fuck the local “scene”.

I briefly mentioned it in my last article. I hate it.

First of all it’s not even a scene. It’s lucky enough to be considered a goddamn cameo. Which is ironic because I write to you as Florida’s West Coast Ghost - I’m not remarkable or well known in any sense of the word. I live a few hours south of Tampa, I dream too much, write too little, and no one knows or cares one way or the other.

I wasn’t always here though, among suburnt and morally bankrupt land developers, cops, pest controllers, starving sales reps, and everything else that the sunshit state empowers, emboldens, and entrusts.

Back in Syracuse, I was somebody. I had a small group of friends and we began listening to alternative music - Punk, new wave, thrash, whatever as long as it wasn’t on the 2016 top 100.

You see, in a larger city - even one that’s irrelevant and only has a college going for it (Oh, hello Gainesville), there’s bound to be a scene. And I loved it. I loved meeting people involved, comparing battle jackets, commenting on sewn patches and drinking shitty beer in someone’s basement while outside it was all melting snow and sludge from the gutters to the sidewalk. Was it a small scene? You bet. But we knew how to take care of each other, we trusted each other, we accepted each other.

When I was yanked down here by my family at 16, it only made sense for me to fall into the same kind of crowd. As it happens though, the reason Southwest Florida doesn’t have a vibrant scene has nothing to do with local politics and everything to do with who the kind of people that are attracted to the aesthetic are in this area.

Yes, I’m about to cast a wide net. No, I don’t give a fuck, and no, I don’t think Syracuse (or anywhere else) is exempt from what I’m about to detail, I just think it’s handled differently.

Cape Coral used to have Ollie’s Pub. It’s gone now. Profitability, right? Hurricanes, they say. Beach Records is on it’s way out now too. Hm. Interesting, I wonder why? Owner wants to go on a sabbatical and the rent is climbing. Again, profitability.

But it’s deeper than that.

The problem?

There is a rampant, ugly disease that is allowed to grow in dimly lit, moist corners. A fungus that hitches a ride along your shoulders, gliding on your coattails and waiting for you to step outside for a moment away from your friends, one that asks you for a cigarette outside or happens to like your shirt, and in the right yellow streetlight, one that seems harmless.

It’s a bundle of clothes, muscle, and bones that calls itself a person, that preys on the passerby, gropes, assaults, pushes it further to do their worst, and is then allowed to continue to hang around these venues because there’s “not enough evidence to ban,” which is the way every single one of them wash their hands of having to lift a finger.

The way this phenomenon is handled in this corner of the world (and I’m sure it’s bad elsewhere, this is my own account) is enough to make an iron stomach twist. Alternative venues have become nothing but sleaze factories in this area - men are allowed to be as predatory as they want without the fear of repercussion. The justice system already fails these women, and the places they’ve made friends at? Enjoyed themselves at? Felt comfortable enough to be themselves at? They fail them even harder.

If you were in the pit? You asked for it. Can’t make a ruling there, very physical. You were drinking, wandered outside, and got whisked away for a night by another patron and can’t remember what happened? Sorry sweetheart, you weren’t on our property, that’s a slippery slope. You were only talking to someone, and they felt you were leading them on, and they grabbed you? Well, I’m sorry doll, even though your friends saw it and all reported it there’s simply nothing we can do.

The common perpetrator is between the ages of 23 and 34, and will not let go of the fact that they were an extreme loser in high school. There’s always murmurs about him, there’s always a vague air of superstition, but he smokes a ton of weed and seems “chill as fuh”, so what is there to lose?

I’ve seen it enough times, with enough friends, that I’m positive the reason these places are losing money out of the ass has nothing to do with “I can’t pay my rent” or “the hurricane destroyed my business” because plenty of other places have bounced back from that. The reason these places are imploding, can’t compete with the rising prices, and are losing sales and talent willing to perform, is because they are being destroyed by an avalanche of silent boycotts. No one wants to fund and hang out at venues that won’t grow a set and issue bans or otherwise escalate the issue and set a standard.

For now, I’ve noticed that would-be prospects for a D.I.Y concert hang out at various kava bars around here. The biggest company I’ve noticed is Kava Culture, and I assume that people will get bored of the stringent, trite rules instituted at them (one drink minimums for every member of a party) as well as the rich kids cosplaying as hippies who hang out for “like, the vibe and shi”. We don’t have basements in Southwest Florida, but it may be that the next spot starts in someone’s backyard. Maybe it grows from there, and maybe those organizers heed the blazing fire that started from what the current venues are allowing.

When you run a place like that, you have a responsibility to your patrons and to the community. Inaction on your part is silent permission.

I can’t say it’s not satisfying watching it all tumble down, knowing first hand what it contains.

A plague o’ both your houses! Next time, don’t play stupid. Take action. Set a standard.

Let people feel safe.