Friday, May 04, 2012

Hansons play the Cobalt follow up

A point of clarity, following up a previous post: I actually have nothing against the Hanson Brothers or the new owners of The Cobalt (where the band plays tomorrow night). Having thought about this quite a bit, while I suspect the attempt to cultivate a punk scene there again may be misguided (from a business point of view), divisive (from the POV of the punk scene) and/or in poor taste, all things considered (considering recent history), I don't in fact have any strong objection to attempts to make live music happen at The Cobalt again; just because various people (including myself) feel they can't go back there ever again, given the history, doesn't mean that EVERYONE should feel that way, or that people who DON'T feel that way are doing something bad. Why should some new arrival to Vancouver, or band not previously connected to the scene there, or non-punk businessperson, or any other otherwise disinterested third party feel obliged to boycott the space? Unless it was part of a blanket campaign to boycott venues owned by the same family (which as far as I know includes at least The Astoria), it's not like staying out of the building will change anything or help anyone. Seems the only real reasons I can locate in myself for not wanting to go back involve my personal sentimental attachment to the space as it was, and my respect for and loyalty to wendythirteen; but I can't generalize these feelings into a principle that others should follow. If enough people feel comfortable re-entering that space to make gigs a success there, so be it...! I got a little touchy, having been called a "pretentious prick" by someone involved in the gig, in the comments section on that previous post, but I am here officially shrugging and walking away. Do what thou wilt, folks, do what thou wilt - best of luck at the show tomorrow, sincerely.  

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