That's so weird ....If anyone would like to read more about the weirdness surrounding The Bad Brains , go to www.roctober.com ,and click on "Black Punk Time" . I did'nt write the (Naturally) dominant piece on The Bad Brains , but I threw in a few things that were used in it. My Brother's band , The Howling Dervishes, opened for The Bad Brains at the legendary Hot Klub in Dallas , in 1982. I could'nt go , I had tests to study for, and was still only 18. The mostly West Indian crowd , expecting Reggae , responded coldly to my Brother's band. I did'nt even know the local West Indian / Rastafarian community were even AWARE of The Bad Brains at the time. When The Bad Brains took the stage , they did 4 or 5 of their Punk Rock songs , then played an otherwise all - Reggae set , which my Brother said was good , but , I figured the pitiful few people who knew of the band (Outside of the East Coast.) knew them more for "Pay To Cum" , "Banned in D.C." , "The Big Takeover" , etc.
Four years later (After H.R. got out of jail.) , the band , of course , toured on back of the SST album , "I Against I" (I think. Traded my copy in , years ago , tho' I guess I would'nt mind having it , now.). They played twice in '86 in Dallas. Some weird shit went down , like the fact that there were , like 4 opening acts (None of 'em HC , if you were wondering.), and it was cutting into their time. But , both shows I saw were great. I almost did'nt see the second show , because my friend and I were broke , or damn nearly , so , we went and saw Reverend Horton Heat across the street , as that was free , or maybe $2 or something. When his set was over , we walked across the street , and I found a $10 bill , just enough to get us both into The Bad Brains show, after it had started. Later , when the show was letting out , someone shot a gun off from a roof , across the street , smashing the club's large picture window , but , fortunately , the bullet did'nt actually hit anyone. The only casualty was a drunk who got cut by flying glass. He just dusted himself off and walked away. My friend kept the the drunk's discarded , but nearly full , half - pint bottle. I did'nt say my friend had a lot of class.
The Hook Up said:
The worst show I went to has a couple of odd points to it. I went to see Bad Brains (or Soul Brains as they were known then) about ten years ago. The messed up part was the band were absolutely stunning. Just perfect. What made it the worst show was, it cost $20 to get in and they played for nine minutes. H.R. came back out and sat behind the drum kit attempting to play drums while smiling at a girl in the crowd. He kept waving at her until she waved back, which he took as some sort of green light, so he went into the crowd and slow danced with her with no music playing. The band came back out and yelled at him to come back up. He eventually got back on stage and they played half of "Banned in D.C" and then H.R. left. Earl accompanied my friends to another bar and hung out with us, which was amazing. I later found out that the band got into a fist fight with H.R. hours after the show. So, in short: Amazing band. Nine minute set. Total weirdness for a half hour then another forty seconds of music. But hanging out with Earl was incredible.
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