In case you hadn't heard (and you probably have) a bunch of kids got arrested, tasered, and maced on Saturday night at the Bomb the Music Industry house show.

Here is an article about it: http://www.gainesville.com/article/2009 ... est-party-

Here is what BTMI had to say about it:


Sometimes the cops are in the wrong, but this time was not the time. If any of you were apart of this (which I doubt, you guys seem like rational cool kids) or try to side with the kids fucking with the cops, you're an idiot. Don't fuck with the cops, they won't fuck with you. If you give them shit, they will give you shit. Boohoo, someone arrested one of your friends? He was probably doing something illegal. Oh, he got maced too? He was probably resisting arrest.

This whole fiasco happened quite literally within 5 or 6 feet of me, and anyone trying to defend this kind of behavior is infantile and needs to get over their teenage angst issues.

Don't be a moron, and quit ruining the Fest for the rest of us.

THANK YOU.

If there is no Fest next year because of those fucking kids I will pay them a visit in jail (cuz they're not getting out anytime soon, I don't care how much of a "legal defense fund" their cronies were trying to raise) and punch them all in the face.

I was watching this go down from a safe-ish distance and could see all hope of future Fests melting away. Like the last PIX Fest all over again where random kids showed up, didn't go see any bands, shit all over the town (literally), and ruined it for the people that really care about this...

http://www.mugshotsgainesville.com/


Scroll to 11/1 at 3:01 and further for some lolz.

I was trying to get past the party just after this all went down and had to go WAY around the whole student ghetto area because it was blocked off by police vehicles on every street entering there. I was horrified to see that many police vehicles and thought someone had died for sure. I'm glad I was wrong. When I heard what had happened the next day I was so mad at those kids for attacking the police officers. My overall experience with GPD has been very good for the most part. They have been exceptionally friendly and tolerant with after-parties year round and everything Fest related. I hate that this may cause a negative reaction in the future between the GPD and the Fest.

I actually went down to the Gainesville Police Station today before heading home and to contest a parking ticket i got on Fest registration day (I swear there was no "can't park here" sign!). Afterwards I spoke to a couple officers about that party situation. I made it very clear that THAT was NOT what the Fest is all about. But someone affiliated with the Fest more than myself needs to talk to the head over there to smooth things out.

PS - Here is how nice GPD is. One of the officers had me bring my laptop in up to his 2nd floor office to print off photos of my car at the parking ticket location. Really exceptionally nice of him!

Anyway, more news links:

http://www.alligator.org/news/local/article_3cea8640-c774-11de-8440-001cc4c03286.html

http://www.thesky973.com/pages/5577128.php

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And from Jeff Finley who was there:

Bomb the Music Industry was supposed to play an all Blink 182 cover set, but it never happened. The party was shut down by cops after a few drunken idiots in the crowd got a little rowdy with the police.

The party was getting out of control when passing drivers were getting heckled and their cars climbed on.

One of the drivers must have called the police because they arrived shortly after an angry driver decided to come out of her car and start yelling at the mix of Festers and College kids.

A police car parted the crowded street and passed without stopping. He returned a minute later and the crowd again got out of the street. One drunken idiot decided to be a "hero" and start dancing in front of the cop car refusing the let him by. It was funny to see him shake his ass and was willingly handcuffed by a calm police officer. It could have ended there and the kid probably would have just got a ticket and the party would have continued, but nope. It got worse.

The crowd was roaring and chanting "No Justice, No Peace, Fuck the Police!" As if the police officer was apparently the bad guy for arresting a single drunken partier for refusing to obey the police's orders to get out of the way. The officer did a good job of keeping cool despite the loud chants of "fuck the police" and "fuckin pig!"

It's hard to remember what happened next, but the officer had let go of the handcuffed dude and he kind of tried to get away. Another drunken guy got in the mix and pushes and shoves started happening. Then I saw the police officer chasing after a guy and it was all a bunch of commotion and they headed right toward me. I heard the zaps of a taser gun and quickly got out of the way.

Before I knew it the officer had a guy pinned down. I didn't hear the taser gun after that. Seconds later the officer was jumped by a dozen partiers punching and kicking him. They piled on him as the crowd went wild.

Some kids were scared and were running away, others curiously looked on. Others decided to join in on the "fun" and go take a swing at the cop or threw stuff at the pile from a distance. It was madness.

But the beating didn't last long, there were already a handful more cop cars and backup were helping the cop get out from under the pile. Pepper spray was used by the officers.

As I heard people yell "get out of here, they have tear gas!" I quickly left the "war zone" and watched from afar.

Eventually enough cops came in and things were back under control. People around me were talking about how fucked it was and how they just wanted to go home and get out of there. They were kind of scared and didn't want to get hurt. Most of the people I heard were respectful of the police but a few kids still kept giving them the finger as they walked passed.

The tenants of the house were politely asking the partiers to leave and peacefully go home. Eventually they all left and things calmed down.

I'm not sure how many kids were arrested, but I'm sure they're going to regret being "punk" when they see a felony on their record for assaulting a police officer who was simply doing his job.

I saw everything and this all could have been prevented. I think the crowd was soaked in booze and simply looking for a fight. They could have been totally respectful and the cops would have let the party go on, but they were basically antagonizing the police and asking to get tazed. You can't blame the cops on this one folks.

The few that thought they were tough and wanted to earn their "punx points" just got us one step closer from us NOT having the Fest anymore.

His photos from the party:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeff_finley/4070494814/in/set-72157622721630980/

I dont like this one bit.

Thanks Jana for posting that and updating it me with the article. I'm glad we're all on the same page here and agree that the cops were not in the wrong and let's all hope the word gets out that us Festers are not bad people!

Yeah, brilliant. All the cops wanted to do was drive down the street so they could say that they cleared it of people, which they might need to do every half hour or so... but instead, these douchebags who can't play it cool have to fuck up the party for everyone else in a two block radius. Before long, we won't be able to engage in all of our Fest-related victimless crimes without a lot more harassment from cops who would have been more than happy to stay home that night:

"Kameg said next year staffing levels will be increased for the Fest. "

All in all, though, I definitely have to hand it to GPD for their official statements on the matter. A little while ago, I saw someone on the news (maybe Kameg, dunno) give an official police statement which amounted to, "dick move, 6 on 2." And then, of course, there's this:

"This is the second year we've had problems with some of the fringe groups of these Fest partygoers," Kameg said, citing a similar issue at a party last year. "Most of the kids are fine. But you have these fringe groups that treat the Fest like the city is their toilet and like a G-8 Summit, and they want to protest."

Concise, accurate, and also pretty funny. For a Pig, I mean.

I was there too, I didnt really understand what all was happening other than someone got arrested and the "true punx" felt the need to get punk points by fucking with cops. Shit was pretty stupid, people outside had to ruin it for everyone inside rocking,along with the more civil party go'ers.

wish i woulda been there to help mash some crusties.

Tony is a PR pro, I'm sure he will craft a response to the media.

I honestly despise Crusties* more than anyone. Some crusty pricks were talking shit to me because I didn't have any cash on me friday night to help them out so they could buy PBR or Cigarettes or some shit outside of 1982. Just because I wear collard shirts and shower on a regular basis doesn't mean I fucking have enough money to give to every goddamn person that ask me for shit.

Another time during the Fest right outside of the AJJ show there was a cop chillen talkin to people in line I guess I just happened to be walkin by didn't seem like anything was wrong. and like 5 feet behind him there was some dick with a acoustic guitar just playing some bullshit and singing "Fuck cops, Cops suck" ect. Next year I might not buy a bracelet and just walk around fucking bashing kids faces in.


*some crusty kids are really cool and used to have a best friend that is crusty but the majority are complete dicks.

^Went through a similar situation. I was trying to be nice and gave some crusties on the street a few bucks on Thursday night. Although one of them was REALLY nice; he kept coming up to me and saying "Hey, what's up girl!" and overall was quite friendly to me as a result of it for the rest of the weekend whenever we crossed paths, his buddies however were rude to me a few other times when I didn't have any more to give them.



This is the first year too, that I went to the Wayward Council brunch on Sunday and actually felt like my three friends and myself were actually being watched and snickered at because we weren't crust punks. In past years, none of those kids were like this and were always quite nice. One of my friend's crusty friends from her home city was down there and he was a very friendly dude to us all weekend. I've never had a bad experience with crust punks in Gainesville at Fest AT ALL on a personal level until this year. At the brunch I just felt like we were being ostracized by most of them (with a few exceptions). In a way I was almost tempted to try and talk some sense into them - in particular because not only am I vegetarian (and were with two vegans) and share very similar, if not the same ideals as those kids. If they took the time to talk to me like some of them did, they would have realized it. But because I shower, and wear regular clothes and don't dress the part, we were automatically assumed to be not welcome at their hangout spot.

Note: I am not talking about the Wayward staff AT ALL, they were all really friendly and nice as usual. They always are. If I lived in Gainesville, I would offer volunteer services to them as I love the store and the folks that work there. I am also in no way saying "fuck crust punks". As I stated, I've known/met many great ones and have no issues with them overall. But, it was really strange that this happened suddenly after experiencing almost nothing bad with them for the last two Fests.

Also, on a side note about GPD, although I was not there from what everyone says, it seems like they were in fact not in the wrong this time. I did however have a cop insist on DRINKING from my bottle of root beer when I was walking around with it, even after I asked politely not to due to germs, etc. I understand that they were checking for open alcohol containers, but to insist on having to drink FROM THE BOTTLE instead of smelling or pouring some on his hand, especially after I told him it was root beer and politely asked not to drink from the bottle.



I also experienced something shitty with a staff member from Common Grounds who tried to confiscate my can of Sprite as I waited on line to see Gunmoll, which also contained no alcohol.


Again, I understand that you're going to run into people who don't understand the no drinking on the streets/outside rule, or who do and just don't care. I book shows myself and have to deal with this on a regular basis. But I also can tell the difference between someone who legitimately is not drinking an alcoholic beverage and if you really want to check, to not drink from the bottle or just automatically try to take it away.

We just need a group of people walking around with squirt guns full of soapy water to clear out the crusties, they hate showers more than hippies.