# Pointless Disaster '06



## Beyond The Sun (Oct 27, 2007)

Stars sparsly spotted the illuminated New York City skyline as we sat together on a rooftop somewhere in Brooklyn. Nick looked over to me as he put down his 40 of Balentine's. "This is perfect." He said. I couldn't have agreed more. However, this moment in time was in no way an indication of what was to come.

The next morning I woke up on Mike's floor with a hangover and dust bunnies and strands of hair stuck to my cheek. Everyone else was still asleep so I did my best to do the same. It was a slow morning, everyone waking up one by one then lighting cigarettes. Jesse, Nick, and Mike went into the bathroom to smoke some weed. I sat on Mike’s bed waiting with anticipation the day to come. 

We finally got everything together and made our way down to Mike’s car. “I know a great place to get some food, but it’s a ways away, we might as well drive there," Mike said. We all piled into his car still not quite awake. It was a typical summer day in the city: people and traffic. After driving around for 10 minutes we began looking for a place to park I had to piss and everyone else was hungry. We had been sitting in the same spot for about 5 minutes or so, traffic moving extremely slow when I noticed flashing lights just up ahead. “I wonder what the hell’s going on up there,” I thought to myself. Unfortunately it didn’t take too much longer for me to figure out.

We moved with the traffic closer to the commotion ahead. Looking out the window I saw a large flatbed truck stopped, halfway through taking a right turn. “No fucking way.” I said as we came up to it. “Is that what I think it is?” We moved closer and I could see a mangled bicycle underneath the truck. My heart skipped a beat. As we drove by, to my horror I saw a body trapped underneath one of the gigantic truck wheels, massive amounts of blood soaking into the cement. I felt sick to my stomach. Perhaps most disturbing of all was the fact that the police were doing nothing to hide the body. People were lining the sidewalks pointing and staring at the corpse lying cold and stiff in the hot sun. I felt enraged at the disrespect that I felt was being shown to the unfortunate biker. For the rest of the day I couldn’t get the image out of my head, and I certainly couldn’t stop thinking about it. 2 hours ago that guy had plans for the day. Maybe he was going to meet up with some friends, or make one last delivery before going home. Maybe he was riding his bike today because he decided he needed to get in better shape, or maybe he was late for class or just trying to get home. Either way none of it mattered now. Such is life.

I was glad to see NYC become a bunch of buildings on the horizon. We were finally headed to Philly after what seemed like an eternity of waiting and doing nothing. Nick, Jesse, and Mike blazed a few bowls as we drove down the highway, and I cracked the window a bit to let some fresh air in. I quickly realized though that we were in New Jersey.

With New York and New Jersey finally behind us, we found ourselves in the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. The sun was just setting as we found a parking spot a good ¾ of a mile away from the church where Pointless Fest (or whatever the hell they were calling it this year) was being held. The four of us walked briskly towards the show ready for the next few days of music and partying.

Nick quickly found some friends of his from New York and we all began talking. I suddenly noticed the pangs of hunger in my stomach and looking around and realized they were serving big cups of vegan chili for about $2. 

I spent the rest of the night hanging around outside the venue talking with people, eating chili and drinking a few brews in the alley. After everything was over at the church we made our way to Clark Park where Lynched ( http://www.myspace.com/lynched4life) was playing. They ended up putting on an awesome show. That night we decided to sleep in the park and we fell asleep listening to people playing GG Allin songs on acoustic guitars.

We woke up the next morning to the whirring sound of loud engines. Apparently the grass needed to be cut and so there were people driving around in riding mowers cutting the grass everywhere except where we were lying down. We all stretched, some lighting up cigarettes as we packed up our gear. We said bye to a couple of the NY kids we had camped out with, sure we would be seeing them that evening. We made our way back to downtown Philly where we spent the majority of the day in Love Park, dipping our feet in the water and soaking up the warm sun. Some car company was having a free giveaway, so we all got free ice cream and were able to use computers and the internet. Later in the afternoon we went to another park near the railroad tracks. We all rolled cigarettes and watched the dogs playing together in the dog park. 

While there we ended up meeting up with a bunch of friends from back in RI. All together there were about 8 or 9 of us. We spent the early evening drinking and smoking in the park waiting for the show to start.

We finally made our way back to the church, just as things began to start up again. I got myself another cup of chili and stood outside the venue talking with different people. I ended up meeting some guy who was offered me a bunch of his wine. We sat in the alley together talking and drinking. The wine getting to my head I began to feel pretty generous and quickly ran to the nearest convenience store with my friend from back home, Tracy. I bought my first pack of cigarettes—Marlboro 100’s and ran back to where everyone else was. I gave away half the pack as I was still feeling quite benevolent. I settled myself back down again and drank a bit more wine only to be interrupted by a cop car driving up the alley. Since everyone had alcohol on them we all got up and dispersed. After about five minutes Jesse, Dylan, Tracy and I went back to where we had been previously sitting. As we were sitting there we saw two FSU security guards run past rather excited. They ran up to some bike cops and got them to follow. At this point most people who were outside knew something was up.

Screams of “Everyone get your cameras!” could be heard as a crowd gathered in a parking lot just outside the alley. 

“Everyone get the fuck back.” the cops yelled at the crowd as people gathered to see what was happening. Someone was lying unconscious on the ground. I looked around to make sure my friends were nearby.

“Yo Mike, stay close” I yelled as he pushed his way closer to the front of the crowd. I heard more shouting from behind us. “Fucking shit,” I said under my breath. About ten cops were running around the corner, billy clubs drawn. “Everyone get the fuck outta here, I’m about to crack some skulls.” 

I grabbed Dylan and Tracy. “Alright, let’s go and find everyone else.” As we were walking away a cop shoved Tracy and two different cops pushed me up against the wall, all the while verbally threatening to incapacitate us in a number of different ways. We walked out into the street where more cops were uttering more threats and hitting and arresting kids. We looked up and saw some helicopters with spotlights shining down on everything. We decided it would be best to get out of all the action and try and locate everyone. As we were crossing the street some guy came up to us looking around desperately.

“Any of you guys seen a puppy?” the guy asked.

“No, sorry man but we’ll keep a lookout," I replied. "What happened?”

“I was standing in the crowd and everyone got maced, they got my pup in the face. When they got me I accidentally let go of her leash and she took off.”

“Shit, well, we’ll see if we can find her. Good luck man.”

We rounded another corner and some girl was asking us what the hell was going on. “We have no idea, just lots of cops and chaos.”

“Well I just saw a puppy run out into the street and get hit by a car," said the girl.

We wandered around for a little bit longer, looking for everyone else. We found Jesse who said he was going to some fountain with the kids from NY. “Alright, well we’re heading back to the park we were at earlier today cause that’s probably where everyone else went.”

We walked back to the park and found everyone else there. I was glad to see everyone was in one piece. We wanted to get the hell out of sight so we walked around and eventually found what we thought would be a good hiding spot near the railroad tracks. As we walked through thick brush we heard voices. We called out to them and they called back to us. Apparently we had accidentally stumbled on a few freight riders camping out. They let us sit down with them and said they had seen the helicopters from a distance and were wondering if it was for Pointless. We told them the story, then brought out a few brews. I dozed on and off as people were talking. A few of us decided to spend the rest of the night there as it was pretty secluded. I ended up waking up around 4:30 in the morning shivering. I didn’t have my sweatshirt with me and so I did my best to keep warm by bringing my arms inside my t-shirt. 

The next day, after finding out the festival was canceled we decided to head back home. In retrospect we made the decision a bit too early, as we later found out most of the bands played for the rest of the weekend. As we were driving away with the buildings of Philadelphia growing smaller on the skyline Nick turned to Jesse and I and said, “That was fucked up.” I couldn’t have agreed more. Such is life.


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## punkkus (Oct 27, 2007)

suspenseful good read.


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## turd newton (Oct 27, 2007)

never did find out what happened, huh?


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## Beyond The Sun (Oct 27, 2007)

I'm not sure if anyone really knows how it all started


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## hex hex hex (Oct 27, 2007)

fuck...im in the midwest and i heard like 4 or 5 different versions... All entail "traveller punks" some of them getting out of hand i've heard, but this ranges on what you consider out of hand from drunk people. Story i heard was that security was yellin at kids to get away from the venue while drinking, travelers said fuck you facist pigs, and then fsu guys either got in their faces and cops saw, or som fsu guys went and got cops, but cops show up either way, and some kids got his hands in his pockets, the cops tell him to take them out he says no, then this girls yellin at cops and somehow cops feel they are "surrounded" and start swinging, they hit one kid and then this girl runs up i guess trying to tell them to stop and the cop takes her out with one blow of the nightstick to the face, into unconsioussness, god pigs are cool! Then some other dude let his pitbull/dog (story changes abit) sick a cops leg, he calls officer down all hell breaks loose, with probably where matt comes in the one cop with nightstick and gun saying "who wants some...who wants some next?" or some hollywood bullshit like that, Myke str8 posted a good blog about it on myspace and i've read abunch of other blogs, including from people who raided liquor/convienence stores in all the chaos, Even tho many people refuse to beleive this, i really wouldnt put it past drunks in chaos. Im drunk everyday. I know.


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## Cush (Oct 27, 2007)

haha. the good old first unitarian church. i was unfortunatly not at pointless fest but i heard stories. apparently you missed a fun time at the fountain. i wish i could have been there.


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## the beckster (Oct 27, 2007)

if anyone is interested in anything that was witnessed and not rumor, this is what I wrote about what happened at Pointless Fest for the Philadelphia Independant Media Center.

Accounts from Pointless Fest
By People who were there | 08.14.2006
Two accounts of the arrests at Pointless Fest on Friday night, August 11th.
This year, the seventh annual Pointless Fest, described by one concertgoer as "A birthday bash and one of the largest punk festivals on the East Coast," was shut down on Friday, August 11th around 10:00 p.m. after a police intervention in the second day of its four-day run. It is unclear whether the festival will continue next year. Below is the account of one of the festival attendees, Laura Loci. When reading this, please remember that this is not legal or sworn testimony -- these are responses and opinions of people based on what they experienced; if it helps, please insert the word "allegedly" before every verb.

Laura Loci writes:
"Pointless Fest in Philadelphia this year witnessed an extreme use of excessive force from the police that resulted in a mini-riot, many arrests, and dozens of brutalized kids. The security at the Fest this year was run by the F.S.U. The purpose of security is to create a safe and comfortable environment and to deescalate situations, and this was not achieved. The F.S.U. is a hardcore gang with an established history of promoting and perpetrating violence, last night being another example. The specific situation of violence began with the security making misogynistic and threatening comments to women attendees at the show. A lot of people began to feel threatened and angry and discussed a course of action to confront the situation. It was first approached to Tony Pointless to bring to his attention the behavior of his security. There was no sympathy or response from Tony. After that around eight kids decided to confront the F.S.U security. They were all alone with the security in the parking lot behind the Festival. We heard the yelling and came around the corner. There was no mob. There were a lot of kids watching the confrontation. At this point one of the security retrieved some officers. In a very fast motion one F.S.U. security officer lunged at one of this kids and the kid drew back. Immediately from behind him a cop ran toward the kid with a gun drawn screaming at him to get down. The kid responded with, "Are you gonna shoot me?" and without response two cops with clubs threw the kid on a parked car and brutally and unmercifully clubbed the kid. Everyone was screaming to stop and one little girl ran towards them and before she got two feet away they turned and hit her square in the face. She immediately dropped unconscious. They continued to beat her. The cop who originally drew the gun had his club out swinging and running through the crowd yelling, "Who wants it?" and dropping kids left and right. They were a couple unarrests and many kids who held through the beating to drag their bloodied and unconscious friends out of more blows. Not one of the kids drew any weapons. A helicopter arrived and the entire perimeter of the area was surrounded by cops. I'm only talking about one of the areas of the raids. On every side of Pointless Fest, there were more beatings and arrests. The problem with security culture backfiring is that, a lot of our friends, we didn't even know their full names so we couldn't find out officially how many people were arrested."
- laura loci


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## BloodRunsDry (Oct 27, 2007)

I was there, i wasn't actually at the church when all that happened, i was up at Paradise City, but people came back and told us what happened. that was a big fucked up incident, especially since one girl got a billy club to her face and i guess when she was knocked out she still kept getting beat


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## TripStench (Oct 27, 2007)

i was about to say, that dead / maced puppy part hurt me to read more than anything.

I dont think enough of pointless 06's blame was pointed on Tony for hiring the most retarded group of security guards for a punk festival.

so sorry for anyone who had to experience that bullshit firsthand


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## Mosquito (Oct 27, 2007)

Well, I can't respond like the rest of these people who I guess have some sort of connection with this story or know-how of what's going on. but from a third person perspective, mine, intense story and BOO excessive force.

Something similar happened to a "punk fest" outside of Ottawa a couple months ago.. I hitch hiked there with some buddies and met some kids that came back from it who said some ridicoulas riot type going on. I'm glad I keep missing these situations.


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## Ramblin_Rose (Nov 2, 2007)

That sounds like a bad time but it's cool that it turned out okay in the end. Also sounds like a cool concert! Sweet idea, road trip! The fact that you were there at all in the first place is absolutly the coolest part. Glad you made it out okay...


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## Mike Str8 (Nov 27, 2007)

_This is something that I wrote right after the fest. I put it up here to clear any rumors that have started in the last 2 years…_
Reflections on Pointless fest - What went wrong and why 
- Mike Straight

On Friday, Aug.11th, during the second day of a 4 day punk fest in Philadelphia, a security issue arose where the staff lost control of the situation and called for police back-up. The police charged the outside of the show and began to indiscriminately attack and arrest the punks they found. Many innocent people were hurt in this attack and are now undergoing legal problems because of it. From the beginning of the fest, tensions were high between the security staff and the punks (especially a group termed as “crusty/travelers”) in part because of a robbery of a beer carry-out store prior to the start of the fest. The security staff harassed those hanging out outside to show numerous times until a spontaneous solidarity erupted amongst those being harassed. They stood up against security saying enough is enough, and the security staff panicked, immediately contacted the police with a fabricated story of weapons being used against them, and the police intervened. What happened next was simply a disaster, a disaster where the blood of the punks splattered on billyclubs and flowed down Philadelphia’s streets. 
The most common interpretation currently is that all the problems stem from the behavior of the “crusty travelers” and they are the sole recipients of blame. This is an oversimplification, and the true story is far more complex. The root problems stems from the group that was chosen to provide security, and how they acted.
The brutality that happened didn’t need to. It was an outcome of the overzealous security team, which neither respected nor understood the people they were dealing with. The security team, comprise of a hardcore gang called FSU, have a reputation for their “tuff-guy” methods and a hard-line approach to dealing with problems. Members of this organization have appeared in “Boston Beatdown,” a video that features and glorifies violence. They have used intimidation and aggression in their work. This organization is exactly the wrong type of group that should have been hired to fill the security position and the results were disastrous. 

I write this opinion not as a casual observer, but as the coordinator of security during last year’s fest. I became coordinator of security not because I had any great desire for the position, but because I and others were dissatisfied with the security of 1994’s fest. In a column in Slug & Lettuce - a DIY/punk quarterly I write for - I stated “I don’t know why Gregg and Tony insist on hiring Philly’s biggest meatheads for security.” After the zine’s printing, Greg contacted me about why I needed to “talk shit”. To Greg, who is a friend of mine, I said that…well…the guys he hired simply sucked, as they were aggressive and generally disrespectful, behaviors I find inappropriate at a punk fest like this. Gregg admitted that they were a little heavy handed, and then asked me if I wanted to do next year’s security. My initial response was “hell no,” as I have fun at his fest and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck with the security job. But then I realized that this is what everyone felt; but that someone, some people, from the community needed to fill the role, and that is when I realized that it was time to practice what I preach and do it. I told Greg I would, but only under certain conditions. 

My main condition was that the mission of security be carried out in a way that espoused the principles espoused by the Anarchist punk scene. I wanted to follow the lyrics and ideas spoken of by the bands performing at the event. I wanted to destroy the “top-down” model, where security’s main point was to regulate the showgoers by force. Instead I developed the idea that security should what the name implied, a group that made people feel secure and comfortable at the show - where they felt welcome and where any problem that would jeopardize the show would be minimized. This was our mission, and I felt we carried it well. 
In forming the security team I deliberately found people who also wanted to follow this path. Individuals were invited to this group for both their temperament and knowledge of the traveler/anarcho/punk culture. Simply put, I found a group of peers to carry out this mission. The group had numerous trainings (some in conjunction with Philly’s Pissed) to deal with different scenarios they might encounter. We practiced conflict resolution, and prepared ourselves for the task at hand. A key aspect of the security group was for it to contain a mixed gender component. We felt this was needed to match the representation of the showgoers; also we felt it would be an added positive aspect to break up confrontations. Violence and aggression were traits we tried to minimize, not espouse, as a main goal was safety for everyone attending the event.

There has been a lot of talk about the “crusty travelers” and of how they “fucked everything up.” While I agree that there are certain elements who came simply to cause problems, I feel this is a minority of the group and has been overstated. Another point of contention revolves around why the “crusty travelers” would want to come to the festival if their main focus was not on the bands. Many “crusty travelers” feel a connection to punk and Anarchist hardcore, and while may not be active participants in the scene, still feel a degree of identification with it. Festivals provide a space and time to reunite with old friends and acquaintances, and it is foolish to believe that this group would not come to the performance even if their prime motivation is not to see the bands. The punk culture has always been about more than music and any show promoter needs to recognize this. 

Instead of a forced exclusion of these travelers, a better method of approach is to contain any negative effects they may cause by their “hanging out.” During my time doing security I found the majority of these “crusty/travelers” to understand our concerns about obvious drinking and loitering. For the most part, by respecting them, they in turn respected us, and our stated needs from those hanging out outside the show. By the second day of the fest a certain degree of self-regulation among the crusties was achieved. Following a tribal pattern, they looked out for and on one another, regulating their own members who stepped out of the agreed-upon necessary bounds to allow the show to continue. Examples of this were moving to less visible hangout spaces and minimizing public drinking. 

One of the disagreements between the 2005 security group and R5 management was over this public drinking and hanging out. I was told to remove those who were not paying attendees. This proved to be a nearly an impossible task, especially because the shows sold out. We found it difficult to tell people who have traveled many miles for the event to leave and be gone. We found it silly to expect this and instead spent our energy minimizing the negative impact of a large amount of punks in the proximity of the show.
In regard to the drinking of alcohol, I found it hypercritical to try to stop all drinking outside the venue, when there was discreet drinking inside by both bands and a select crowd of attendees (I know this to be the truth, as I myself have been part of this “drinking in-crowd”) and, following my own egalitarian beliefs, could not condemn drinking by the crusties, when the bands were doing the same thing. Hypocrisy has no place in punk, and neither does any sort of privileged behavior. When putting on a punk show, this idea needs to be remembered and respected or problems will arise. At rock shows attendees expect bands and scenesters to get away with special behaviors; punks should not and don’t respect this.

No one should, and no one needs to be beaten when they go to a punk music fest. Poor management and misinterpretation of what was needed for security created an explosive situation. Police were asked to intervene and this they did, with disastrous results. This essay is not only to place blame, but to point out exactly what mistakes were made, with the goal that this will never happen again. 

The most tragic aspect of this essay is the fact that I had to write it. I wish I didn’t have to. I wish this year’s pointless fest had the same result as last year’s - no one got hurt. Last year no one got a beatdown; not one from the security team, nor one from the cops. Last year we did our best to make everyone feel secure and allow the fest to continue. This year’s force did neither. When I heard of this year’s security plan, I sighed and predicted a disaster. It happened. I wish I didn’t get to say “I told you so.” I wish I was wrong, but I wasn’t. 
Now R5 productions needs to pool its resources to provided legal support for everyone they failed. For every kid that got hurt, for everyone who was impacted by police brutality, there needs to be support, both financially and socially. Everyone who was attacked by the police is a victim, and each victim can blame the security providers who allied themselves with the police. For the security group I was involved with came to a consensus: involving the police was the very last thing we would want to do. We felt this as punks, as anarchists, and as people who have knowledge of the behavior of the Philadelphia police department. I mean this should be common sense: who identifying as a punk ever believes that calling the police is a good idea? But they were called and now we are all dealing with the aftermath. We need to learn from what happened. We need to make sure that this never happens again, both in Philadelphia and wherever a punk fest may take place. Fests are fun and I have gone to many, and seen them go well, and have seen disasters. Last week I saw a disaster, and I write this now in order to say that this sort of disaster happens - Never Again!


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## odd (Dec 24, 2007)

whoa..... thats fuckin hard shit bro. 
wouldn't it be grand if us kidz had our own hood? ya know some run down place that's already half abandoned. where we had made up the rules no cops, no goverment ahhhh those will be the days. 
i now will venture into the world to drink to this dream of freedom


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## spaz1972 (Jan 18, 2008)

that sucks, fuckin pigs. they ruin evreything


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