I finally watched this documentary today. Brought back a lot of memories and I was touched that it was dedicated to my late best friend Matt Staab who died almost 19 years ago (December 24, 2001).
I started going to shows in the summer of 1991 at Nordic Hall right before I moved to Sioux Falls. When I moved here in August of that summer I found a roommate in the paper and he happened to be a part time security officer who would work the shows there. I frequented the place quite a bit and my favorite bands to see there were 8 Bark from Chicago and God’s Favorite Band from Minneapolis.
I met Matt and Jesse Christen in the early 90’s at weirdo watering hole Your House of Coffee on East 10th street (It is Shalom now). Matt worked at Kinkos and made a lot of the ticket artwork and fliers and I would help him with it since I worked as a graphic designer at a small print shop. After he died I inherited the job and created a ton of posters and ticket artwork for shows at the Pomp Room.
While it is hard for me to remember all the shows I saw (mostly for free since I was ticket art guy, or as they called me at the Pomp Room, Punk Ass Freak) I do remember some great ones like Fugazi, Zeke, Gwar, Danzig, Son Volt, Jayhawks, Los Straitjackets (where I was asked to get off the bar I was surfing on) and the list goes on and on.
I got a bad muscle spasm once stage diving in my back where I could barely walk for a month, and knocked a front tooth out at a Supersuckers show.
The music scene in the 1990’s in Sioux Falls was on fire and explosive. You could literally see live bands 3-4 nights a week and at least 2-3 national acts a month.
I miss those times. While it seems there is more cultural opportunities in Sioux Falls these days, they also seem very Lily White.
The funny part about the documentary is I knew a lot of the people involved, and it was great seeing some of those knuckleheads in the film since a lot of them have moved away.
I highly suggest if you went to Nordic or Pomp shows to check it out, brought back a lot of memories (of what I can remember) of sweaty mayhem.