One of the funniest phenomena to me is when some clueless dolt on the internet chimes in with a “since when did punk become political?” Well, since always bud, and those politics have always been anti-establishment. Nearly every single punk band that took the stage reminded us all of that particular fact during this past weekend’s Punk in the Park festival. The organizer, Cameron Collins, put out a rather humorous PR-speak press release after it was revealed that he had donated money to the Trump campaign as well as other right-wing organizations. The whole thing has the energy of someone talking about a singles mixer. In the press release he claims that over the years, he has “proudly provided a platform for artists to reach hundreds of thousands of fans. We’ve paid millions of dollars in artist guarantees, and not once have I ever censored or restricted a band’s message or voice”. Yet several bands alluded that they were told to not say anything about the current Trump administration. They did anyway, to thunderous applause every time.

All of this is to say that the punk community can smell posers a mile away. I am not speaking about fans of punk rock, I mean those of us who have adopted punk as an ethos. Cameron Collins tried to make it sound like he’s been in the punk community since he was a teenager, but a guy who supports political groups and candidates that want to build an authoritarian regime, and tells bands to not say anything about those groups and candidates is a spineless piece of shit poser. Punk Rock hates posers. We sure do love community, though. Despite the underlying controversy, it was very clear that this community is strong. I would like to talk about that now, instead of giving posers the attention they do not deserve.

I wish I’d taken some more pictures, but I was too busy staring like an idiot at a whole bunch of my punk rock heroes. I got to hang out with s bunch of friends and meet more new friends and the whole weekend was just really wonderful. My knees and arches were shot, I was sunburned and exhausted, and I wouldn’t change anything for the world.