Scenesters

I grew up in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It wasn't a real happenin' town, but it was a college town so there was some cool stuff. And we had a scene. I have a lot of good memories from that scene -- probably the best of my teen years. When I fell into the local "scene" I felt like I was home. I didn't get involved until my last year of high school, and I regret thatI waited so long. I used to see these people, these cool people, at school and around town. They seemed to free and so comfortable with themselves. And I felt so uncomfortable with myself. I didn't fit in anywhere, I couldn't find a place for me, a place where I felt normal.

I had been involved in theatre in junior high. I had planned to stay involved in high school but for some reason I didn't. I don't know why. I think I was terrified of these people I thought were so cool. But my senior year I finally decided to get invovled. Screw this wallflower crap, I was going to do what I wanted. And what did I find? Cool people. People I had known in junior high who seemed to disappear once we got to high school. Where had they been? The stagecraft room at Cedar Falls High School.

And then I started going to local shows. The music! Oh, man. I had never been really into music; I pretty much listened to what was on the radio. But I loved the Beatles and I saw what music could do and how people felt about it. Then my friend Jason talked some friends and I into going to a show at the Wesley Foundation. It was for the House of Large Sizes, a local band. Man, the crowd, the music, the people, the everything! It all felt so natural and normal to me. These people were weird, they were loud, they did what they wanted... These were my people.

For my last year in high school I was part of the scene. I cut my hair, I shaved part of my head, I wore my dad's old army clothes, I tried to find a pair of combat boots small enough to fit me (I never did). I wore vintage clothes. I had crushes on people in local bands. That one year was big for me. It was a huge part of who I became and who I am today.

I took that year and that experience with me when I went to college. It was the foundation of who I became as I grew up. I look back at that year fondly. The stupid things we did. Being carefree. Being skinny enough to wear cool clothes. We were somewhat naive--we were 18 and younger. There was drama--again, we were 18. I don't look back and think "I want to be young again." Do I want to go back to being 18 in Iowa? No. But I can look back with fondness.

Today I found out a friend of mine from 'back in the day' is putting together an exhibit on this very scene.

I love this project for several reasons. 1) It brings back fond memories. 2) It showcases a scene that doesn't get a lot of attention. 3) It showcases how important local scenes were to the development of American underground music. Scenes are what pushed the DIY movement. Local scenes are where bands flourished and played and learned and developed... and usually died. But they were important. They were important to the development of the area whether people realized it or not. They were important to people like me and others like me. They were a place for people to go and gather and develop and grow. They allowed people to create in so many ways. They pushed mainstream music to the breaking point and to the year that "punk broke." But they are usually forgotten. Locals remember them. Books like Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life chronicle the development of several bands and their scenes. Azerrad couldn't touch on every scene, but several people in the book (like Ian MacKaye) talk about going to towns in the middle of nowhere and finding a scene. A scene! In small-town America! That was our scene. It was active. It was important. And it has been unchronicled. Until now.

*Edits, September 21, 2010.
The link to the exhibit, The Secret History of the Cedar Valley, is no longer there. For more info on the original exhibit and the punk scene of the Cedar Valley, see The Secret Wiki.

Also see the Facebook page for Iowa Hardcore: The Secret History of the Cedar Valley, a planned documentary about the Cedar Valley punk scene.