Boston's Punk History Dug Up

bmattock

bmattock

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http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_ar..._gonson_dusts_off_musical_memories/?page=full

Gonson's favorite shooting perspective was to be perched atop the P.A. system on stage, floating above the fray. As a 5-foot-2 female in a male-dominated world of slam dancing and mosh pits, that vantage point had as much to do with survival as creative choice.

"The reason I would sit up there on that monitor was so that I wouldn't get kicked and my camera wouldn't get broken," says Gonson. "But the bands would protect me. The bigger guys would form a circle around me and make sure nobody hit me because I was important to them. I was documenting these bands for them, and if I didn't shoot, they didn't get pictures."
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The mosh pit is a high-risk area---at best, you'll get a low percentage of shots, at worst you'll get the crap beaten out of you. A friend who accompanied me to a Dead Kennedys show had his glasses broken when Jello Biafra went stage diving and landed right on top of him.

But I wouldn't recommend sitting on top of a speaker stack for you folks at home. One of those tipped over into the pit at an Iggy Pop show (the New York Times respectfully refers to him as "Mr. Pop") and hurt a few people. One of them sued Iggy, took a default judgment when he didn't answer, and it was years before he played Seattle again.
 
Some of the most fun I've had was doing live performance reportage. I always gave pictures to the bands, having them on your side is the only way to go. After one or two shows I'd ask to be onstage with them for a couple of songs- makes for much better images, and ones they or their management want to use a lot.

I have permanent tinnitus after getting hit from behind when crossing to the other side of the stage to climb back up on the wing, on the floor in front of the stage at Danceteria in NY- 1985 or 6 I guess. I ducked to avoid hitting my face on the edge of the stage and went into a large bass cabinet the stage was perched on- hit my head on the driver. What appeared to be a cloth covered wall below the stage was open speaker cabinets about 5' tall. Even with earplugs in I was completely disoriented for 5 mintes and temporarily deaf in the right ear. Being up front was always somewhat risky with cameras- not just for the cameras, but for the folks who slammed into me and then got mad that I was carrying some big metal objects.

I'd go back in a minute to one of those shows.
 
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