Hollywood ain’t swinging right now.
Admittedly, this is sort of a local story, but Randy “Mr. Biscuit” Turner was the lead singer for The Big Boys, one of Austin’s first punk bands, and one of the first funk-punk bands anywhere (beating Red Hot Chili Peppers by five years.) They started in 1978, back in the Raul’s era, and continued until 1984. After the Big Boys, Biscuit started Cargo Cult, Swine King and was still making art and music (ironically, he was the the Austin Chronicle’s cover story last week.)
Regardless of the band, the stage show included horn sections, audience participation, drag, costumes, baloney sandwiches on a smock (thrown to the audience during songs. A friend ate one and declared it “kinda salty.”) and God knows what else… and they encouraged everyone to go out and do their own creative thing. I’d credit Biscuit and the Big Boys with planting the seeds for at least half of what was creatived in Austin in the Eighties and maybe beyond. The Austin punk scene was incredible egalitarian and had a strong do-it-yourself ethic. Sure, we were a bunch of kids making silly art, but I couldn’t imagine a better way to misspend one’s youth.