Change and Adapt

When I was a kid there were things to do for young people in Naples. There was the skating rink, King Richards, the skate park, the mall and the movie theater. Any one of these places were THE place to go on the weekends. Even though the mall is still there, the skate park is still there and the theater is just as over priced as ever but still there. Ever wonder what happened to the skating rink or King Richards? Well, the skating rink is now that bingo hall off the parkway and last I heard King Richards was torn down and turned into a car lot. There was talk about the family fun park being rezoned and turned into condos in which nobody apparently protested. These kinds of actions make the younger population take a step back and say "what about us?" I'm sure the Children's Museum just popped in your head right about now especially if you're apart of an older generation but this is more about the middle and high school aged youths of the area.



You see, when I was in middle and high school here I could find other things to do especially after the demise of the skating rink and being limited on funds for the arcade games at King Richards. I went to the mall to hang out with friends and it didn't matter which weekend I did this because without fail there was also someone handing out flyers to a show at the skate park in Fleischmann. These shows usually cost about five dollars and had anywhere from three to six bands playing. I remember bands like Late for Life, Where Fear and Weapons Meets, Fake Problems among several more. This wasn't the only place you could find such punk or metal shows though. People set up and held these shows in community centers, lodges, local bars and even at some select residences.

The people who participated in these shows have gotten older but haven't forgotten about these above mentioned times. That's where you'll find the occasional house show or events at local community centers. They are, however, not as frequent as they use to be. It could be various reasons but the fact remains that there isn't nearly as many people dedicated enough to make such things happen for our community. In all honesty if it wasn't for that time in my life where shows of every genre were everywhere I wouldn't have been inspired and accomplished the things I have within the music industry, which is story for another time.

What I'm getting at is the fact that in order to grow as a creative community we must embrace not only those of different generations but also of different creeds and preferences. That folk musician you might listen to today probably enjoyed or even played punk  in the past. That blues musician probably grew up on hardcore. Your favorite local jazz musician probably loves sludge metal. Not to say that they all don't enjoy playing their respective genre but in a place that keeps taking steps backward in cultural diversity adaptation will prevail.

There are those who are still making strides to give back to the community that gave them so much in the way of underground music. Such people can be found at Neapolitan Underground. The Twisted Spoke as been allowing Merical Datus of Grand Theft Deity to host an open mic designed to draw out local musicians. There are even groups like The Local 1 who are trying to bring in talent who are on tour such as Possessed by Paul James at Mereday's Brasserie coming up on December 19th. If you just got done reading this reach out to some of these people and find out how you can contribute to the growth of our artistic community.