Another Punk Rock May Day

This past Sunday, April 29, was East Village anarchist May Day. For the rest of the world, it's today, May 1!

To celebrate, local celebrity Chris Flash sponsored another of the Tompkins Square Park punk rock extravaganzas he's famous for.

When I got there, this guy was speaking:

This guy.

This year, his speech was given in a single breath, in a format known as "word association".

It went something like this:

"Scott Pruitt religious fascist fracking Oklahoma earthquakes native Americans original inhabitants tens of thousands of years ago broken treaties Leonard Peltier no clemency Trump Obama man of the people Clinton August Spies May Day all political prisoners thank you."

As soon as he finished, the band began to play. The band's name was either Haram, or Headsplitters, or Junta, or Rubber. It was not Olor a Muerte.

This was them:


When they finished, some kid in a face mask got on stage and told us all about how terrible the police are.

"The policeman is not your friend."

Chris Flash got up afterward and told everyone that while other policemen were bad, today's police were fine people. They were from Midtown South — he didn't understand why they were here in the Ninth Precinct, but they were fine people indeed!

Then it was time for more music, and the band Olor a Muerte went on.

This was them:


East Village punks don't care if they stand in a puddle:

Standing in a puddle.

I didn't seen any crusties at this show. It is early for them — they don't arrive en masse until Memorial Day!

#eastvillage #anarchists #chrisflash #mayday #oloramuerte #paulderienzo #police #thisguy #tompkinssquarepark