Pervs a Plenty

Downstairs JB's in Kent in 1980 was quite the place to be if you were into the whole punk thing.  Bar was dirty, grafitti in the bathrooms, concrete steps down to the dungeon which was the club, fire escape overlooking the railroad tracks that could possibly collapse at any minute, sticky floors and the coolest people on the planet, every Thursday night when Unit 5 played.  There was basically just a lot of drinking and dancing, not much talking because it was far to loud to hear anyone speak.  I loved playing Thursday's at JB's.  Upstairs was (usually) The Numbers Band and I loved them, so I would get away from the punk drama downstairs and go up and watch them play, it was a different crowd entirely, different atmosphere entirely.  I actually really liked the "scene" upstairs more than down, but I was playing my part in the whole Punk movement so I never really fessed up about that. I got some flack from some people in the crowd for my clothes/hair etc.  Most everyone was really really nice but sometimes people were really mean to me just because I looked like a punk.  One time someone spit on me just because of the way I looked.  Punks were not 100 percent loved in Kent in the early 80's.  The guy that spit on me was actually the brother of the guy I was dating, he introduced me to his brother and he didn't say a word he just spit on my feet.  I became friendly with Mike Stacey from The Numbers Band, he was always so sweet and we would talk about music, have a beer and hang out.  To be part of the crowd at a Numbers Band show at JB's in 1980 was incredibly cool.  I think we all knew we were seeing something special that we were lucky to have in this area. I still really love to see them and it's 30 years later.  I got into a confrontation (again) with some guy who hated the downstairs punks and told me I should go back down, then we argued about music and how the stage downstairs was lit, how loud it was, how bad it was, he went on and on and on.  Finally Mark came and got me before the guy hit me and we went back down and played our gig.  The same night, some guy was thrown out for sketching photos of me while I was on stage, no big deal except in his renderings I was completely naked, I wasn't a fan of his artwork so out he went.  So typical Thursday at JB's down KENT 1980, I would do it again in a second.