A is for “Anarchist Soccer,” the Apathetic Band, American Serviceman’s Union and more. B is for Black Flag at the Handlebar, Backdoor Poets and the Basement.
C is for … well, we’re sure C is for something, but the curators of the “Pensacola Underground: A to Z” archival exhibit at the famed 309 Punk House haven’t yet put up the pieces for the rest of the exhibition, which begins at 6 p.m. Saturday at the residence at 309 N. 6th Ave., which is home to Pensacola’s 309 Project. The viewing hour will be followed by various lectures on Pensacola’s underground history.
The exhibit, which will be on the walls of 309 throughout September, will be a celebration of Pensacola’s underground, from early union efforts and anti-war protests to various music scenes, self-publishing rabble rousers and racial and gender fights through the years. The exhibit is curated by Pensacola’s Scott Satterwhite, an educator, writer, historian and activist, and current New York resident Aaron Cometbus, well known in underground circles nationwide.
There are more than 400 pieces − show flyers, zines, posters, newspaper articles and even items such as guitars and the bolt cutter used by well-known Pensacola homeless advocate and activist Mike Kimberl who was arrested in 2022 after cutting the lock off a portable toilet downtown to allow people to access it.
“A lot of people think it’s just a punk thing, but the aim here is to be more inclusive,” said zine creator Cometbus, who was a founding member of the renowned 1980s band Crimpshrine and who lived at the 309 house for a few years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, right in time for him to participate in anti-war demonstrations in Pensacola during the Iraq War. “I might go to an event with Iranian poets and the whole audience is Iranian poets, or to see a Puerto Rican dance troupe and everything is Puerto Rican, which is cool, but aren’t other people interested as well? This is a chance to pull everything together, a big tent with everything from A to Z. It’s all part of something bigger.”
There are numerous zines and underground pamphlets that will be displayed, and though zines became prominent during the punk era, there are some early Pensacola zines that were important to the local underground scene, including the Fish Cheer publication from the early 1970s. 309 Punk Project will have a large collection of the publication that will be displayed.
A favorite I saw was the April 23, 1971, edition, with a cover promoting the “Festival of Life − An Anti-War Rally” two days later at the University of West Florida “Free Speech Area,” and which featured prominent counter-culture figure Jerry Rubin (Chicago Seven, co-founder of the Youth International Party, better known as Yippee Movement), the Malcolm X Liberation Front, and, get this, the Allman Brothers.
Music has always been an important part of any counter-culture and underground scene or movement, so the Pensacola Underground: A to Z event will include music as well.
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DJ Ronnie Recacho will play music by Pensacola musicians, as well as artists with Pensacola connections including Professor Lett & Study, Don Shirley, Earl “Florida Bill” Lett, Maggot Sandwich, Gimcrack, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, David Dondero, Ma Rainey, acorns, LKN, xbxrx and more.
“We have a pretty broad and longstanding countercultural history,” Satterwhite said. “But we’re trying to present this in another way showing this has always been part of our culture, in some ways the most interesting part of our culture.”