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Fourteen-year-old Dylan Hibbs came to Blank Generation for the first time several Saturdays ago, and before the music even started he was cursing the venue's demise.
There's no place like the Main Street storefront-turned-concert hall in Dylan's hometown of Sherwood where he can go to hear homegrown punk music and buy counterculture comic books. Dylan and his spiky-haired friends particularly liked the graffiti spray-painted over the orange and brown striped wallpaper that's hung on the walls since the space was occupied by Phillip's Men's Store.
“There aren't many places for people like us to hang out,” Dylan said as he shivered in his sleeveless jean jacket and waited for the show to start.
With his Mohawk and skater patches, Dylan gets more attention than he'd like in Sherwood's Gap-clad suburbia scene. Police sometimes ask him where he's going, even in broad daylight. But at Blank Generation on Saturday night, nobody would pick him out of the crowd. He was just one of the music-loving misfits that showed up to support the local rockers on the lineup.
Two years after it opened its doors in Little Rock, Blank Generation held its final show Saturday, December 10, for a small but enthusiastic cluster of young musicians and their supporters. The hardcore fans, a group of 15 or so who show up at Blank Generation just about every weekend, know they'll have to find somewhere else to go if they want to keep the music playing. But as of the 10th, none of them could think of a good spot.
“It's awful,” 19-year-old Russ Brown said. “There's no other place like this. Everybody here knows each other. It's a community.”
For the past two years, Russ has driven from Hot Springs to Little Rock almost every weekend to play or listen to music at Blank Generation. On December 10, his band Three Charming Men kicked off the farewell show. Russ smeared on heavy eyeliner and bright red lipstick before he started in on his specialty Cure covers that pulled the audience of about 30 people over to the makeshift dance floor.
Bass player Ben Dugan, 23, said he's not sure what will become of his music now.
“This is the only place that lets us play,” he said. “It's the only place that lets you come in and just goof around and have a good time.”
Of all the people who are sad about Blank Generation's closing, owner Sean Estes is likely the saddest. He and his wife Shoni live upstairs in the crumbly old Main Street building along with their two junior rocker kids, 11-year-old Dakota and 7-year-old Logan. Blank Generation was a family project for them, with Sean and Shoni organizing the shows and the children often providing the music with their band The Tiny Terrors.
 The children's yen for music was one of the reasons the Estes moved their small-scale comic/T-shirt/skateboard shop from downtown Conway to Little Rock in the first place. The old Phillip's Men's Store had plenty of living space, floor space for merchandise, and a roomy main floor that worked well for small shows. So during the weekdays, the two-story building was home to a nuclear family. On weekends, it was a busy venue spilling over with underage musicians and their fans.
Sean said he's glad that he was able to give his children and other people a place to play, at least for a while.
“If you just start a band and you don't have a demo and can't get a show because you can't draw 200 plus people, this was a place where you could come to play and have some fun,” he said.
There were never any frills to bring in the crowds. No beer for sale and no trendy décor. On the club's last night, there wasn't even any heat. But that stuff didn't seem to be a big deal. What was important was that young, unproven musicians got a chance, and that shows started around 8 p.m. so the 15-year-olds in the crowd could still be home before curfew.
“The only people who came here were coming to see the music,” Sean said. “If you play here and there are people here, you know they're here to see you.”
But keeping Blank Generation open any longer would simply take too much money and too much time, Sean said. He looked tired and resigned. So the leftover comics and T-shirts will likely be sold on eBay, and the Estes will be looking for a new place to live.
Even their landlords were sorry to hear it.
“We're definitely not kicking them out,” Van Oliver said. “They like to throw loud parties, but it's a perfect place for it. They were good tenants. As far as I'm concerned, they could've stayed as long as they liked.” |
