Spokanarchy

A universal history
Spokane's story could have been the story of plenty of other scenes. If you weren't in New York or London or LA you don't need to feel bad. All over America, lonesome weirdos sought each other out and made a little world that, at least for a while, allowed us to survive hard times. I've never been to Spokane and I loved every minute of this movie.

Spokanarchy in orbit.
Having just graduated from college, moving back to Spokane in 1981, I too felt like Spokane was a bit slow and void of musical options. I remember meeting and jamming with a few of the people in the film. I thought they were cool/friendly, but mostly packed with energy. They shared the feeling that there had to be more to music than The Eagles or The Captain and Tenille. If you looked hard enough, there was physical, emotional, rock-em-sock-em-kisses-ya-never-got rock and roll being played with a vengeance. It was there. It started crudley but picked up momentum, even with, or because of the hurdles. The film does a great job describing the 80's in Spokane and completes the circle. Was Spokane that bleak after all, or was it a petrie dish fertile with possibilities. It just had to be better in LA or Boston right? Of course it was, or was it? That's where the cash was, but at what cost? Was it worth it? The film follows the core players. Some stay, others move out. They...

Spok@narchy!
Just so you know where I'm coming from with this review, I am briefly in this film. I was born in Spokane, was going to college there in '82, was in a punk band , moved to Seattle in '88, moved back to Spokane in 2007, and in 2009 myself and a ton of other people organized a giant reunion for all the punk/wavo types. Over 350 people turned out for the three day event. That reunion was the spark for this film.

Standing back and taking a critical view of the film I can honestly say that "Spokanarchy" does a really great job of capturing the essence of the "underground/punk/new wave scene in Spokane '78-'89. Spokane could represent any mid-sized town that had an alternative scene. Sure it wasn't New York or London but we had the same energy. We played in bands, wrote zines, had crazy film night parties at the "art house" theater, insane house parties, put on shows and dances in rented out old auto body shops and grotto halls. We didn't do it to impress anyone from L.A. or...

Click to Editorial Reviews