Getting the bum’s rush at the Press Club
Suffering adolescent diatribes from neophyte musicians is one thing, but taking the same crap from untalented, self-indulgent young idiots is quite another. And after listening to Grey Mayors and Thee New Wayy Outs flail away at their instruments for a half-hour, it was clear they fell into the latter category.
Of course, that was part of the problem. As the opening band in a lineup that included Sir and the Young Men and the headlining A Frames, the Grey Mayors weren’t exactly captivating the crowd, most of which was broken off into conversation groups.
So singer and lead guitarist Wil Sweetie, a 22-year-old from Citrus Heights, took it upon himself to liven things by spewing rants against blacks, against gays, against whomever else he could think of, obviously straining his brain to be as provocative as possible.
Later, on the sidewalk outside the club, Sweetie said, “We didn’t mean it; we were saying it as a joke,” before launching into another largely unintelligible diatribe against the people in the audience, whom he apparently sees as big poseurs, pretending to be tolerant and enlightened when the really aren’t: “These people are all here to promote themselves.”
(dramatic pause) … No comment.
Anyway, back at the show, Sweetie’s rant had gone on for five or 10 minutes with very little musical punctuation when he declared, “We hate black people, and if you don’t like it, why don’t you come up and do something about it.”
That was when promoter Jay Onyskin, who had been watching the show with the black security guard [do we need to say he’s black?dm] at the front door, decided that he’d had enough. Declaring, “That’s it, you’re done,” Onyskin unplugged their amps and began carrying the equipment out the door, making trip after trip.
Sweetie weakly complained of censorship and said something about Hitler, but by then most of his equipment was on the sidewalk. Onyskin was clearly irritated with these guys, but he kept things light, even offering to have them back next week if they felt like it.
“I got disrespected, so I just thought I’d be part of the act with them,” said Onyskin, who even feigned a homosexual advance on Sweetie as he was physically dragging him from the Press Club and shoving him out onto the street. Ah, show business!
Reflecting on the incident later over a beer, Onyskin said he didn’t know what to make of these guys at first, thinking it may have been some kind of Andy Kaufman or Lenny Bruce thing. But then it just went on and on, taking away from the musical scene that Onyskin considers his canvas.
“If your art damages my art, that’s where I draw the line,” Onyskin said. “It’s a weird eye-for-an-eye thing.”
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