06.12.03...Too much to say already!
So I got my first taste of the political punks yesterday. I was supposed to meet this guy Gutzy at the Mapah. Gutzy runs an Israeli punk and politics website where I did a lot of my research, and the Mapah is a political and social center where a lot of the political punks hang out, live, reharse and record their music. I was really excited to go there and see the center of Israeli D.I.Y. but...no such luck...Gutzy called me up before we were supposed to meet and said that the people at the center didn't want cameras there--and they didn't want to have anything to do with Useless I.D. Damn!! I had a feeling it would be difficult to get through to these guys, because just like in any scene, there are people who are just "too punk for you." I am going to keep working on it though...I want them to realize that I am interested in the whole spectrum of opinion and style in the Israeli punk world, and I am not just making some promotional video for Useless I.D. Anyway, I ended up meeting Gutzy and a few of his friends at this huge book fair north of Tel Aviv. There were big stands from all the major publishers, and he and his friends were selling punk and anarchist zines from a blanket on the ground. It was great--more details soon.