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Archive for August 3rd, 2008

sitproperly on Aug 3rd 2008 Gaudia Vaisnava, Krishna Music, Krishnacore, Music

We’re all friends at the Unisound!

I was just checking my MySpace page and came across a show flyer. Now, that’s not such a big deal. But this one was for Shelter, 108 and Prema at the Unisound in 1991ish.

Now, the Unisound was a hardcore club in Reading, PA run by Jake Hain, or “Jake Unisound” as we knew him. I went there in ‘92 and ‘93, my band Lawn Dart Casualties even played there a few times. I saw Mucky Pup and a few others. Yeah, I know, Mucky Pup.

Somehow I missed all the good shows. I never saw Shelter or 108. In fact, I missed the whole Krishnacore thing. I was around while it was happening, but wasn’t really involved. That’s not how I got involved in Krishna Consciousness. Lots of folks did. A lot of great devotees came from the Krishnacore scene. Some are still around today. Most of them are probably in Alachua by now!

When I first joined up, I hung out with the guys from Prema at the Philly temple. Ray and Porcell were there too. It was weird, I was in the hardcore scene, but by the time I decided to become a devotee, I was mostly not involved. I never wanted to sell everything and join a temple, but I did want to focus more on Krishna consciousness. Oddly enough, I never developed PDS (Pure Devotee Syndrome). Came close a few times, but did my best to thwart it.

Seeing these Unisound flyers again brought this all back. I haven’t even thought about the Unisound for years now. I wish I still had the flyer with my band on it. I played one of the shows on crutches. Ah the determination of a young kid hepped up on punk rock!

It’s odd for a devotee my age to not have joined through the scene and I’ve always felt a bit out of place, not being one of the kids in baggy shorts, bead bag and vans jumping off the stage at the Unisound while Raghunatha chanted “Hare Krishna” during “Saranagati.” I never saw Vraja Kishor in his langi flipping out while Rob Fish screamed “Gauranga!”

I did see Prema though. It was in Erie in 1994 or 95. They played with Brother’s Keeper and Deckard. I remember being disappointed. By that time, the Krishnacore wave had crested and it was all but over.

Here’s a bit of a Shelter set from 1990. It’s not at the Unisound, but it’s from that era.



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