New York City Parks Department Revokes Permits for Seven Outdoor Hardcore Shows
One of the biggest stories of the past few days has been that of a massive hardcore show that attracted 2,000-3,000 people to New York City’s Tompkins Square Park, where attendees freely crowded together and moshed without masks. Performers included Madball, Murphy’s Law, The Captures, and Bloodclot. The latter band’s frontman, John Joseph (ex-Cro-Mags), has defended the show by comparing it to a Black Lives Matter protest, calling it “a pushback against government over stepping their reach” with regards to COVID-19 safety protocols (i.e., attempting to save human lives).
Funny thing about the government, though: if you push back, they tend to push back even harder.
To that end, the New York City Parks Department has revoked permits for seven upcoming hardcore shows, all organized by Black N’ Blue Productions, who staged the Tompkins Square show. Reports Gothamist:
“That includes two events that had already been approved: another hardcore show planned for May 8th, featuring Antidote NYHC, Kings Never Die, and the Last Stand, and a Memorial Day rally on May 22nd. There were five other pending events (all listed as ‘rallies’ and all stating attendance would be 100 people) revoked, including a pair of dates commemorating the Tompkins Square Park Riot in August, and a Halloween Rally in October, according to the Parks Department.
“‘These guys misrepresented their intentions on their application, and Parks rightfully took action,’ said Mitch Schwartz, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.”
Black N’ Blue Productions have denied reports that they obtained the permit for the show by applying to stage a “September 11 Memorial” featuring a “political rally with music and speakers” expected to attract roughly 100 people, asserting that “the media lies most of the time.” Gothamist has run what they say is a photo of the application, which, if true, confirms the allegations. Black N’ Blue, of course, claim that, too, is B.S.:
“The news has released a small snippet of a permit application apparently without showing anything else about if it’s the correct date or even the correct application holder. However if this was done by Bnb it would be demanded that they show the whole entire application and not just a tiny little Schmidt of it. However we can assure you that this is irrelevant regardless. Due to the fact that black and blue has nothing whatsoever to do with the application process. The permit applications are submitted almost a year in advance and held by the applicant Chris. He is to guess 6 to 10 months earlier of the expected attendance and if there is the plan of some sort it is to be included. Then comes Blacknblue in March 2021 months many months after the application has been submitted to decide if there’s a date available that would work with the bands attempting to do an event. We never touch the application nor see it. So to say that it was used as a trick along with the 911 event is a flat out lie twisting of the facts at the least . Chris the application holder has said to us it’s either a mistake on the parts department or a flat out lie. However again it is suspicious that they did not post the whole application and just a tiny little section with no other info that could’ve been Photoshop. Chris said “why the hell would I put down a 911 event in April the year before. If we did it it would be in September. It makes zero sense’”
This is not the first time Black N’ Blue Productions have drawn criticism for allegedly attempting to violate COVID-19 guidelines: they tried to stage their annual This is Hardcore festival last August despite the ongoing pandemic.
COVID-19 rates in New York are currently among the worst in the nation, although they have recently had a modest decline after remaining stubbornly high throughout the early spring. Increasing numbers of younger patients are being admitted to hospitals nationwide in contrast to the perception that mostly older adults come down with severe cases of COVID-19. According to New York state, 43.8% of the adult population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 30.7% are fully vaccinated. Last week, New York opened up COVID-19 vaccinations to all adults 16 and older, meaning most of those fully vaccinated right now are still older residents, healthcare workers, and others with an especially high risk of infection.
