Berkeley, Calif., has 924 Gilman, New York City has ABC No Rio and the ever-quirky Pittsburgh has the Mr. Roboto Project -- so named because that silly Styx song happened to come on the radio during the naming process.
"Building a Better Robot: 10 Years of the Mr. Roboto Project" is an action-packed book that documents how on the brink of the millennium some aspiring kids turned a Wilkinsburg storefront vacated by an antiques dealer into a DIY punk coop.
The all-ages, alcohol-free venue launched with ADD Fest on Nov. 12, 1999, and through its decade-long run in Wilkinsburg became home to such up-and-coming local bands as the Modey Lemon, Grand Buffet, Anti-Flag, Caustic Christ and Kim Phuc. It also served as a local entry point for such future stars as Bright Eyes, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Explosions in the Sky, [Expletive-d] Up and Minus the Bear.
" Building a Better Robot " is filled with tales of crazed circle pits, iced-tea chugging contests, offensive fliers, neighborhood disputes, sewage leaks, suburban kids lost in Wilkinsburg, bands getting the boot at 11 p.m., boring gigs, disastrous gigs and unforgettably epic gigs.
Fortunately, they were smart enough to take a lot of photographs, which fill the middle 124-some pages and tell the story better than anything else. Punks screaming into mikes and flailing at guitars. Kids running in circles, forming thrash pyramids and literally hanging from the rafters (that would be Greg Mantooth). Funny hats, scary masks, tattoos, togas, Townshend leaps, the Third World toilet.
It's all there -- with colorful commentary, like this anecdote from Rachel Courtney: "One time there was this guy in the pit who was moshing really hard and intentionally trying to punch people in the face. All of a sudden the crowd acted as a whole to pass him from person to person and gently shoved him out the door."
Jen Briselli adds, "Circle pitting barefoot. Why did I ever think that was a reasonable decision?"
Ian Ryan captures the spirt of early Roboto, writing, "I feel like often the crowd was there to entertain the bands just as much as the bands were there to entertain the crowd. I think a lot of people wanted touring bands to feel welcome and to leave our city with a positive impression."
Roboto closed in February 2010, and despite the fact that many of the core, founding group have moved on to raising families and working professional day jobs -- while still spending a lot of time on Roboto's spinoff messageboard -- the saga continues at the new space at 5106 Penn Ave. in Bloomfield.
The 192-page volume was created Andy Mulkerin, Mike Q Roth and Missy Wright and features writings by the likes of Joel Grimes, Michael Siciliano and Adam McGregor, and photos by Shawn Brackbill and Chris Boarts-Larson, among others. It was published with help from a Sprout Fund Seed Grant. More information: www.therobotoproject.org/book .
First Published: January 12, 2012, 10:00 a.m.
