In the 1980s a wave of artists, musicians, performers, and creatives of all stripes crashed Miami and the nearby Beaches and fashioned a DIY paradise from the abandoned theaters, seedy hotels, and cheap storefronts that had survived as relics from the Golden Age of the 1950s. “Succeeding” on their own terms—in part because nobody in the mainstream knew or cared—their smallish alt scene flourished and, arguably, ultimately, helped set the stage for the cultural explosion and Baselification that followed.
But as much as Miami has modernized over the decades since, a DIY attitude remains essential for creators in this city. Too often, still, local talent is overlooked by a cultural mainstream that sees Miami as exotic backdrop and not as fertile creative ground.
The alt attitude that made fun things happen in South Florida and across the country back then—and now—is explored in a discussion at this year’s Miami Book Fair led by Punk Under the Sun authors Joey Seeman and Chris Potash. These two survivors of the city’s alt heyday have assembled a panel about Miami’s past and present DIY culture that includes Ale Campos and Emile Milgrim of the Miami-based band Las Nubes; Arifacts Gallery founder Howard Davis, who helped direct an underground-art scene pre Basel; and author and drummer Joey Maya (aka Joey Wrecked), who provided the driving beat behind several important punk/New Wave bands of the ‘80s.
“As many folks from South Florida do, I left after college, moving to Portland, Oregon, a well-known DIY/punk haven,” says Milgrim. “When I returned to Miami in 2011 for family reasons, one of those kids I’d met online in the ‘90s asked me if I wanted a job at her record store, Sweat. I worked there for 11 years and throughout that same timeframe, and much due to that space and Miami’s local music community, I met friends, collaborators, and ultimately, much of my chosen family.
“This is what music can do. This is why we get in a van and drive eight hours to sometimes play to only five people. Once upon a time we were those five people and that band changed our lives.”
Miami Book Fair panel discussion on Alternative Culture & DIY in Miami from 1980s to Now will be held on Saturday, November 23, 11 a.m at Miami Dade College, 300 NE Second Avenue, Miami, MAGIC Screening Room (Building 8, 1st Floor)
