St. Johnsbury, Vermont · Wednesday, June 18th, 2003 · Updated 10:10am
Top News
Upcoming Concert Causes Concern
Punk Rockers Mark Band Mate's Death
BY ARTHUR McGRATH, Staff Writer
Tuesday June 17, 2003
LITTLETON NH - Last Saturday's Pollyanna celebration in Littleton, with families wandering the street and a Dixieland band playing, is to be followed in a few weeks by a far different and more intense show.
On June 28 the Murder Junkies will play at the Littleton Opera House.
The concert is to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of GG (born
Kevin Michael) Allin, a notorious punk rocker whose on-stage and off-stage antics
caused him to be arrested over 50 times and imprisoned once. Allin died of a
drug overdose in New York City in 1993. He is buried in Littleton in St. Rose
Cemetery.
Allin was born in Lancaster, lived in Northumberland, Lunenburg and Lyndonville
and graduated from Concord (Vt.) High School in 1975.
Since Allin's death, his grave has become a Mecca for fans who travel great
distances to pay homage to him. While some of the tribute is fairly low key,
some of it is of a disturbing nature, including urinating and defecating on
the headstone and the desecration of American flags from nearby graves.
On Sunday a 22-year-old man was arrested at the grave for the desecration of
an American flag, according to a press release put out by the Littleton Police
Department. As of Monday afternoon Allin's gravestone still showed the burn
marks where the flag was burned and the charred fragments of the flag are scattered
around the bottom of the stone.
Merle Allin, GG's brother and member of the Murder Junkies, said Monday night
that the behavior in general at his brother's grave often is "a little
out of hand." It is one thing to pay respect to his brother but to touch
other people's graves or take flags off them is wrong, he said.
Due to the controversial nature of Allin and the experience with people at his
grave over the years, some in Littleton's municipal government are cautious
about what to expect.
Chief Cameron Brown says he knows some people are upset about the upcoming concert
and said his department is assessing its ability to respond to the event. He
hopes it will be no different from any other event.
"People are concerned with the numbers of people and their conduct. We
will address it like other events of this size and type," Brown said Friday.
It appears there was discussion by some in the town government to cancel the
concert. Charlie Ryan, of WLTN, who books the hall for the town, said Thursday,
"The concert is still up in the air. We haven't decided whether to let
it go forward or not." He would say no more except that he was waiting
to hear from the town's lawyer about what options the town had.
Board of selectmen Chairman George Hicks downplayed whether the town was seeking
to cancel the concert. "If they behave themselves they won't have trouble,"
he said.
Town Manager Jason Hoch was on vacation last week but said Monday that his team
had investigated various options, including the cancellation of the concert.
However, cancellation is unlikely, he said. "A municipal government is
not in the position to discriminate against expression," he added.
"We're telling people to have a good time and be respectful," Merle
Allin said when asked about what trouble the town should expect from the concert.
"Besides, we're not some rebellious 20-year-olds, we're in our 40s,"
he said. "My brother was out to punish himself and others. I'm a different
person from my brother."
As he noted, the Opera House is in the same building as the police station.
It would be stupid to cause any trouble there.
The band performs none of the antics GG Allin was noted for, such as defecating
on stage. "That was my brother's part of the show. The band played the
music behind GG. It was the safest place to be," Merle Allin joked.
GG was the Murder Junkies' vocalist. Jeff Clayton replaced him.
Before the concert starts at 2 p.m. Merle Allin and some others will hang out
at the grave. "We don't want trouble, we just want to honor my brother
and then move on to our next concert in Portland," he said.