Local News
Bands Perform Peacefully
By Arthur McGrath, Staff Writer
Monday June 30, 2003
LITTLETON NH- In Littleton, a long-awaited - and by some, dreaded - concert went off without a hitch Saturday.
The Murder Junkies, Jabbers, and two other underground punk rock bands played
a concert in the Littleton Opera House Saturday afternoon to commemorate the
10th anniversary of the death of punk rocker GG Allin.
Many in the community had been concerned there would be problems before or during
the concert.
GG (born Kevin Michael) Allin was a notorious underground punk rocker whose
onstage and offstage antics caused him to be arrested more than 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 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,
other parts of it is of a disturbing nature, including urinating and defecating
on the headstone and the desecration of American flags from nearby graves.
In the weeks leading up to the concert the town investigated the possibility
of canceling the concert and had the town's attorney explore the municipality's
options. The town decided that it was not in the position to prohibit free expression
and cautiously allowed the concert to proceed.
According to Deputy Police Chief Peter Merkes, who was stationed at the grave
early Saturday evening after the concert got out, there were few problems at
the grave or the concert.
While the town had been worried about the concert, he said, people had actually
been responsible and well-behaved.
"It's a pleasure to see people so respectful," he said.
As Merkes spoke, two concert-goers from Wisconsin pulled up to park by the side
of the road to visit the grave. They were directed by police where to go and
quietly went down to take pictures. Nate Korinek and Erin Duebuer, both from
Green Bay, stopped before beginning their long ride home. They had followed
the Murder Junkies from a concert held in New Jersey the day before. Both agreed
it was well worth the trip but joked, "We have a lot of work ahead of us
getting back."
People crowded into the opera house to hear the various bands, though the Jabbers
and the Murder Junkies, both former bands of Allin's, were the main affair.
While some people were in the mosh pit thrashing and hitting one another, most
stood on the sidelines and enjoyed the show.
Gary Lane traveled from Burlington to see the concert.
"It was awesome! it was great seeing GG's first band (the Jabbers) and
his last band (the Murder Junkies) on the same stage. It was wild."
Some people were a little let down by how calm things went, though.
Zack Ripper of Raymond, N.H., said the concert was blown way out of proportion
in the press.
"It's not what I expected," he said afterward.