GIVING BACK & POPPING KNEE CAPS

Coverage of Give Back Fest '24 at Oakland Stay Gold Deli

NPZ #2 — DECEMBER 2024 — PAGE 3

11/23 GIVING BACK & POPPING KNEECAPS

It was a lovely Saturday, I got the first ever copies of NOISE POLLUTION printed at the library, ready to bring to the show later.

With zines in one hand, and a bag of canned foods in the other, I met with my friend RJ to get on the Bart for Oakland. He was a little late so we missed the first band, but it was alright. Also, unfortunately one of my favorite punk bands of late, RATFUCK, had to drop from the lineup.

The STAY GOLD DELI is a really neat spot, and definitely seems to be an epicenter of the scene. Metallica pinball machine sighting! We dropped off our cans at the door around 5:30pm, and buckled in for a good few hours.

We got there when MUGSLUG played, and woah holy shit they were fantastic. Will definitely be checking them out more. SHED was a Vacaville hardcore band, and gotta shoutout the vocalist’s liberty spikes and dedication to the pit. MORTAL kicked ass per usual, and I actually talked to the band to give them one of the first printed copies of NPZ! (Angus, I got pics of you this time)

I remember JAZMIN having some of the craziest active pits, despite having kind of mellower songs than the others. Also OCTOBER ALL OVER were fantastic, I feel bad for not remembering that much but I got a little distracted by later events (foreshadowing). MALPRACTICE were the organizers of the show, and I got a lot of really sick photos! More from them later ;)

Side note: the food is pretty good there, I’m looking forward to frequenting Stay Gold shows more (pg. 17)

Now AGGRAVATED ASSAULT…I had the time of my life headbanging to their set at Oakland Secret with my friend Bowen. So, I decided I’d get into the pit, cause I’d had so much fun last time. And I’d been taking pics all night, it was my turn to run around a litttle.

THE KNEE INCIDENT

I did one, count ‘em, one (1) circle, and hit the ground. I don’t know what I tripped on, maybe a speaker, maybe a leg, but I twisted as I fell and suddenly could not get back up. I looked down, and my left knee looked fuuuuucked. People hauled me up, but I couldn’t gain my footing so I was half dragged out of the pit to a chair. On the way, my kneecap popped back into place, but it still was sore af. Some really nice people gave me advil add an ice pack, shout-out. But MVP of the night was this guy named Grinch (@[mr_grinch510]), who had a spare knee brace in his car. I wouldn’t have been able to get home, even with my friend being a crutch, cause when I stood up and put pressure, my kneecap would pop back out as I walked (gross!). Thankfully, with the knee brace, and another kind stranger, Keef, who drove us to the Bart station, I was able to get home relatively in one piece. Sad to miss headliners, FATALE, but another time :)

And hey, now I have another fun pit story to tell, and proof I’m not a poser lol.

Photos: (top to bottom) MUGSLUG in the pit / MORTAL / OCTOBER ALL OVER bassist slaying / MALPRACTICE (left) AGGRAVATED ASSAULT just before my knee got fucked