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LIFE
YWCA to host local band Holden Caulfield's final show
Holden Caulfield, a local heavy metal band, opens a concert held at the YWCA during one of many stops in Huntington. After eight years, Dana White, pictured at the right, is taking his five-man band on one last journey through town. The band is playing their final show at 7 p.m. Saturday at the YWCA.
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HUNTINGTON -- Dana White wasn't sure how people would take the news that after eight years, thousands of miles, four CDs, some 21 or 22 different members and appearances on half a dozen CD compilations, the locally-based hard-core act Holden Caulfield was going to be no more.
Then a fan tattooed "Can't Stop Now," the name of one of the band's CDs, on her neck.
Yeah, Holden Caulfield will be missed like that.
White, 32, the creator of Cornzine, which has chronicled the punk, hard-core and skate scene for the past 14 years, is taking his five-man band Holden Caulfield out for one last blast into the heart of Saturday night.
The all-ages show is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at the long-time home to the punk scene, The YWCA, 633 5th Ave., Huntington.
Other bands on the bill include good friends Lex Vegas, Beyond All Hope, Let The Guilty Hang and Smoke and Mirrors, a band that records for Philadelphia's well-known hard-core label, Surprise Attack Records, which put out two Holden Caulfield records.
Showgoers are asked to bring video and still cameras. No fighting or drinking -- only hugs, smiles, dancing and hanging out will be allowed.
Cost is $5 cover at the door.
White said folks are coming in from New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Ohio to see off the band that is the older brother of sorts in a scene constantly churning with loud, bashing bands made up of players half White's age.
"I can't complain at all. I mean, I couldn't even complain if we had broke up for some horrible reason, which we didn't," White said.
White, who went to Milton High School until his junior year, said he got the itch for punk and hard-core music soon after arriving at Herbert Hoover High School.
"A girl that I became friends with in biology class -- and we are still friends today -- went with her brother to shows in Nitro. I used to make fun of them for it. Then, one Saturday night, I was bored, and the bands were really cool. And I kept going and kept going until I wanted to start a band so bad that it hurt. I finally got one going and a few years later here we are, and I am 32 years old and still acting like I'm 16," White said.
Constantly making friends and fans, White said the band has had a huge collective of people, including his wife, that have played in the band.
"I think the final number was 21 or 22 people," White said laughing. "I plan to sit down and write down everybody's names, even guys who just sat in for a show or two. There is no way the five of us now can take credit for what is going on with the band today."
What is going on today is the culmination of literally hundreds of shows, nearly all at all-ages venues such as the now-gone HYAMP, the re-named Brick House in St. Albans and long-gone Focus Skate Park in Charleston.
"It was pretty amazing because I got so many e-mails from people saying how much they love the band and how much it bums them out that we are calling it quits," White said. "It was shocking in a way. I mean, I knew people liked the band, but so many people were saying things, like, that the music got them through some rough periods, and that it was so much fun for them."
White said the best thing about playing out with Caulfield, which has traveled all around the country, was just meeting people, hanging out and making new friends.
Of course, it doesn't hurt to show up somewhere strange and have a packed house singing your songs back to you.
White said he had that surreal experience when the band played Miami, Fla., a few years ago where they had never been before.
"There's 200 kids singing in the middle of one song, and my mind almost wandered off, but then I focused more," White said. "I just couldn't believe we were in Miami, and these kids knew our songs. It was indescribable."
What is describable is White's love for the folks at the YWCA, who have for the past 10 years opened the doors and let the kids rent out the hall for all-ages shows.
Since then, the YWCA has hosted lots of similar shows with countless local and regional acts as well as national acts such as Hatebreed, 69 Fingers, Between The Buried And Me, Stretch Arm Strong, Hawthorne Heights, Out Of Nowhere and a bunch of other bands of all styles.
White, who has booked dozens of shows at the YWCA, said he had to really plead to do this show, which may be the last the YWCA will host because of some recent vandalism at shows.
"They've decided not to do any all-ages shows anymore, but I feel like I have a good relationship with the ladies and have always been nice and respectful," White said. "They were nice enough to let us do it. The first show I ever went to with my old band was there, and Chris Wallace booked Holden Caulfield there for our second show ever."
White, who said all the other Holden Caulfield members will be playing with other bands, said Huntington needs to find a solid place to have alcohol-free, all-ages shows.
"The fact is that I would 10 times rather go to an all-ages show where people appreciate the music instead of a bar where people are sort of there for the band but really there to drink," White said.
White challenges Huntington to open its heart to another space for kids to play music.
"HYAMP was hands down one of the coolest things to ever happen in Huntington," White said of the now-closed, all-ages venue. "I made some friends there that I still think are awesome people and met so many people I wouldn't have met otherwise. It's been the same thing at the YWCA. We've been fortunate and blessed to have something like that. Now that it is gone. We need to regroup and come up with something else."
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