The Pudhouse, Its Contents, and Its Discontents 3 views

This thesis is an ethnography of the Pudhouse, a band practice/performance space in Charlottesville, VA, that also serves as a living/gathering space and site for various forms of creative production. It was first established in April 2000, and I began to spend time there in August of the same year. The Pudhouse is still going strong at the time of this writing (June 2002), albeit under different management.” Tom Hohmann and Colin Langenus, the first signers of the lease on the space in its current incarnation (hereafter referred to as Tom and Colin), have moved on, and Tyler Magill and Davis Salisbury are now legally responsible. The nature of the place and the shows has altered some since they’ve taken over. Much of my research focuses on the period from August 2000 to September 2001, the month when the lease changed hands. I draw on my personal experiences in the Pudhouse and the surrounding scenes, focusing on how alternative identities are structured through the underground community of which the Pudhouse is a part. I'm interested in the way musical performance is at the center of the attempt to form a social space in which to create non-conventional identities. The field of performance studies, which looks at performance as a social medium, offers a useful perspective on the negotiation of identity at Pudhouse performances. I also look at the way the traditions of punk and the avant-garde influence the way that alternate identities are conceptualized and enacted by people around the Pudhouse.

MA (Master of Arts)

Punk rock music; Performance art; Alternative lifestyles

English

All rights reserved by the author (no additional license for public reuse)

2002-08-01