The 924 Gilman Street project, aka the Alternative Music Foundation, is the Berkeley, California street address, and the official business name, of the all-ages, non-profit, collectively organized music club usually referred to by its fans simply as "Gilman." It is located in the West Berkeley area about a mile and a half west of the North Berkeley BART station and a quarter-mile west of San Pablo Avenue, at the corner of 8th Street and Gilman. Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northern California, in the United States. ... West Berkeley is generally the area of Berkeley, California which lies west of San Pablo Avenue, abutting San Francisco Bay. ... North Berkeley is a Bay Area Rapid Transit station located on Sacramento Street between Virginia and Delaware Streets in Berkeley, California. ... California State Highway 123 or San Pablo Avenue runs along the flats of the East Bay in California, from Oakland to Crockett, through: Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo, Pinole, Hercules, and Rodeo. ...

History

In April 1986, the founders located the building at 924 Gilman Street and signed a lease. In the following months, the founders, including Tim Yohannon of Maximum Rocknroll, held weekly organizational meetings and posted flyers to increase involvement. Finally on December 31, 1986, the club held its first show. Since then, 924 Gilman Street has been one of the longest running independent music venues in the United States ^{[citation needed]}. 924 Gilman opened several months after the closing of two important San Francisco punk venues, the Mabuhay Gardens and The Farm and was started in part because of the lack of punk venues in the San Francisco Bay Area during this era, particularly all-ages venues. This article or section needs additional references or sources to improve its verifiability. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... Maximum Rocknroll Issue #1 Maximum Rocknroll (also known as MRR) is a widely distributed, monthly punkzine based in San Francisco, USA. It features interviews, columns, and reviews from international contributors. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Mabuhay Gardens (aka The Fab Mab) was a San Francisco nightclub located at 443 Broadway, on the Broadway strip of North Beach, an area best known for its strip clubs. ... Located at the corner of Army (currently Cesar Chavez) and Potrero in San Francisco, California, The Farm was a community center by day, punk rock showcase by night, infamous for staging seminal 1980s punk rock bands such as Frightwig, Discharge, The Descendents, The Mentors, 7 Seconds, and many more. ...

Founding Principles

924 Gilman Street operates on Do It Yourself (DIY) ethic. Main articles: DIY ethic and Do it yourself DIY (or Do It Yourself) culture is a broad term used to refer to a wide range of grassroots political activism. ...

A 924 Gilman Street member (which is anyone who attends shows), has the ability to make decisions and work for the improvement of the club as a whole.

There are three rules in the club that patrons and bands alike deem to be official:

• No drugs
• No alcohol
• No major label bands

The staff will not book or support racist, misogynist, homophobic, or major-label bands for performances. For a band to be booked there, they must first send in a copy of their lyrics to the venue. Racism is a belief or concept that inherent differences between people, in particular those upon which the concept of race is based, determine cultural or individual achievement, and may involve the idea that ones self-identified race or ethnic group or others race or ethnic group is superior. ... Misogyny (IPA: ) is hatred or strong prejudice against women; an antonym of philogyny. ... A protest by The Westboro Baptist Church; a group identified by the Anti-Defamation League as virulently homophobic. ... The following is a partial list of record labels, both past and present. ...

Music

Gilman showcases mostly punk rock, specifically pop punk and hardcore punk acts. Some of the most influential bands that have played at Gilman include: AFI, Bad Religion, Blatz, Crimpshrine, Dead Kennedys, Filth, Green Day, Isocracy, Jawbreaker, Link 80, The Mr. T Experience, Neurosis, Operation Ivy, The Ramones^{[citation needed]}, Rancid, Samiam, Screeching Weasel, Screw 32, Sweet Baby, Tiger Army, and Tilt. Several of these bands, such as AFI, Rancid, and Green Day, are today banned from playing the venue due to major label releases and MTV rotation which are seen as being against punk ideology and a violation of Gilman rules. The venue now mostly serves the East Bay and Northern California hardcore scene. Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... Pop punk is used for two separate subgenres of punk rock music: the kind typically found on Lookout! Records, which stray very little from the three-chord formula that The Ramones pioneered, as well as a newer subgenre of melodic, more emotional punk, which includes by bands like NOFX and... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... AFI, in recent years short for A Fire Inside, is an American band from Ukiah, California. ... Bad Religion is an American punk rock band that was originally formed in Southern California in 1980 by Jay Bentley (bass), Greg Graffin (vocals), Brett Gurewitz (guitars), and Jay Ziskrout (drums). ... Blatz was a punk band formed in 1989 in Berkeley, California. ... Crimpshrine was a punk rock band from Berkeley, California, United States, formed by seminal punk rock zine Cometbus founder, Aaron Cometbus and Jeff Ott. ... The Dead Kennedys (often known by their initials DK, as in decay) are a punk band from San Francisco, California. ... Filth was a crust punk band from East Bay, California. ... This article is about the band Green Day. ... Isocracy was a punk rock band from the United States Berkeley-area, formed in 1986. ... Jawbreaker was a San Francisco punk rock band. ... Rumble at the Tracks label. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Neurosis is a highly influential experimental progressive sludge metal band, based out of Oakland, California, USA. Their unique sound draws from influences ranging from hardcore punk and sludge metal to dark ambient, industrial, and tribal music as well as incorporates elements of indie, folk music and crust punk. ... Operation Ivy was an influential ska punk band that originated from the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. ... The Ramones (L-R, Johnny, Tommy, Joey, Dee Dee) on the cover of their debut self-titled album (1976), cementing their place at the dawn of the punk movement. ... Rancid is a punk band, formed in 1991 in Albany, California, by Matt Freeman and Tim Armstrong. ... Samiam is a band from El Sobrante, CA formed in 1988 after the breakup of the Gilman club mainstay Isocracy. ... Screeching Weasel was an American punk band from Chicago, Illinois. ... Screw 32 is the name of a band derived from an anti-skateboarding measure on the ballots in Concord, California. ... Sweet Baby (A.K.A. Sweetbabyjesus) was what was most likely the first of the pop-punk bands that originated from Berkeley, Californias 924 Gilman Street venue, and certainly the first to be signed to a major record label. ... Tiger Army is a Psychobilly band that was formed in 1995 in Berkeley, California. ... Tilt is a punk rock band. ... MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New York City. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Green Day would however performed a set after fellow punk band The Influents in 2001. The show was taped and put on DVD for sale on the Influents web store. (1) The ban on Green Day was not lifted however, they went on stage without consulting Gilman staff. The Influents decided to cut their set short to let Green Day perform. The Influents formed in 1999 as an answer to Pinhead Gunpowder alumni Jason White (vocals, guitar) and Bill Schneiders (bass) desire to make music when not working with Pinhead. ...

Jello Biafra incident

Despite the fact that the club is meant to be a non-violent environment, on May 7, 1994 audience members attacked former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra, claiming he was a sell out (per club rules however, Biafra had never signed to a major label). Biafra claims that he was attacked by a man nicknamed Cretin, who crashed into him while slamdancing. The crash injured Biafra's leg, causing an argument between the two men. During the argument, Cretin pushed Biafra to the floor and five or six friends of Cretin assaulted Biafra while he was down, yelling "Sellout rock star, kick him".^[1] Biafra was later hospitalized with serious injuries,^[2] is the 127th day of the year (128th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... The Dead Kennedys (often known by their initials DK, as in decay) are a punk band from San Francisco, California. ... Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958) is more widely known by the stage name Jello Biafra. ... Selling out is a common slang phrase. ... This article is about the type of dance. ...

References

This article is about the magazine. ...

External links

• Venue Official Website
• 924 Gilman Artblog