Living in a city where everyone is depressed

So I'm from a smaller city where there used to be a lot of shows, but it's died down considerably in the past years. There's still a scene of people here who are into punk rock and the lifestyle, but really only about 2 local punk bands play regularly anymore. I wish more bands would come around, anything big always skips us and goes to Columbus or Chicago.

A lot of my friends say they hate our city and that's it's boring and depressing. But I don't feel like the actual city sucks, I feel like the attitude sucks.

I live in Cincinnati and I think it's beautiful; I love that it's dirty with broken glass everywhere. I fucking love the graffiti. The trains whistling at 3 am. I love the industrial looking buildings, steel chain fences, train tracks, art deco, churches with gothic architecture. I love how it's like we're still stuck in the 90's and not up to date remodeling things. I love the shitty gray rainy weather. One day it'll be fairly warm weather, the next it'll be snowing. I love how I can go 20 minutes up north and be in cornfields looking like some type of redneck Elysian fields, go 20 minutes south and be in hell. I even love the irony of seeing beautiful 1900's mansions right across the street from section 8 decrepit housing. I've been to other cities like New Orleans and Pittsburgh, and they were pretty cool, but this is where I live.

It's just hard to be optimistic about living in a city, when everyone is so depressed. It seems like the scene's been reduced to getting drunk and everyone worried about who's fucking who. If you have sex with someone, somehow everyone knows the next day and gossips openly about it over beers. Barely any of the punks who are all decked out in patches support politcal awareness/activism in our city, it's more like it's a fucking 91210 Punk soap opera...... If there is a show, some stupid catty shit happens where someone becomes upset that a certain person is also at the same location too. Yea, I'd been guilty of getting caught up in that mentality, and it made me feel nuts. I'm still young, but I'm learning to be less negative. Just shake it off, and let things be civil like an adult. But people are still like children.

At this rate, I have more fun sitting on a computer listening to Crisis then going out. I don't want to rot away on someone's porch and drink. I want to be more politically active, learn more about making music. I want to actually make a difference, not just bitch about everything. I'm not sure where to start though, that's why I joined this site to learn more about what other people do.

is the cattiness and gossip as bad in other cities?

 

Hey thanks for the replies. I really want to give back to the community in my city and in general. I shouldn't have said everyone here is depressed. We do have people dedicated to keeping it alive through hosting shows/contacting outside bands/vegan grill outs/80's dance parties. I shouldn't forget them and let negativity get to me; the older generation pf punks is the only reason I know of this stuff. People may say they're elitist/no fun but they get shit done.

I like the idea of reaching out to people. When I start getting projects together, I'm just gonna say everyone's welcome, and not exclude people based on my friends being uncomfortable with who fucked who. If someone chooses not come, they chose to have a closed mind, and I won't feel bad. Reaching out to non-punks is also a good idea too, everyone here usually invites the same group of people to things.

You guys have have got me thinking about all sorts of stuff I can do; I'm really excited to start!

 

Here we have around 6 or 7 punk friendly venues/bars. Baba budans, Thompson/southgate house, mayday, northside tavern, The comet, Madison Ave theatre, The drinkery, shit we actually more than that! We just have no one who wants to play music.


What's the venue like where you live?