Punks in a blow-dried world (Continued from Page 21) get in trouble, though. Everyone same way." Added Jeff Lamm, 20 and a member of the band Half Life, "We're the different ones today, just like hippies were different in the '60s. But we have different ideals than they did. We're patriotic." Lamm, 20, works as a salesman at Eide's record store, Downtown, where his mohawk is no more severe than those of the rock stars whose pictures grace the covers of the albums he sells. Alan Peters, bass player for Circus of Death, fits right at his fulltime job. Peters, 21, is skinhead. His skull is shaved closer than Don Johnson's face. Such an appearance is perfectly acceptable at the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, where he works as a civilian in the office of public affairs. Still, he gets his share of harassment on the streets. "Almost every day, someone will walk past and tell me to get a haircut," he said, running a hand over his bald scalp. "Now, you know there's something wrong there. They're lashing out in ignorance." Sometimes, though, they 1 lash out in violence. Shawnna Biondo, 17 and one of the few punks at her high school in Delmont, says she got into a fight when another girl went too far in ridiculing her spiked hair and heavy makeup. "I get harassed at school every day, but one day I was in a bad mood and this girl kept going at me and wouldn't let up, and then she finally pushed me. So I punched her. I didn't knew she provoked me." Likewise, it is instant alienation Job hunting can be a problem for from those who don't. "My hair is a a punk. Vince Curtis, 24 and a superficial barrier between me and guitarist for Half Life, graduated stupid people," said Tony Angelo, 20, from the University of Pittsburgh who wears a long "devil's lock" last year with a B.A. in English and hanging down the center of his face. has held only odd jobs since. This Every so often, he blows it out of his condition, however, he attributes to way with a quick gust of breath. the normal post-graduate indecision When it falls back down he hardly that has plagued English majors seems to notice. "You get used to it,' from time immemorial. he said. Still, it's hard not to notice that his Angelo, also of Circus of Death, hair is sticking out in eight or nine and his girlfriend Daphne Roberts, multi-directional points. This, per- are students at Pitt where the numhaps, is what the Statue of Liberty's ber of fellow punks is small indeed. crown might look after a wild night "I don't mind being one of a few," he on the Staten Island Ferry. 'said. "Just seeing one other person "I try not to compromise my like you is enough to get you through appearance," said Curtis, whose the At day." least, it used jacket was festooned with buttons. to be, when the "Better active today than radioac- look really meant something. But tive tomorrow," read the one from these days, real punks bemoan the Icons of Filth. co-opting of their style by so-called What, exactly, are punks trying to social scene punks, who wear the to the world? look when it suits them and "clean say "How about, 'Get away from me up" doesn't. when it and leave me alone'?" Curtis replied. "They wash their hair out and But surely he realizes that his change their clothes to, see their draws the kind of atten- parents," said Curtis. have no tion appearance the respect for them." that guarantees opposite? Added Zellers, "Take a guy who is "Look," Curtis explained, sum- hanging out at an 'in' place, wearing ming up a unifying theme of punk- the latest classic spike-head style dom, "When you're in high school, and a button that says, 'Why be people tell you you have to fit in. But normal?' That's the height of hypocI'm not going to spend the rest of my risy. I want to shake him by the life doing what they say, working in shoulders and wake him up. So a stupid corporation and stepping all instead of doing it physically, I do it over other people to get ahead. I hate with my appearance.' being told what to do and how to Then he crossed his arms and dress. This look is instant identifica- added with finality, "Real punks are tion with other people who feel the always punks."