Unearthing some Youth Of Today

Ray Cappo takes flight in Toronto, Canada, 1987, Photo courtesy of: Equalizing Distort

So I'm sitting around the in-laws house today, my son was busy watching the Dennis The Menace movie for the 40th time, my daughter was playing on the floor with some toys, my wife was on her dad's lap top and I guess you could say I was little bored. I picked up another lap top that was lying on the table, checked out a couple of the normal sites I hit on the regular, than decided to kill some time doing Google image searches. Hmmm, what should I look for? Well considering I just saw Ray and Porcell in NYC's Washington Square Park yesterday afternoon, I had Youth Of Today on the mind. I've Google image searched Youth Of Today 100 times before, but you never know what will pop up. On any given day, anyone can upload something new that I've never seen before, so you really never know what you're going to come across.



Well guess what… I found something I'd never seen before. I see this pic of Ray, fist up in the air, sporting some strange looking tank top and I knew it just didn't look familiar. I followed the link and it took me to a blog called Equalizing Distort. I haven't yet done any extensive research, but it appears to be a blog based around a punk/hardcore radio show done by a guy who's been involved in the scene for a long time. Apparently the guy used to book shows under the name Rampage Productions in Toronto, Canada.


Kevin Seconds with a 7 Seconds sing-a-long in Canada while Ray and Porcell watch on, Photo courtesy of: Equalizing Distort

I start scrolling through the site and first come across a photo of 7 Seconds. Kevin's giving a sing-a-long to John Rankin, the singer for MSI and he's wearing one of those full color 7 Seconds "Walk Together Rock Together" shirts. I also notice Cappo is in the crowd and Porcell is up front as well. Cool photo, but I keep scrolling on. Next post that pops up is titled Flyer- Saturday August 22, 1987 and has 3 different Youth Of Today flyers for the same show (also featuring New Balance which was Buffalo NY's Zero Tolerance before they changed their name), none of which I had seen before. Then BOOM, 5 Youth Of Today pics I had never seen before! The first one being the one that I saw in the Google image search, the second pic being this killer shot of Cappo, close up, mid air jump, black Vans and red laces in your face, bracelet covered wrist and fist gripping the mic. The next 3 pics are nothing to write home about, but worth a peek merely for the fact that they are shots of Youth Of Today. The guy that does the site also posted a blurb mentioning how he overheard Mike Judge arguing with someone else in the band over who would win in a fight between Vinnie Stigma and Harley Flanagan, classic stuff.


Cappo getting aggro with Youth Of Today in Toronto, Canada, 1987, Photo courtesy of: Equalizing Distort

So what's my point to all of this? Something as simple as finding one cool, random, never before seen shot of Youth Of Today gives me the same feeling as finding a hundred dollar bill on the floor at the grocery store. I guess I'm easy to please, but when it comes to bands I really dig, seeing anything that I've never seen before just gets me stoked.

So thanks to the Equalizing Distort blog for delivering the goods and putting an extra smile on my face on this rainy Sunday night. Also, this goes without saying, but thanks to the YOT guys for continuing to keep me psyched on a band that broke up some 21 years ago. One Family - Tim DCXX

Here's a link to Equalizing Distort.