Fucking brutal.  The two words I think best sum up the impending doom of the Mohawk Place are "fucking brutal," and for so many reasons:  for what it will to the Buffalo music scene (especially metal), for serious injuries I've seen people receive, or even since the announcement precedes the impending Ragnarök.

The loss of Mohawk Place slashes an important sized venue from Buffalo's belt; it is one of those smaller venues that can book bigger than they actually are because there is a chance it will sell out.  Mohawk is one of those venues that can accommodate both national and local headlining shows, and depending on the bands and the night, the local band could still be the bigger draw.  But, in the process, Mohawk has seen incredible amounts of talent, has stayed true to itself, and became one of the best places to ever see a show in Buffalo.

I wish I could be that guy that could say "I saw the White Stripes at Mohawk in blah blah blah..." but I'm not.  I have seen tons of shows, but none were necessarily "that show you had to be at".  In fact, I dare say part of the reason I love Mohawk is the innumerable amount of shows I missed (like the Torche & Big Business show a few years ago, the Damned Things super group that had Scott Ian, or the aforementioned White Stripes show).

I have been no stranger to seeing small to medium sized metal, hardcore, or punk shows at Mohawk.  I boast a number of Mohawk mosh pit battle scars, and the no-frills concrete was not forgiving if you happened to not be paying attention during the wrong shows.  I've seen people lose or chip teeth, a number of fractures and concussions, and enough blood to freak out the Countess from Once Bitten.  Fact of the matter is people are going to mosh, one way or another.  Mohawk gave those big soft moshing masochists a way to have their cake and eat it too; you take your chances.

For me, when I think of Mohawk though, I think of two shows in particular.  The first was the last show I saw there before I moved to Atlanta (where I edit buffaBLOG's sister blog, Hiplanta...*shameless plug*); OFF!'s first show in Buffalo as a band.  For those who don't know, OFF! is fronted by former Black Flag / Circle Jerks frontman Keith Morris.  Seeing a guy like that perform, and seeing the difference between the senseless nonsense that happen before OFF!, and OFF! themselves (and being a man in his late 20's who is way too old to get his head kicked in every weekend), I got to see a bit of a juxtaposition of myself as a youth and me as a growing adult (I hope so anyway) alongside Keith regaling the audience with stories of punk rock past.

...and the other one is the first (and possibly the last) show I have been with buffaBLOG co-founder, Billiam Wright.  We went to see Califone (indy rockers from Chicago), which wasn't in and of itself at all bad, but the real "prize pig" was the band that opened for them.  I can't remember their name, and refuse to look them up on this "Google" everyone is talking about, but nonetheless, two of the four members wore bridal gowns gowns, and the others dressed as normal as possibly could be.  In the set closer, the singer offered everyone in the audience some cocaine, and then made some menacing comments about suicide.  I remember talking to him outside (well you have to talk to that guy), and kind of consoled him about playing a bad show.  I remember him being little like Kurt Cobain, you know, if he weren't weighed down with all that creativity and talent.  But that is part of Mohawk's charm; the "so close you can touch them" environment for a show.

Mohawk has cemented it's place in Buffalo's musical history, and now joins the Continental, Club Diablo, and the soon to be reopened Showplace Theater as casualties in the war on small venues (even though the Showplace is coming back, it was still long dead before that happened).  Like it's cohorts in that category, Mohawk will definitely be remembered as a mainstay in the personal evolution of everyone that has seen a show there.  It will be missed.