The world of rock 'n' roll is often compared to a battlefield, where the competition is so stiff that bands will go to extreme lengths to make their names known. In large markets like New York and Los Angeles, they've been known to rip down each other's flyers, employ the muscle of trust fund cash in "pay to play" venues, and even resort to violence (see the Biggie and Tupac or Mods vs. Rockers entries in any lexicon of musical warfare).
Thankfully, in our little corner of the rock 'n' roll world, the competition is mostly executed with an air of good sportsmanship—most folks seem to realize that in an area as relatively small as ours, cooperation may benefit everyone more than competition. Still, to nurture a healthy atmosphere of creative striving, a bit of territorial pissing is most certainly in order, and one of the most time-honored media in which to do this has always been the visual.
From basic Sharpie tags to elegant graffiti to ubiquitous stickering, bands love to broadcast their presence through the proliferation of eye candy. Local museums of such propaganda include downstairs areas at Pearl Street and the Iron Horse, bathrooms at The Basement, The Fat Cat and the Waterfront Tavern, and innumerable other areas, from random brick walls to over/underpasses. The Guggenheim of the phenomenon, however, has to be the men's room at Hugo's in Northampton, which sports dozens of logos, stickers and hastily-scribbled slogans, inter-scene jabs and basic rock flag-plantings that date back at least 10 or 15 years, with contributions from bands like Pop*A*Wheelie, Cyclub and Freddie and the Landlords as well as impromptu art by luminaries like Mark Bode.
Like The Comet in Seattle, a dive bar where many rockers of the early '90s hung out to drink cheap beer and shoot the shit, Hugo's rarely hosts its own live music, but has nonetheless always been a staple juice joint on the stumbling paths of most Northampton rockers. If you're someone who gets tingly when you walk past Jimi Hendrix's guitar picks taped to a wall at a Hard Rock Cafe, the Hugo's men's room should be marked on your local star map for sure.
