Bing Punk Rock Reunion

This gathering amplified the stories, experiences, style and sound of the folks who helped create punk in the Southern Tier, in their own words—and encourages all visitors to directly engage with the history of punk by sharing flyers, photographs, and recordings and talking about them. 

Our roundtable, an intergenerational conversation with guests spanning the 1980s to the present, considered what is specifically unique about Bing punk and its various eras. By holding a reunion to discuss Bing’s punk rock past, we hope to show how punk offers us new critical perspectives, coping mechanisms for disruption and modes of collective living in this historical moment.

The event was co-organized by Claire Kovacs, Jennifer Stoever, and John Lee, in collaboration Dan Davis (WSKG Program Host and Producer), Colin Lyons (Assistant Professor, Art and Design), Andrew Pragacz (Program Director of WBDY Bundy Radio and Visiting Assistant Professor, Human Development), and the local independent bookstore, Riot Act. The BPRR was funded by a competitive arts grant from the Art Bridges Foundation to support community engagement. Held November 4th, the evening featured an intergenerational community roundtable with at least one person from each wave of Punk in Binghamton, from its first bands in 1978 (Democratic Identity) through the 1980s (Abalienation), ‘90s (Anti-Product) to the 2000s (Autopilot Off), 2010s (If Man is Five) and the contemporary moment (dirtybandaid). There was also live T-Shirt screen printing, a StoryCorps-style oral history collection booth, an online collection and playlist of Binghamton Punk, an area for local community groups, and art and design students helping visitors scan treasured items from Binghamton’s punk rock history that we invited them to bring along: t-shirts, flyers, cassettes, photographs, and more.