News | ‘Article’ Channel

Written By: Jon Caramanic
Photo Credit: © Tom White for the New York Times
Published: February 23, 2010

Every summer for the past 10 years, there’s been a Gathering of the Juggalos. Novi, Mich.; Pataskala, Ohio; Cave-In-Rock, Ill.: they’ve all had a turn hosting the event, organized by Psychopathic Records, the Michigan-based label of the shock rap group Insane Clown Posse, purveyors of fully committed white working-class kabuki.

Mainstream media occasionally drop by for a visit, but for the most part this event, central to one of the last true subcultural scenes in America, is unjustly ignored, despite drawing several thousand people. These fans, known as Juggalos, refer to themselves collectively as “family.”

More like fam-uh-lee, actually, which is what the crowd was chanting, repeatedly, at B. B. King Blues Club & Grill on Monday night during a performance by Twiztid, one of the most established and best acts in the Juggalo universe.

Here, half a country away from the Juggalo core, at least two-thirds of the crowd was wearing a Twiztid shirt or one from the group’s label, Psychopathic. Despite the photocopied “No Moshing” signs pasted up around the room, plenty tried. Face paint was abundant. Some went further, doing up their looks with mutant makeup that would have made Roger Corman proud. Read more at NYTimes.com…