Punk Rock Blessings

Fat Mike thought it might be a good idea to create a space where “any punk rocker can go and celebrate our heritage.” Do Christians and punk rockers have something in common?

Fat Mike, aka Mike Burkett, had a problem. As the frontman and bassist for the band NOFX, instrumental in the birth of punk rock and later pop punk in the mid-1980s, he wanted to find a way to curate the movement. He wanted to secure punk’s place in music history, to nail un-nailable punk into the public consciousness.

But this presented problems. The curator for The Museum of Modern Art in New York, for example, works with objects d’art that are tangible, and often very old. Paintings can be curated. Sculpture can be curated. Films can be curated. But punk is different. Like Fat Mike says, “There’s no Billboard chart for punk, although there’s one for bluegrass,” he says. “There’s no Grammy for punks. There’s no award show anywhere for punk.”

Punk is 45-50 years old. Fat Mike thought it might be a good idea to create a space where “any punk rocker can go and celebrate our heritage.”

The idea is not without...