Draft:Wes Robinson (Promoter)

Wes Robinson was an African-American concert promoter of punk rock and extreme metal in Berkeley and Oakland, California. These punk and metal concerts were held on a San Pablo Avenue club called Ruthie's Inn. Robinson also organized music festivals held at the Aquatic Park in Berkeley called Eastern Front or known by fans as Day in the Dirt. Because of this, Robinson is often credited as the "patriarch" of the hardcore punk, crossover thrash, thrash metal and death metal scenes and genres.

Early Life
Wes Robinson was born in Texas. Robinson was heavily involved in the jazz music collective, where he met musicians like Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane. Robinson would move to San Francisco Bay Area to promote jazz music.

Ruthie's Inn
After being disillusioned by the commercialism of jazz in the 1970s, Robinson decided to move his focus to hardcore punk, which had just started in the East Bay at that time. A small San Pablo Avenue club called Ruthie's Inn would be used to front hardcore punk bands from emerging scenes in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles Area. Later on, bands from the hardcore scenes in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston and even Canada and the United Kingdom would perform here.

By the 1980s, Robinson also became interested in the crossover, thrash and early death metal bands in the Bay Area and West Coast, and would promote highly influential bands of those subgenres as well. At this time, Robinson would start to bill hardcore and metal bands together for shows. Because of this, Robinson and Ruthie's Inn are credited for the birth of the crossover of these two genres.

A list of notable bands that performed at Ruthie's Inn by genre.
 * Hardcore Punk: Dead Kennedys, Flipper, Fang, Verbal Abuse, MDC, Dicks, The Faction, BL'AST!, Toxic Reasons, Angst, Tales of Terror, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Agent Orange, Bad Religion, Dr. Know, Agression, RKL, Descendents, T.S.O.L., Social Distortion, Minutemen, M.I.A., The Vandals, NOFX, 7 Seconds, Bad Brains, Untouchables, Adrenalin O.D., The F.U.'s, Gang Green, SSD, Necros, The Crucifucks, D.O.A., Asexuals, Nomeansno, Discharge, G.B.H., Broken Bones
 * Crossover Thrash: Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I., Cryptic Slaughter, Attitude Adjustment, Neurosis, No Mercy, Excel, Beowülf, Corrosion of Conformity, Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, The Accüsed, Raw Power
 * Thrash Metal: Metallica, Exodus, Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, Death Angel, Vio-lence, Forbidden, Heathen, Dark Angel, Hirax, Lȧȧz Rockit, Blind Illusion, Mordred, Whiplash, Metal Church, Agent Steel, Abattoir, Evildead, Hawaii, Znowhite
 * Death Metal: Possessed, Sadus, Death, Autopsy
 * Doom Metal: Saint Vitus, Trouble, Melvins
 * Heavy Metal: Mentors, Armored Saint, Vicious Rumors, Faith No More

Eastern Front
From 1981 to 1986, Robinson annually held an outdoor music festival at the Aquatic Park in Berkeley called "Eastern Front". Fans of the hardcore and metal scene often referred to them as "Day in the Dirt", which was a slight nod towards Bill Graham's larger Day on the Green shows. At first, Robinson promoted many hardcore punk bands at these shows. Later he started to bill thrash metal bands.

Here are notable bands that performed at Eastern Front shows.

Eastern Front 1981:


 * July 25th: D.O.A., Flipper, T.S.O.L., The Offs, Warzone, 7 Seconds & Toiling Midgets
 * July 26th: The Slits, The Offs, Middle Class & Toiling Midgets

Eastern Front 1982:


 * July 31st: Discharge, Chron Gen, Wasted Youth, Battalion of Saints, Jodie Foster's Army, Channel 3 & Shattered Faith

Eastern Front 1983:


 * July 16th: Black Flag, Meat Puppets, The Dicks, The Stains, Suicidal Tendencies & Saint Vitus
 * July 17th: Laaz Rockit, Exodus, Trauma & Winterhawk

Eastern Front 1984:


 * August 18th: Circle Jerks, Beastie Boys, Jerry's Kids, The F.U.'s, Iron Cross & Raw Power
 * August 19th: Suicidal Tendencies, Exodus, Slayer & Blue Cheer. This show is often referred to as the "Woodstock of Bay Area thrash metal". It is also considered to be the first crossover show.

Eastern Front 1985:


 * December 26th: Attitude Adjustment
 * December 27th: Znowhite & Blind Illusion
 * December 28th: Vio-lence
 * December 29th: Basic Radio
 * December 30th: Metal Church & Forbidden
 * December 31st: D.R.I., Mentors & Melvins

Unlike other Eastern Front festivals, this years was held at Ruthie's Inn.

Eastern Front 1986
 * December 21st: Dayglo Abortions, Clown Alley, Sadus & Skitzo

Eastern Front 1989:
 * September 9th: Heathen, Primus, Defiance & Piranha

Other Shows
Wes Robinson also organized and promoted a few other shows at different venues in the Bay Area.


 * July 26th, 1985 @ Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium, Oakland: Suicidal Tendencies, Exodus, Possessed & Verbal Abuse. Billed as "Summer Slam".
 * November 26th, 1986 @ Scottish Rites Temple, Oakland: Suicidal Tendencies, Testament, Laaz Rockit & Forbidden
 * April 18th, 1992 @ Jenny Lind Hall, Oakland: Mentors & Verbal Abuse. Billed as "Ruthie's Inn in Exile".
 * September 23rd, 2006 @ Nimbly Warehouse, Oakland: Fang, Verbal Abuse, MDC. "Ruthie's Inn Reunion Show". This was the last show Robinson organized & promoted.