Newt Briggs of The Las Vegas Mercury reports that "with his sneakers, jean shorts and sun-bleached surfer-shag, 16-year-old Sierra Vista High student Kirk Homeyer doesn't look like the typical punk--at least not that safety-pinned, spiky-headed scofflaw who's haunted parents' nightmares for the past two decades. If anything, Homeyer looks a bit like the kid who played Ralph Macchio's blond-haired, blue-eyed nemesis Johnny in the first 'Karate Kid' movie. But definitely not like a punk.

"Still, at a recent show at the Huntridge Theater, he is immersed in a roiling mass of bodies — all of them bumping and shoving in a flailing riot of arms and elbows and hair. Homeyer, who's been attending punk shows for as long as he can remember, surges with the melee as it ebbs and swirls, pinballing among friends and strangers in the delirious ecstasy of the mosh pit.

"For a few moments, he feels breathless and vital — right up until the point when he's thrown hard to the concrete floor. As people scramble to help him up, Homeyer finds himself confronted by an unknown (and unprovoked) foe, a brutish man-child with backwards hat and hands balled into fists. In a flash, 75 vibrant moshers are reduced to languid gawkers — the pit's glee forgotten in the face of looming violence.

" 'Moshing used to be a lot of fun,' says Homeyer, who escapes the encounter with little more than a scraped knee and a sour taste in his mouth. 'But now all these jocks and college kids have caught on, and they come to the shows and try to get into fights. It was never like this before. It wasn't about one-on-one or who was the toughest. It was about coming together and dancing and having a good time.'

"Homeyer's grouse is quickly becoming a familiar refrain among local denizens of the mosh pit — a fact that comes as no surprise to UNLV sociologist Matt Wray. Although Wray is hesitant to link mosh-pit aggression with an overall trend toward youth violence (a downward spiral typified by alleged suburban gangsters the 311 BOYZ), he is quick to point out that culture clash plays a pivotal role in fueling concert tumult.

" 'Even though it can look pretty violent, moshing was born out of a culture that more or less agreed it wasn't cool to try to hurt other people,' says Wray. "When that smashes up against a bunch of bored, methamphetamine-fired, suburban white boys--most of whom have no idea what an authentic subculture might look like--then you're asking for misunderstandings. Since the activity has been ripped from its original context, it can be misinterpreted as an opportunity to beat the crap out of somebody.' " Read more.