Once more, with feeling.

As much as I try to avoid the "What IS punk?" and "What is punk ENOUGH?" questions, those are exactly what I've been getting lately.

DEAR ASK A PUNK=
I don't just listen to punk music. Sometimes it is great and what I'm in the mood for but sometimes I find it boring, and I think the guys who yell the loudest are just posing or something. Like in order to be punk that's all you can be 24/7. Is it? - Doubtful.

Dear Doubtful -
As I type this reply I'm listening to vintage Hawaiian music on pandora.com ...Do yourself a favor, create a station there and type in "Sol Hoopii "...awesome.... and no, I'm not getting a kickback from pandora nor from Sol. There are almost as many kinds of music out there as there are people playing it and, for most of them anyway, it is the voice of their souls. Nearly all of it is worth at least a cursory listen... There are exceptions of course. Hello Jonas Brothers.

All that said, I'll admit that I was also the guy who, the day after hearing his first Ramones song listened to little else for the next three years. There is something to be said for that laser-focused passion you feel when some sonic thing cuts through all the static & bullshit and speaks directly to you and for you. That sort of encounter can, at least temporarily, make everything else sound as pointless and weak as air slowly escaping from a tire.

Forgive people their passions, but if you seriously feel like you're somehow being judged by them, just move on. So many people think they know "what being Punk really means." ...but they only know what it really means for them. Just as you only know what it means for you. So you like the music "sometimes" ... Maybe that means you just like the music but you're not really "into" Punk... Fine. No harm in that, I guess ...assuming you don't also want to appear to be into punk when you're not. Are you also appropriating the aesthetic? I think the most likely posers are the people who dress the part, like it is a costume/identity they're trying to steal, but they know nothing of the ethos behind it.

Be yourself. Like what you like, and don't pretend to be something you're not.
...and THAT, my friend, is the definition of "Punk."

Aloha.