Captain Robert and Public displays of Affection

Captain Robert from Abney Park is a little defensive in his latest post about disruptive behavior during rehearsal.  His language is a little gruff:

A little Whiskey or a little rum…okay, A LOT if Whiskey…and they are all over each other. In front of the rest of the band, in front of fans, in front of my kids.

It started as ass grabbing, arms around each others shoulder, dancing, pretending it was a joke…but as the months went on it turned into more. Mooney eyes, pretend kisses leading into real kisses, leading into full on tongue swapping! IN THE MIDDLE OF FUCKING SONGS! And the worst thing is, when they do it, their guitars rub together, and that messes up there playing, and then we got to start the songs all over again (Captain Robert)!

I don't know Robert personally, though I wish I did.  It would be easier to wrap my head around this.

Some people don't like public displays of affection

I know many of these people, and in fact I have been married to one for 12 years.

I am a little concerned that Robert could be labeled as homophobic for his rant.  Honestly, it doesn't take much these days to earn the label.  I have even been accused of Homophobia, and I am gay!

My impression of Robert

From reading his blog, listening to his music, and watching his videos, I tend to believe Robert is a dedicated and passionate about the future of Abney Park, and anything he sees as a threat to that would engender his rage.

His band mates not focusing on rehearsal is just the sort of thing I can see him flying off the handle about.

Leave the children out of it

I wish Robert would have left his children out of this.

I have mixed feelings about the effect on children of seeing grown people making out, but invoking the kids doesn't help his argument.

Personally, I would rather my kids (if I had any) see a public display of affection than to see me (I don't know if Robert was drinking or not) and my friends imbibing copious amounts of whiskey and rum.  I wish the kids had not been mentioned.

The other sides of the story

I really wish we had the other side of the story.  The nature of Robert's actions will be under a cloud of suspicion until we know the opinions of the other people in the room.

I hope Robert is right that this is not homophobia, but honestly, we cannot know one way or the other until we hear from the others.