Philadelphia Street Style: James, in Pursuit of Punk Rock Authenticity on South St

I took these shots of James in an alleyway off of South St while several panhandling crust punks hurled insults at us from across the street. I don't know what they were yammering about. I heard the words "Hot Topic" uttered at one point. The heckling, however, may very well have been directed more towards me than him, since I had just turned them down both for money and a photo op.  My selection of James may have seemed like a direct affront to whatever half-baked political ideology was justifying their harassing tourists for money on South St. James, no doubt, was a cleaned up version of how they dressed themselves, more expensive, for sure, and less confrontational in its presentation. I sincerely doubt, however, that he bought any of this outfit at Hot Topic (well, maybe the bullet belt).

So is he an authentic punk rocker? Does he represent the "true voice" of punk? Who gives a shit?! That debate got stale decades ago. Are you an asshole if you heckle other people for dressing more or less exactly like you do? Yes.