Monday, January 31, 2011

What Have I Been Doing Lately?

This time of year, just when I most need some excitement, it gets hard to drag my ass out to shows.  By the time I would leave the house, it's been dark for four hours already, and getting off the couch seems like work.  I've been to a couple of things over the last month or so.  A friend's party with some good music.  New Year's Eve at Mississippi Studios with Dirty Mittens (great!), Ramona Falls (one of my favorites), and Heliosequence (good). 

A recent theme that is not making this project any easier is shows starting totally late.  A couple of weeks ago, I went to see Wild Flag at Bunk Bar.  We got there way early, figuring the place would be packed, and knowing that Bunk Bar sandwiches are better than anything we could have concocted at home for dinner.  I'm a pretty good cook, but damn.  Those are good sandwiches.  I got a grilled cheese, because I had eaten something and wasn't very hungry.  The grilled cheese was pretty ordinary, but the lovely boyfriend got a squash sandwich with bacon, and it was amazing.  I actually went back the next day for a sandwich because I was so disappointed that I hadn't been hungry enough for one of their real, serious creations.  We got there at 7:30, figuring people would be lined up, or at least start pouring in shortly thereafter.  No, it was pretty sparse there.  Glad we misestimated that way, rather than the other way, I guess.  The first band didn't start until after 10:00!  Late.  Drew Grow and the Pastors' Wives were supposed to open, but Drew Grow had apparently been in a pretty bad car accident (everyone who mentioned it said he'd be fine but had broken a bone or two), so Ramona Falls had stepped in to replace them.  Their NYE show was a bit more dynamic, but Brent Knopf is always awesome.  I loved that the stage was lit only by a utility light (you know, a bare bulb at the end of an extension cord, with a plastic cage and a hook) that was just laid on the floor of the stage.  This was Ramona Falls' first show since Brent announced he was leaving Menomena, or in other words, their first show as Brent's main project.  Wild Flag spent a lot of time setting up, and hung the utility light from the rafters.  So damn bright!  I guess they had someone filming.  I have to admit, my first thought about WF was, "Gee, another band that wants to sound like Sleater-Kinney....oh, wait..."  As the set went on, they became tighter and just looked like they were all having lots of fun.  Even Janet Weiss had this big, genuine grin on her face.  By the end, I was really enjoying it.

A couple of nights ago, I went to see a show at Branx.  Not normally a venue I would go to, but it was to see The Thermals.  I don't get that opportunity nearly enough!  The show had been changed from the 20th to the 28th, and the door time on the website had been changed from 8 to 7.  We got there at 7, and there was a line.  Doors weren't open.  We waited a few minutes, got bored and cold, and went to Produce Row for a beer.  We went back to Branx about 8, and the line had gotten really really long.  But about 8:20, it was clear that doors weren't at 8, either.  I'm a huge proponent of all-ages music in theory, but I have to say, I'm not always a fan of hanging out with high school kids, especially as they stand in line, showing off for each other and practicing smoking cigarettes (they weren't very good at it).  So we went off to La Merde for another drink and some Trivial Pursuit questions.  We were back at 9, and they were just starting to let people in.  We got in line, and slowly moved inside.  Guidance Counselor was just starting to set up.  I love Guidance Counselor.  As much fun as they were when they were messy nerd-punk wildness, as the band gets tighter, it's just as fun and maybe even more so.  Ian's got this total art-school-rock Devo/early Talking Heads thing going on now, which is just amazing.  They finish up, and I start listening to some of the chatter around us.  "Did you see Wampire?"  "No, did they play already?"  "I heard they played at 9, were you in yet?"  What the fucking fuck?  The first band played before the audience was in the venue?

I understand why all-ages music isn't doing well in this town, if that's how shit gets run.

I was terribly disappointed I missed Wampire!  I've only seen them once, and it was a super-short set at PDX Pop Now! this past summer.  Not that this set was much longer (and on the same stage, actually). 

Last up, The Thermals.  They've got marvelous energy, and it seems to emanate from Kathy Foster's hair.  Sorry, Paul Alcott, but your hair is maybe only #2 in town for most amazing to watch during a set.  They may not have been as into their set as I've seen them, but they don't put on a bad show.  They've got really good and great, and this show was really, really good.

On a side note, the place has been cleaned up a bit.  a few new "walls" (framing and drywall that goes partway to the ceiling), a small bar area for the 21-and-up crowd, a nicer stage with an enclosed backstage area.  Oh, and some spray-insulation on the ceiling, perhaps to minimize noise from Rotture upstairs.  The bathrooms looked kinda clean, too, at least upstairs in Rotture, with some of the graffiti covered up and real locks on the (still handmade plywood) stall doors.  Things that still need to be fixed:  Doors at 7 should not mean doors at 9.  Doors at 9 should not mean first band starts the second the doors open.  The ventilation system is still all closed off, and I'm not sure if that really means there is genuinely no ventilation in the place...how could that be legal?  Yet the ventilation system has cool air running through it, even though the vents have metal plates bolted over them, because after an hour of sweaty kids dancing, water starts to condense on them and drip onto the crowd below. 

I'm not sure it's the best this town can do for all-ages music.  I could rant and rave all day about the closure of Berbati's (occasionally all-ages), The Artistery, and Satyricon all within a month or so, but cripes, is this the kind of place we want carrying the torch?  Long live Backspace, and I'll even give some props to the split-floor arrangements at the Crystal Ballroom and the Wonder Ballroom.  I just wish there was another way.  More ways.  More places.  I was a sixteen-year-old kid hopping in my (thanks, dad!) 1975 Volkswagen Beetle as soon as I was old enough and driving into Minneapolis to go to all-ages shows at First Avenue, but that place is on the same circuit as the Crystal.  It's not like other towns have it that much better, those all-ages venues on a smaller scale in other places don't survive either.  Is it because I want a beer with my show?  Is it because kids are ghettoized in this country and adults don't want to hang out with them? 

What is this better way?