Jeff, This is tough, but I am gonna have to take a pass on this. Being a late weeknight show that requires an 88 mile round trip, well, that's probably a bit much. For some reason, I was thinking this place was in the loop, but maybe I was thinking of another venue. It's too bad because I was looking forward to hearing y'all.
I don't blame you. The truth is we were asked by another band to do this gig. We haven't really even promoted it that much. The club sent us this email saying that bands who bring the most people have a CHANCE of opening for a band on the weekend. Gee, thanks. It seems like it will be a nice place and I'm looking forward to playing, but I won't be surprised if we play to 10 people (including the 5 bar staff people and the 5 members of the band that played before us) considering it is very late on a school night. But, no biggie.
Actually, it was good. The bartendress and the sound guy were super cool. Very good sound guy, in fact, and really really nice - always a good thing. There was a good crowd on Thursday, surprisingly, but the place isn't all that big, so anything looks like a crowd. I went back Friday to catch a band that a friend of mine knew and the crowd was about the same as Thursday. The stage is REALLY high off the ground and there are basically no stairs. So, expect load-in to be a little awkward. Also, the stage is fairly deep front to back but narrow side to side making for an interesting setup. It did sound good on stage and the lighting system there is like a freakin' concert venue - especially with the fog machine. Overall, good gig and a nice place. I'd definitely play there again.
BTW, gwayneco, the guy who opened on Friday is someone you would really like. Remind me to tell you about him - kinda Steve Earl-ish.
Did you use the back door? If I remember right, you can just pull your car right up to it (in the nasty back alley) and presto....there's the stage.
Yeah, you can, but the door is 3 1/2 feet off the ground and the stage is another foot above that. The problem isn't the proximity, it's the height. BTW, I met your horn player outside the rehersal room a couple weeks back. I told her to tell you I said, "Hello."
Any Live R&B/JAZZ/HIPHOP beyond T-Town, Red Cat and. . . uhm . .what else Rocket River spoken word is good too
For jazz try: Cezanne Scott Gertner's Sky Bar Helios (during the week) Magnolia Bar (Magnolia Hotel) Brasil Sambuca Ovations Bossa (Latin) Don't know much about the R&B/Hip Hop scene.