After successfully shoehorning myself into two shows of the
three I sought to attend this weekend, I’m left with one burning question: are
all these ugly people getting laid? No, I kid. My real question is: how do you
draw a crowd in this town? Begging? Milking social media? Lap dances?
Friday night I thought I’d head over to Dub Land Underground
for the Alexander Street joint’s swan song, its ride into the sunset, its big adios. Apparently a million people had the same idea,
as roughly 300 of them were piled up in line up the stairs and out to the
street just to get in the door. I got to wondering — if this wasn’t the club’s
last night, would all those people have stormed the place? If they had done
that routinely, would this have had to be the club’s last night? It seemed too
little, too late. It’s a shame that Dub Land was the one of the last — possibly
the only — remaining bastions of live music in this supposed entertainment
neighborhood.
I swung over to Abilene, which provided a little more room
with its leftover-from-happy-hour-crowd. They were all pumpin’
and sweatin’ to The Ghost Peppers’ funky soul as the
band stood on shaky ground and rocked it.
The Three Heads Brewing 3rd Annual Homegrown hootenanny at Lovin’ Cup Saturday was totally off the hook as a ton of
bands rocked a huge crowd. I suggest waiting a few months when it’s warmer and
move this event outside, as it was impossible to move indoors. I caught sets by
Moho Collective, which didn’t just play a set of
music, but took listeners on a salaciously seething, sonic sojourn. The band’s
wonder and thrill was shared by the audience — shaking asses, dropped jaws, and
all of that. Subsoil followed and absolutely killed it; the horn section, the
interwoven MCs, the funky bottom end all were just perfect. Best show I’ve seen
in a while. That’s how you get a crowd, sweetheart.
This article appears in Jan 8-14, 2014.
