Tagged: wherewelive

Hear the whole show Seriously, what makes music annoying? What makes an album grating or bothersome to you? How is it that someone can enjoy something like Merzbow or Sunn O))) ? Why do I hate auto-tune so much? Recently, a public radio show that's produced out of the radio station I work for, WNPR , set out to answer that question through a series of guests on this episode . The whole thing seems to have come out because of this book: [...]

Ah, Revolution . When I was in high school this downtown Ft. Lauderdale venue was the Holy Land to me. To say the least, I come from a city where shows and venues are far and between. We have Culture Room, Revolution… and that's about it. Yet, some of my fondest memories came from Revolution. The first time I saw Jack's Mannequin and got to meet Andrew McMahon, watching Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds sing "Tony the Beat" one foot away, watching in amazement (and disgust) as Eric Sean Nally of Foxy [...]

The Drake Hotel , located on the thriving west end of Queen Street, has become one of Toronto's most formidable hot spots for cultural enthusiasts since its grand re-opening in 2004. Thanks to the lush decor and vibrant atmosphere of the bar/lounge, the year-round open Sky Yard Patio, and the contemporary music happenings at The Drake Underground, this picturesque Hotel is one the more impressive venues located in Toronto. The Drake is renown for being a hotbed of culture, merging the grandeur of vintage architecture with a contemporary intricacy that's both unique and exciting. Like other locales in [...]

Sometimes size really does matter. When I recount past concert experiences, I find that the best shows were in the smallest spaces, sometimes even the dingiest. Living in South Florida has taken me to venues from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, and while they all have their perks, to me, the most important aspect of a venue is how well the crowd can connect with the musicians. Thus far, the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale has proven to be my favorite. It's tiny, quaint, and homey. It's everything I like in a venue. [...]

Generally, Where We Live focuses on cherished venues and stellar record stores, stories of jaw-dropping acoustics and incredible past shows, the independent mom and pop shop remaining loyal to vinyl, impressive in-store performances, and the like. We paint pictures of the places that have shaped us, the places where we've had epiphanies and paradigm shifts and truly felt alive. Living in Nashville, the options are endless. We're spoiled, Music City, being able to frequent the Ryman Auditorium, Exit/In, and Mercy Lounge as well as Grimey's and Third Man. This week, though, the focus is on a different type [...]

" Turn it Up is the Bermuda Triangle of records from lost pasts." – A wise friend from New Jersey. I went to college in a small town in the middle of nowhere called Keene, New Hampshire. If you have been there, or know of its existence, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph. Keene is a small drinking town with a college problem, as a majority of the people living there are tied into the wonderful educational institution that has changed/ruined many lives. You see, it's got everything your cliché small town in New [...]

If there is one place you need to know in SLC ( which should no longer carry a negative connotation ), it's Kilby Court . Kilby is the home to every small hype band rolling through town, the home to your band (yes, my band played there many years ago), and the epicenter of Salt Lake's vast local scene. Basically, if you're starting a band, you know you're on the right track once you're playing the Christmas-lit stage of Kilby Court. Sure, there are plenty of venues all over town that put up big name acts five [...]

In Chicago, we have more record stores than you can shake a hipster at. Some are good if you want to find the newest rising star's CD or an old classic. Some have the best collections of jazz and blues you will ever come across. Some are a Sam Goody for all intents and purposes, which is fine. (I mean, people still like listening to Fallout Boy in this city, though most can say they knew them when they were just a garage band in the burbs.) But if you want to find all these things, plus one of the best [...]

If you wend your way to West London, Bush Hall is as civilized a place to listen to live music as you are likely to come across. The building has had any number of past incarnations: Dance hall, soup kitchen, and snooker hall are among them. The Rolling Stones even used it briefly as a rehearsal space in the '60s. Since 2001, Bush Hall has operated as a live music venue, though in common with others seeks to maximize its dollar by also touting for private party hire, product launches, film location shoots, and even weddings. A favorite [...]

There are spots in Ann Arbor that are hallowed ground for rock 'n' roll history. There's the Blind Pig, where, as Wayne Coyne once said on Pitchfork.tv , The Flaming Lips played a show with Nirvana and Steel Pole Bath Tub (and still plays host to artists from Ghostface to Cults). In the Herb David Guitar Shop, there's a chair in one corner where John Lennon once sat. But one of the most welcoming venues in town is The Ark, where you'd be hard up to find any serious rock 'n' roll or hip-hop. No, The Ark is [...]

It might be important to know that the Rock & Roll Hotel isn't really a hotel. If you think you're staying there for the night, you are sadly mistaken. Yes, the name says hotel, but this venue in Northeast Washington DC is not somewhere you would like to lodge for the evening. The Rock & Roll Hotel is a very retro type of venue. Decorated with old-school posters, pictures, furniture, and the like, it's the kind of place that just looks haunted. As you walk in, you have two choices of what to do. You can [...]

It's small, it's grimy, it's dark, and for some odd reason there's this damp mist to the air inside. But, for plenty of local acts around Chicago, it's the only place to call home. Smudged in the oddball, if not forgettable corner of Clark, Sheffield, and Newport, the Underground Lounge plays host to plenty of neighborhood regulars and a variety of hardcore and garage-punk acts around. Actually, anyone can play there. They've opened the bar to plenty of folk singer-songwriters and hundreds of indie acts. However, at its heart, the Lounge acts as the jagged tooth to the [...]

Los Angeles has been one of the most important and influential cities in the music world for decades. It's the home of numerous agencies and record labels, and many a band has formed or been discovered in the City of Angels. In a city where nothing stays the same for long, several of the venues of yesteryear have surprisingly survived, but none has a richer history than the Troubadour. According to its official website , the Troubadour has been host to an unbelievable amount of debuts, discoveries, record releases, and live albums in its 53 years. As impressive [...]

The venue located at 17 Irving Place in New York City has been named many things, including a short stint as The Filmore East at Irving Plaza, but now it's once again graced with the name that the venue is synonymous with: Irving Plaza. Officially, the venue is only allowed to house 999 people due to fire code regulations, but anybody that has attended a show there knows the truth of the matter: If you stuck the extra person in there for the even 1,000, the walls would fall off the place. A rectangular building which [...]

As Champ Kind once said to Ron Burgundy in Anchorman , "I miss your musk; I miss your scent." This is the perfect way to describe how I feel when I'm away from one of my favorite music venues in Los Angeles: Spaceland. Located in Silverlake, Spaceland is one of the few venues in the City of Angels where you can see a band on the rise without having to deal with the Sunset Strip or pay a fortune watching them open for another group at the one of the city's larger venues. Founded in 1995, according [...]

Nissan Pavil...Oh wait, Jiffy Lube Live, as it is now called, is an amphitheater in the middle of nowhere in Bristow, VA. It can seat up to 25,000 people and is the largest venue in the metropolitan area. It is considered the Washington, DC, stop for many tours, even though it's about 35 miles from the district. First of all, you'll have to look past the terrible name and, as anyone who is from this area will tell you: It will always be Nissan Pavilion. In DC we can appreciate change, but we also like to keep some things [...]

Summers are meant to be spent outdoors. Watching a beloved band under the summer sky is an annual pastime for music lovers, with amphitheaters large and small all over the world more than willing to oblige. With a music scene that continues to spawn intriguing acts, it is only natural that Brooklyn puts countless other markets to shame thanks to Prospect Park. Most of the entertainment at Prospect Park Bandshell is part of Celebrate Brooklyn!, a series of mostly free (a $3 donation is suggested) concerts throughout the summer months courtesy of BRIC Performing Arts . Artists [...]

Lots of you probably know where you like to get your music. For a lot of you, this location has been a BitTorrent client on your computer for the past few years. For some, it may be iTunes. For others still, it may be the local BestBuy or Target. However, for me, and for a scarce few of you, the place where you get your music has been, is, and remains your local mom-n-pop record store. Since I moved to Nashville and discovered the wonders of vinyl, none other than Grimey's New & Preloved Music has become my [...]

Tucked between Ernie's Pizza Café and Ronin Sushi Bar in the eclectic downtown district of the trendy Detroit, MI, suburb of Royal Oak is the Royal Oak Music Theatre , a historic yet often underestimated gem of a music venue. Located a few blocks away from the blues and BBQ bar where bartender Meg White met the man then known as John Gillis, the theatre appears unassuming from the outside. There's no indication that a surprisingly lavish theatre exists behind the one-way glass doors. The venue was built in 1928 as a vaudeville and movie [...]

Recently I wrote an article about a venue in my local community, the Lyric Theatre - a local theater and how it has evolved from a simple movie house to a venue of live performance and other community events. As you can see, I've been asked to write about another venue in my town. There's only problem. There aren't any - no venues where the primary reason for attending is a performance of sorts. If you want to go see bands in Blacksburg now, you have to either go to a small bar, a restaurant, or a hotel. [...]