Mini-road-trip

Today Irv, Ron, and I went out to Skelletones to meet with the new owner, JR, who's taking over for Mirf in January, and changing the venue to "The Mixtape". He's a nice kid, and he's got some good ideas, but doesn't quite understand booking on the level that Skelletones had reached. It's going to be tough sledding for him.

However, the thing that stuck in my head is how perfect the space was. It was the nicest show space of its size I've been to. Perfectly laid out. Clean. And it had character. I could feel the hard work that was poured into that place. It had an energy about it, something that only something created by young people could have. The same energy that the Local used to have. It's something that Mac's Bar will never have, nor will any of our rental venues had. It was simply a feeling of a 2nd home, similar to the feeling I had at Norm's Pool Hall when I was younger. It was just where I belonged.

Anyway, logistically, it was perfect. We're going to try to put a few shows out there, but I'm concerned about the distance, and about all the things up against us being successful out there.

I truly wished that downtown Howell or East Lansing would be open to such a place. In a conservative place like Grand Rapids, they've turned this little corner of downtown into their own place. Vertigo Music is a top-notch record store. The DAAC is a little art gallery that does shows. And then Skelletones and the Mixtape are there. Sadly, it'll never happen in Howell or Brighton. Kids aren't welcome, which is why people will never shop downtown. People would deal with the parking issues. It's not that at all. It's simply the lack of a vibrant place where someone 23 years old would want to be. Sterile. Bleak. Uninteresting. That's Howell's problem. It's not that Wal-Mart is putting you out of business. It's that you're so busy catering to the 45 year olds, the 15 year olds are looking for somewhere else to live.

In East Lansing, it's a different story. Real estate is so expensive, it would never happen. Actually, that's an issue in Howell too, but it'd never get to that point. Skelletones is kind of located in a forgotten part of downtown, "the ghetto" if you will. But it's two blocks from the vibrant downtown, called by many as one of the most active downtowns in the country.

Anyway, it was amazing, inspiring all at once, but also depressing to know that it's not ever going to work in my hometown, this place that I'm stuck for life.