So I've been getting used to a few things about the future recently. First off, Amanda is moving to Lansing Saturday. Her apartment is basically complete, minus (of course) her presence. It's setting in that we're going to be here for a little while. I'm happy about it. Lansing has a cool ambience that I miss about a lot of areas. It has the college atmosphere if you want that. Certainly has a ton of art-related activities happening if you want to hear a recital or a symphony concert, or go see some theater either local or whatever is passing through MSU and the Wharton Center. There are movie nights at Wells Hall (a four dollar date for the two of us) and shopping galore. There's a nice vintage shop (Scavenger Hunt), some cool antique places (Williamston Antique Mall off of Grand River!) and straight malls galore. Driving wise, we're not too far from Detroit area attractions and close to Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo. Hell, Chicago is only about 3 hours away...2 hours if you count the fact that you get there an hour earlier than usual.
But in any case, we are here in Lansing for real. We'll be getting married in Dearborn, but we will be settling in Lansing at least for a while. Amanda has a great job at John Bailey and Associates (moving from the Troy to the Lansing office) and once I finish student teaching at Everett High School, I'll be moving on to a music job somewhere within about an hour of Lansing. A commute isn't an issue for me beyond the pressure it'll put on my vehicle.
Speaking of which, jobs are starting to pop up around the state so it will be only a matter of time before some jobs will be "resume-able" as they say. Already some are available just outside of my commuteable distance, and more are bound to appear...if not I can substitute until Fall of 07.
I'm getting used to eating outside of East Lansing proper where even though great food exists, I can grab good cheap tasty stuff throughout the Lansing area, especially some cool places over by Everett High School when I'm working. One place in particular I've enjoyed recently is the Quality Dairy on Cedar (and to a lesser extent Cavanaugh). The Cedar Quality Dairy is truly "a mecca" of easy quickie marts, as one of my colleagues told me. Coffee creamer is delivered from a jet-spring machine rather than in little cups, and the sandwiches are fresh looking and tasty. Most important, the service is pretty positive in the morning, something that isn't always the case as I've experienced it at the Cavanaugh QD. Both QD's do offer SHOCK coffee which is basically better brewed coffee (possibly chemically treated though...) to give you far more caffeine then in a normal 12 ounce glass. And that is all you can get; 12 ounces is the biggest "shock" glass they offer. So, some may argue you might as well get the 24 ounce because it's more than likely the same amount of caffeine. I guess my reasoning for the SHOCK sometimes is it'll give me the dose I need in the morning without the digestive issues that sometimes spring up from drinking 24 ounces of coffee.
The Music scene here is another matter entirely. Things look grim. After the closing of the Temple Club, local bands and artists (such as myself now since I live here) are left wondering where shows may end up happening. Lansing City Pulse had a few articles about the Temple Club including
local neighbor buisness pondering the collapse, and one that directly ponders the future of the scene and how it's
in limbo. It seems as though everyone is stating the obvious. Things are in trouble. We need some venues that don't have as many cons as they have pros. We need some East Lansing venues where people play at both places. We need some Lansing people who are willing to put up with college kids and some college kids willing to put up with Lansing people. Something is going to happen...bad? good? Too soon to tell really. All you can do is keep doing your best.
I understand that it's a pretty difficult scenario for a lot of the musicians in the area. I understand that many musicians take the easy route out and either say they aren't from Lansing or go on and on about how they are better than the Lansing area. I guess recently I've started to just look at local music and say something that we've gotten into the habit of saying at Everett High School; "It is what it is." This zen-like approach to things seems easy to swallow for me, at least. I think polarizing yourself on either extreme is pretty negative to the area. Being so hardcore about the "local" scene that you shut out newcomers and future possible-fans by way of cult-like identity doesn't help...and neither does the "we're too great for this area because this area sucks" syndrome help matters.
Audience has a lot to do with it. I run into bands that are very happy with their relationship with their audience and when they play shows it is clear that they enjoy that relationship. It is inspiring to see a group of people interacting so positively about music or any art form. However, I run into far more bands that act as though they know their audience well enough to go through the motions and give them what they want. These aren't bands that whole-heartedly enjoy the performance and relationship with the audience...these are bands that play ________rock or _________blues and expect that if the guy is hooting and hollering he wants more cock-rock posturing from the lead guitarist. These are bands that serve their audience only as far as to get whatever they want out of it.
In some ways, music is always individual and frankly selfish. You do end up doing what you want at shows, right? And certainly art in general gets connected to Freudian ideas of the "release" of emotions and feelings that are hidden inside. However, selfishness and straight up posturing are too very different things. The college kids in East Lansing tend to enjoy music that welcomes them...it's music that even if never directly stated, somehow communicates an interest in this college-aged attention. I'm sure a lot of songwriters would get in here at this point and say "I just do what I do and people like it or they don't" but I am going to go out on a limb and say that no songwriter I know local or otherwise doesn't write songs and construct performances and albums without some kind of intent. That intent may be personal, but that personal intent ends up expressing itself to a certain audience.
So there seems to be little or no people interested in coming out on a Thursday to see some new local act in Lansing no matter how well the record is tarted up. Is it because, as ex-Lansinger Steve The-Booking-Zeuz says, people in Lansing area are behind the times. Maybe. Maybe not. Frankly, I don't think that'll help. Being with the times. Being with WHOSE times. I bet most everybody that went to see Cursive last year may not be exactly up on the best up and coming hip hop artist in Michigan. They may be with the times based on what's on Pitchforkmedia, but sorry Pitchfork...you don't have a hold on everything. I'm saying that getting with the times and what is hip may not even help the area...if the audience is set up that way then it is set up that way...I think, again, blaming audience isn't going to help audience. The audience needs to feel welcomed or be coaxed into checking out a band. This starts by having acts and venus and employees of those venues (including booking, music stores, etc) that are interested in connecting with anybody, whether they know who clap your hands say yea is or not. That seems kind of annoying if these potential fans are like "you sound a lot like black sabbath meets joni mitchell with a dash of supertramp..." But again, it is what it is.
The real question I pose is a simple one. Do we need a scene in the way we all pray for? Does a lack of Seattle in the 80s-90s, Birmingham UK in the late 60s, New York in the late 70s, mean that there is a problem with music. I think if you look at all the music out there (which is impossible), and consider how many flashy 'cool' scenes that exist all over the planet compared to how much music is being made where there isn't a scene within an hour...my assumption is that these scenes are on the rare side rather than the common side.
So, music venues need to welcome their hometown heros, but as for a "scene..." I don't really know if a wild and exciting scene is that necessary. It would be nice...but that isn't what it is right now....Good music happens all over the place. Good venues don't.
