Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM

Underused Venues

I was in Seattle last week - which is bursting with cool live-music venues - and it got me thinking about spots in Albuquerque with a lot of charm and potential that somehow never quite manage to achieve what they could. I'm not talking about places like the Sunshine or the Launchpad that have shows every night/weekend, but mostly book bad music...their unfulfilled potential is a whole 'nother post. I guess I'm thinking about spots like the El Rey or Golden West that could seemingly book cool shows every night, but don't. Can anyone think of any others, or spots like the El Madrid that used to have a lot going on, but fell out of the game? What can we do to "encourage" underused venues like these to step up and help revitalize live music in ABQ?

Tags: clubs, live, music, venues

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Edith Grove on November 29, 2007 at 4:03pm: Good question. I'd like to see the Golden West/El Rey reach a new golden age. Such a cool venue, but so very sporadic as far as acts booked, drink price/quality and treatment of musicians. Sometimes I wonder about community support for the amazing group of musicians that reside in Albuquerque. The venues will rise and fall by the hands of their owners. They're not necessarily in it for the music, but more for business reasons. Maybe the question should be...what can we do to generate more community support for local music in ABQ?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on November 29, 2007 at 5:24pm: It seems like Albuquerque's local music scene is less a "scene" than a collection of disparate artists without much in the way of a common sound or common inspirations. That has both plusses and minuses (maybe more plusses than minuses in the grand scheme of things), but it makes Albuquerque's local scene harder for newcomers or outsiders to get a sense of.

Two other things would probably help, too. Another higher-profile local act a la the Shins or Scared of Chaka ten years ago would be good. More importantly, though, another person or two with good contacts at venues and with local and national bands needs to start regularly booking cool shows. I know there are some folks in town who do good work, but it's amazing what a new, vigorous perspective can do...Tucson went from a musical cul-de-sac to a place with a palpable musical ferment in a matter of just a few years, and it was mostly due to a single committed promoter. (Of course, Calexico, Giant Sand, and the sound they inspired helped a lot, too).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by sophie on November 29, 2007 at 8:19pm: Phil:

I firmly believe that that local promoter is Neal Copperman, who's doing amazing things with the AMP concert series:

http://dukecity.ning.com/profile/nealcopperman
http://www.abqmusic.com

There's a difference, though, between bringing in music from other parts of the country and world, and fostering a local music scene. And what Edith said above about the attitude of the venue owners is really important. I know that things are changing, for instance, at the Kimo, but for years the reputation of that place was that staff made it a really tough place to book and present. Ditto with the El Rey.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by neal copperman on November 29, 2007 at 10:21pm: Wow, thanks Sophie!

I'll try to start posting show announcements to this list, but the best way to keep up with what we are doing is to get on our e-mail announcement list. Drop me a note and I'll be happy to add you. We also keep our web site very up-to-date.

I sent out an announcement to the list today about two more shows that we just booked into the Golden West in January In addition, we put on a monthly acoustic music showcase at the Windchime Champagne Gallery.

Here's what we have brewing in the Golden West:

January 12: Band of Heathens
Winner of the 2006/2007 Best New Band from the Austin Chronicle, and 2nd place for album and song of the year. I've seen them several times and they have a great live show. They remind me a lot of The Band.

January 20: Chuck Prophet
Onetime leader of Green on Red, Chuck has been a staple of the Bay Area music scene for over a decade.

January 27: Sofia with JT Lindsay
Sofia are a side project of Awna and Alli, the frontwomen of Po' Girl, who we have presented several times (at the Golden West and the Lobo)

At Windchime, we've got:

December 6: Boulder Acoustic Society
A madcap combo with ukuleles, kazoos, accordion, and more. No telling what they will do. They go from a hilarious updated 60's draft dodger song to an acoustic Yes cover sung by their accented Chinese American fiddle player.

January 14: Terri Hendrix & Lloyd Maines
Folkies from Texas, though Lloyd is also a renown producer and dobro player.

February 15: Caji and Salomé
Brazilian music, and a lot more.

And I guess I should mention that we also have Marc "Walking in Memphis" Cohn at the El Rey on December 12.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SCA Contemporary on March 22, 2009 at 7:04pm: Neal,

I am a recent proprietor of an alternative art space, that can also be used as a music venue? You can check out our website to get an intro to the space, let me know what your think.

sheri; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on November 30, 2007 at 10:31am: Agree 100%, Sophie...I actually had Neal in mind when I wrote my last reply. Certainly the list of shows below is a sight more progressive and diverse than the offerings at some of Albuquerque's other downtown venues. I'm especially happy to see so much going on at the Golden West...it's a great venue, and I'm glad to see that the owners are being coaxed out of the shell they seemed to be in for so long. The Kristen Hersh show there last fall was great...and extremely well-attended.

Is burnout a factor in ABQ right now? Ten years ago it seemed like the local scene was really cooking on the punk/indie rock/alt-country end, with bands like the Shins, Scared of Chaka, Hazeldine, Bring Back Dad, Silver, the Eyeliners and quite a few others leading the charge. The singles released on Joe Anderson's Science Project label were a big part of propagating that scene, and shows at Launchpad and the Sunshine played a major role too. It seemed like those clubs also brought in a wider variety of touring bands...I recall several great shows at Launchpad in the mid-90s. Now I'm told by someone who knows Joe that he thinks "indie rock just doesn't sell" and prefers booking metal and commercial hip-hop because the audience is guaranteed...what happened there?

Any number of indicators, from the top-selling CDs at Natural Sound to the presence of cool local bands like the Handsome Family, Edith Grove and the Lowlights to the success of the recent Shins, New Pornographers, and Modest Mouse shows to the number of people with little black glasses, beards and sweaters I see almost anywhere I go, would suggest ABQ is a fertile place for an indie/alt-country/folk revival. I'm glad you're aware of that, Neal - I wish some of the other players in town were as well.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by neal copperman on November 29, 2007 at 10:26pm: It seems like Soular are likely to be leading that charge.

And The Handsome Family (returning to the Launchpad in February).

I wonder what role the local record labels play (or fail to play) in that scene. We have several local labels, but not any that seem to have a strong presence or common sounding roster. I kind of feel like most bands are self-producing CD's instead of having a local label. In Santa Fe, Frogville has a roster that seems to give it a vibe.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on November 30, 2007 at 10:39am: I've yet to really listen to Soular...but yeah, they sure seem to have an audience. I agree with you about the Handsome Family, too. I was glad to see them on the Launchpad lineup. Here's hoping they'll start playing out a lot more.

Label-wise, you're right - the current crop seems pretty moribund. They play a big role, too...it seems like every time ABQ's scene has really started to gel, a record label has been behind it...Resin in the early '90s, Science Project in the mid-late '90s, etc. But most of those labels primarily thrived on vinyl singles - is there a place for the locally-produced 45 in the iPod age?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by sophie on December 2, 2007 at 1:18pm: Or locally-produced music on this site? There's at least one decent music hosting site out there, which artists could use to bring their singles onto the Fix a la YouTube (I'll do a write-up on this one of these days).

Truly, do the artists have to have 45s if we can download their work online?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Phil_0 on December 2, 2007 at 3:04pm: It's a good question, and one I haven't figured out yet. I haven't bought a 45 in years but am still sort of tied to the tangibility of physical objects like records and CDs, especially where local artists are concerned. Maybe it's generational; I don't know why. I also wonder if the concept of a "local scene" doesn't mean something completely different post-MySpace. Does the possibility of limitless, instantaneous distribution world-wide compromise closely-knit networks of local musicians somehow? Open them up to a bigger audience and more input, but also dilute them a bit?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by neal copperman on December 2, 2007 at 3:21pm: I don't think that MySpace and digital distribution inherently hurt a local scene, but they do shift the focus of how people spend their energy and their time. Previously, a local band might work first to hone their skills and develop their audience before looking to wider circles. With MySpace and the internet, a similar effort automatically targets an international audience as well as a local one.

I think what you lose from the record labels, and even to some extent from the physical product, is building that community. Good record labels created events, and getting physical product required some kind of personal interaction, which all contribute to a local music community.

There is theoretically the ability to do that with all the on-line social networking options, but MySpace distorts and waters down what a community is, in large part because the scope is so large. Plus, it feels like (from my experience), MySpace community interaction is fleeting. On-line communities like DCF or even e-mail lists have a focus that feels more like a community then an international phone book.

I do think on-line communities CAN be fostered to develop and compliment a local music scene, but I'm not really sure how to go about it.

As almost an aside, it seems like MySpace is created its own alternative internet. I know people who only use MySpace for communication and don't have an e-mail address.

neal

now playing: Idols of Exile - Jason Collett; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ayax on December 2, 2007 at 4:09pm: Neal, a while ago I had a short email conversation with Jamie of Fanman in Santa Fe. I was wondering about some 'semi-big' acts (the Rufus Wainwright/Young Mr. Lennon ticket comes to mind) that played SF, but somehow skipped our town. He said something like 'It is very hard to book acts in ABQ...'
Hmmm... What does that mean?
Plus: We have some seldom used venues here with 'regular' old folks seating, like the Lobo, the Highland. What's with those?; ▶ Reply to This