5 points concert series

[The_sandlapper]

I read in the paper today that 5points and Columbia area has potential to have a great music seen, according to "Patrick Davis" who is starting a summer time concert series, called "The Texas Red Dirt Summer Concer Series", in the village of 5points. Concert Series

This idea seems to make sense I mean USC is stumbling distance from 5points. I say if Austin can do it why not Columbia? For those who are interested it is located at The Pub on Santee.

Has anybody else heard of this or has any thoughts about Columbia's current or establishing a future music seen.

[emerging.me]

I read in the paper today that 5points and Columbia area has potential to have a great music seen, according to "Patrick Davis" who is starting a summer time concert series, called "The Texas Red Dirt Summer Concer Series", in the village of 5points. Concert Series

This idea seems to make sense I mean USC is stumbling distance from 5points. I say if Austin can do it why not Columbia? For those who are interested it is located at The Pub on Santee.

Has anybody else heard of this or has any thoughts about Columbia's current or establishing a future music seen.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's no reason Columbia, as art-oriented as it is and as many students as we have here, can't have a music scene as cool as Raleigh-Durham. We just need the right venue with the right people running the show. I mean, Columbia has always had NBT, and that's a great place to see a show, but it's fairly niche -- a large niche in this area, but a niche just the same. Jammin' Java also brings in some great acoustic acts, but it's also niche. Beyond the kind of stuff this guy is talking about in his article, Columbia needs a venue like Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC -- a place where alternative/indie/progressive bands can come and play to a packed house. Just a quick glance over Cat's Cradle's schedule shows great acts like Iron & Wine and Horses (both have ties to Columbia but aren't even booked for a show here as far as I know), Eisley, Sigur Ros, Rogue Wave, and the Cary Brothers... all are popular indie-ish bands, but again nobody's even trying to book this kinda stuff here as far as I know.

[Trumble]

Columbia has had two ongoing, weekly (in spring and fall) live outdoor concert series for 5 or more years now; in 5 points at the fountain, and in the Vista in the parking lot behind Jillian's. Plus, there's the summer concert series in Finlay Park that runs late May through Labor Day on Saturdays from 7-10. So there's no shortage of available, quality music performed in that atmosphere.

Insofar as the club venue thing, in that article Patrick Davis says, "It has always seemed to me that Columbia just needs a few more quality venues(regardless of size) that are willing to put forth the effort, money and love needed to book, promote and produce quality shows."

I'd like to say to Mr. Davis and anyone else here who feels the same way, that venues like he's wishing for have not had an easy time of it in Columbia. Elbow Room and others like it have stuggled and died because they haven't been able get a good-sized crowd out every night of the week on a regular basis, and that's what a place like that needs to survive. We've got Headliners now... that is still going, I believe... they book top regional (and occasionally national) acts.

Also, I think this type of place would do better if (for their Sun.-Thurs. shows), they'd start the first band around 8 or 8:30, second band an hour to an hour and a half later (if there's a "middle band"), and the headliner should try to finish up around 12 or 12:30, so the working people can get up for work.

NBT has been doing a pretty good job in recent years of getting their Sun.-Thurs. shows going earlier so you don't have to hang around until 1:30 or 2 if you want to see the headliner's entire set. But other places like Elbow Room used to delay the start of the opening band for an hour or so, "waiting for a crowd to gather," seemingly to sell more booze to the restless patrons. All it did was tick people off and drive away people who have jobs, and that's not a good idea. I have some good friends who are huge fans of Southern Culture on the Skids, but they wouldn't even think about going to see them the last two times they played the ER because they work and they'd been burned by the late start syndrome the last time they'd seen them there.

Go up to Charlotte to Double Door Inn or to The Handlebar in Greenville and talk to the owner/managers of those excellent clubs if you want to know how massive an undertaking it is to have live music 7 nights a week. It's no small thing.

And sometimes whether a club goes beyond the locals thing is merely by chance. Double Door is where they are today mainly because of a freak occurrance. It was just a locals club until one night in the mid-70's when Eric Clapton dropped by after performing a concert somewhere in the city, if I remember correctly. He watched for awhile, then joined a local band to jam. There's a newspaper clipping about it on a post near the bar. Since then, it's been like he imparted some kind of "blues blessing" on the place, and they've been able to book the top touring blues acts. They host other types of music too, but the weekends are generally reserved for blues.

I'm not trying to get Columbians to leave town every weekend to hear good music, but serious music fans should go observe what's nearby.

http://doubledoorinn.com/

http://www.handlebar-online.com/

Oops... I forgot about another concert series... Rhythm on the River... I was just looking at the new Free Times and saw the ad on page 40.

http://rhythmontheriversc.com/