It’s not always the most peaceful place on the floor of the Metro, located on Clark street in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. It’s a Tuesday night, and hordes of screaming fans flood towards the stage in order to catch a glimpse of the night’s headlining act, the New Jersey originated Streetlight Manifesto. However, on the grand perspective, the date and even the band are totally irrelevant to the experience; this is how it is every night.
Although the music scene of Chicago and the nation at large has changed rather dramatically over the Metro’s 25 years of existence, the same basic crowd base hasn’t. Those who witnessed the birth of the now famous Smashing Pumpkins within the walls of the Metro in 1988 now come to see the Chicago-born math rock group Maps and Atlases.
“We’re seeing the second, even third generations of the Metro community come to the shows now,” said Jenny Lizak, the publicist for Metro Chicago as well as a self-proclaimed concert junkie.
A major part of the appeal of the Metro according to many of its fans is the inherent nostalgia that comes with the venue’s long history within the community.
The Metro has been a presence within the Lakeview community since 1982, as a result owner Joe Shanahan’s return to Chicago from New York City, where he experienced the infamous New York club scene first hand.
“I came back (to Chicago), and I realized there weren’t any clubs like CBGB (a New York based club that played host to the American punk rock explosion of the 70s),” said Shanahan, “so I wanted to fix that.”
The club, which began its life in the parties Shanahan would throw in his personal loft, soon spilt out into the streets, branching out into DJ-driven parties in local art galleries, to finally its current location. The building, which originally housed a Swedish Community Center when it was built in 1927, was home to a jazz and folk club, Stages, when Shanahan came across it.
Shananhan opened the Smart Bar, now located in the basement of the Metro, in July of 1982. Groundbreaking DJs, such as the now legendary DJ Frankie Knuckles, frequently worked the turntables, while Chicago industrial icons Ministry and Trent Reznor showed off their new material to an eager crowd.
The current era of the Metro was born a month later, when the then virtually unused “big room” (now the main stage of the venue) played host to a relatively unknown at the time act from Athens, Georgia, that went by the name of R.E.M.
The Metro quickly established itself as a place for those within the Chicago music scene to cut their teeth, hosting memorable shows from such acts as Big Black and Naked Raygun. Soon, the Metro spread its booking influence outside of the Chicago community, and by 1986, the venue had played host to the Minutemen, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Replacements, Slayer, Husker Du, Sonic Youth, and virtually every influential act of the day.
According to Jim DeRogatis, the Pop Music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, the Metro served as a focal point for many of the subcultures that would ultimately make their impact on the mainstream. In the 80s, Chicago served as the melting pot for the emerging industrial genre, and the deep, electronic and brooding beats echoed nightly
In the 90s, the tone (although certainly not the nihilist attitude) changed, with the birth of the Smashing Pumpkins two years prior (Technically, Smashing Pumpkin’s 1988 debut at the Metro was not their first show, it was their third, however, it was the first show with their completed line-up), the venue soon found itself in the middle of the grunge explosion. Vecura Salt, Liz Phair, and Urge Overkill all cut their teeth within the walls of the venue, Soundgarden and Sonic Youth produced now legendary shows, and Nirvana debuted several songs from their 1991 breakthrough album, “Nevermind”, in a concert that has now become one of the most sought-after bootlegs of the time period.
However, history alone isn’t the deciding factor to the Metro’s continued popularity and relevance within the music world. After all, most of the similar sized clubs in Chicago, including the Aragon Ballroom and the Riviera can boast similar line-ups throughout the years, but neither of these clubs seem to have the same sense of community as does the Metro.
“A lot of the community comes from consistency,” said DeRogatis. “Unlike most of the venues in Chicago, the Metro’s been owned by the same guy, independently, for over 25 years. Time’s the only way to get that community. If your booking’s solid, and it stays solid, the respect comes eventually.”
“The atmosphere is just awe-inspiring,” said Christine Covak, who has been frequently attending shows at the Metro for the last five years. “You go in there, and it's this classy as fuck place, with really ornate decorations and just this classic attitude. You contrast that with whatever unbelievably hip band is playing that night, and then you start thinking about everything that’s gone down on that stage, and it just makes you take a step back.”
For many fans, the Metro has served as the birthplace of their live music experience. The Metro is where they have their first concert, expose themselves to new genres of music and new schools of thinking, and usually, they get hooked.
“On my 18th birthday, I headed to the Metro to celebrate with the first of now many concerts of my life, “ said Noel Fotz, a 20 year old Lakeview resident. “It was 2005, and I saw The Promise Ring and Make Believe, and I can’t even begin to tell you how hip I felt just standing in the same room as them. Without a doubt, it was that moment that made me a music fan. I mean, sure, I always used to listen to music, but after that concert, I started to feel it.”
Although the Metro has firmly cemented its part within the music community in Chicago, that’s not to say its future is absolutely certain. According to DeRogatis, who has done extensive research on the subject, the booming popularity of both the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza, which both book similar bands as the Metro, can take away potential acts from the venue due to exclusivity contracts which can prevent acts featured at the festivals from appearing in Chicago up to four months prior and after the scheduled festival date.
However, Lizak says the festivals don’t threaten the venue, and that the Metro has a good relationship with each of them, playing host to various after-parties and shows related to the festival proceedings.
One sure thing, however, is that music scene is indeed changing. Although medium sized clubs such at the Metro have done exceedingly well in the past, according to DeRogatis, the concert scene is changing. The middle ground is slowly (or rapidly in some cities) dissipating, giving way to the small, hole-in-the-ground clubs for local and unknown acts, and the mega-hitters that fill large arenas throughout the country. The fate of the medium sized venues of the country at this point is unknown, but not everyone is worried.
“We’re just going to do what we’ve been doing for the past 25 years,” said Shananhan. “We’re going to keep on putting the best shows we can every night. If we can’t do that, there’s nothing left to do.”
---Script----
The sound of bottles crashing to the floor cut through the bass-enriched wall of sound that rattles ears and shakes the ground. People laugh and drink their $5 bottles of beer and attempt, albeit somewhat hampered by intoxicating circumstances, to move their bodies to the music while the strobe lights, amplified by the fog that fills the building, makes everything look ridiculously cool.
This pretty much explains any night at the SmartBar, located next-door to the Metro in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. However, Tuesday night was no ordinary night, as electronic musician Moby showed off his skills on the turntables in a free event sponsored by Myspace Secret Shows.
Most listeners will be familiar with Moby through his 1999 breakthough hit album, "Play" even if they might be completely unaware of it. The album had a huge commercial presence, with every track appearing in movie trailers, commercials, or television shows.
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However, Moby's career has consisted of more than commercially acceptable, light electronic work. Before adopting the Moby moniker, he played bass for a hardcore punk band that went by the name of the Vatican Commandos. Far more relevant to this occasion, however, is the fact Moby has made a name for himself DJing at various clubs world-wide.
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There must be a distinction made between Moby's recorded work, and his presence on the dancefloor. While a good chunk of Moby's discography can best be described as "background music", his work as a DJ is rife with energy. The artist has a unique ability to take the club standards that have been saturating the foggy airspace of every mildly trendy nightclub in the nation, and make them relevant and fresh.
The atmosphere of the night could best be compared to Daft Punk's debut album, "Homework", which unlike the significantly more polished and commercially friendly releases from the band released afterwards, pretty much captures the club scene in its entirety. There are no real songs, just sonic explorations exploring every influence from hip-hop to old school rock-and-roll to virtually every electronic genre known to man.
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The focus isn't on the individual artists being blended together, or name-dropping to maintain one's hipper-than-thou image. It's about bring a loose collective of people together, and forming a community through sound, atmosphere, and dance, if only for one night.
Nathaniel Goddard, a 21-year-old Video Game Design major at Columbia College, immediately noticed the atmosphere within the club.
GODDARD: Moby got on the stage and all hell broke loose. That's when the atmosphere came alive and you could get a really big drift of what's going on. The lights mixed really well with the music, the crowd was energized, everyone was really energized, and they just kind of played off each other.
Jeremy Khan, a 21-year-old video game programming major noticed a community not based off names or faces, but through the interaction with the music.
KHAN: It's kind of non-verbal communication thing. People knew what you were thinking, you know all they want to do is rock out, or so to speak since it was a club. That was pretty much how it was the entire out, people just non-verbally communicating and dancing and having a good time.
For Columbia College, this has been Josh Sambdman, signing out.
There's a common stereotypical image of vinyl records, and the stores that sell them, that most of the populous tends to share. Odds are, these stores will be dimly -lit, the shelves will be covered with a fine layer of dust, and newest item in stock will be Steely Dan's debut LP. Although this assumption may have been correct five years ago, the vinyl record has seen a huge boom in popularity.
A simple walk into Reckless Records, located on Broadway Ave. in the Lakeview neighborhood should show a picture stark in contrast with the stereotype of yesteryear. There's rarely a time between opening and closing where swarms of concerned music fans and audiophiles aren't rummaging through the racks, looking for those rare limited-pressings or the new reissue of some classic album.
The material being sold is no longer restricted to the likes of classic rock stables and Simon and Garfunkel. Now, popular independent artists have taken to the format in full force, and even the soundtrack to last-year's big hit "Juno" is available on vinyl.
The most surprising aspect, however, is that a large majority of these people will be young.
Experts have many opinions as to why the vinyl format is becoming increasing popular amongst the college-age population. A spokesperson for the Recording Industry Association of America, commonly referred to as the RIAA, said that although the organization itself hasn't done any extensive studies on the matter, he personally thinks that vinyl records are possible because they're the "classic way of getting classic music. It's about nostalgia and turning listening to albums from a passive affair to an experience."
Matt Jencik, a buyer for Reckless Records, said the motivation is of a more personal matter.
"These kids of the digital age might have harddrives full of music, but they've got nothing to show for it," said Jencik. "Record collections are more personal. You can actually hold them, smell them, even taste them if you really wanted."
However, official studies into this matter can prove difficult, as it's current popularity is far more prevalent on the more "underground" level than it is in the mainstream. Additionally, a great deal of the sales making up the trend are used records, which can make the numbers even harder to gather.
A representative from Chicago record label Touch and Go, which includes acts such as Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, !!!, Slint, and the Chicago noise-rock act Big Black, said that although the label has seen an increase in vinyl sales from their catalog, the numbers don't add up to the current trend.
The RIAA's consumer reports, available to the public on their website, do indicate a slight increase in vinyl albums (referred to by their industry name, LP, which stands for Long Playing format), these numbers only reflect the sales of the major labels, and the various smaller labels under their control. Until studies that cover the entire range of the industry are conducted, the full range of this trend will be somewhat a mystery.
It's impact, however, can be felt in record stores throughout the nation, especially Reckless.
"We probably sell around 60% to 70% more LPs than we do compact discs (CDs)," said Jencik.
Although experts might have a multitude of reasons they believe the consumer is embracing the vinyl format, considering their close ties with the industry, there's a significant chance some bias might slip in. To get to the real reasoning behind this trend, one has to talk to the fans.
"I'm just a big fan of the package in general," Phoebe Madison, a 22-year-old resident of the Lakeview community, said as she was browsing through the racks of records. "They've just got a warmer sound to them, and the album
"I'd definitely put that on my wall," said Madison.
"I know makes me sound like a bit of a jackass, but the sound quality on vinyl is just better than CDs or digital. It's fact, " said Noel Fotz, a Lakeview resident. "If you want to get technical, and I assume you do, vinyl is always going to have a better sound quality, because it's not compressed like a CD. When you compress something, it's going to lose quality. A lot of people might say it's not really noticeable enough to really matter, and it's probably not, but I still think vinyl's the way to go. Besides, if sound quality's not important, you can usually get vinyl for pretty damn cheap, and I think that appeals to everyone."
"It's definitely a trend now," said Madison. "I mean, you can go into Urban Outfitters and buy turntables and record frames. That's the definition of trendy. I'm sure vinyl's just going to get more and more popular, because that's what hipsters do. They embrace something, and make it popular, drive up the price, and kill it. We might as well enjoy it while we have the chance."
---------Sources------------
Touch and Go representative
Didn't provide name
Email interview, April 15th
info@tgrec.com
Matt Jencik, Buyer, Reckless
34
Email interview, April 15th
(773) 404-9588
matt@reckless.com
Phoebe Madison
22
Lakeview Resident
In-person interview, April 13th
feebeefofum@yahoo.com
RIAA spokeperson
Didn't provide name
(202)775-0101
Phone interview, April 15th
Documents:
Recording Industry Association of America
Consumer trends
http://riaa.com/keystatistics.php?content_selector=consumertrends
Accessed on April 15th
by J. DePaolis and Josh Sambdman
Even as the Chicago Cubs face their 100th year since winning a World
Series title this season, and more so, even as they lost their second
game of the year, still their fans packed the stands for another day.
The beloved northsiders lost in a blowout Wednesday to the Milwaukee
Brewers 8-2, dropping their record to a
Wrigley Field, one of the oldest ballparks still used in Major League Baseball, is one of the most hallowed grounds in professional sports. It is the site of the infamous Babe Ruth’s called shot, historic seasons and collapses, and most important is its beauty. The ivy on the outfield walls, the brainchild of past owner P.K. Wrigley, is the most iconic part of a ballpark that has recently
Sam Zell, the owner of the Chicago Tribune (and thus, the Tribune-owned Cubs). has went on record saying he’d like to sell the team and the field separate, so he can make more money. He even is considering selling naming rights to Wrigley Field. Fans, up in arms over the decisions Zell is considering, have complained to newspapers, and even the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich has expressed his desire to see the city buy the field so that it can remain the home of the Cubs.
While time will tell what happens with the Cubs 100th year of futility, and likewise of their impending sale, one thing is for sure: regardless of what happens, fans will be back in the bleachers next year.
As always with this group, it’s wait till next year.
