0821 galax_ and NO DANCING alternatives

0821 galax_

a former student of Wheaton (Christian) College once told me that there was a joke among the student body explaining that "sex is prohibited on campus because it leads to dancing".

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a bunch of us were at an electronic music performance by 3 great guys from Spain and their music was great and afterwards they turned out to be really nice, zero-ego, nice fellows, which is good to see.

We all felt bad for them and for all the awesome venues that have live music that are not large nightclubs owned by bougie rich buttholes who are definitely behind the crackdown on dancing without permits by the cops. The venue we were at is about to be closed for the 2-month penalty. This has happened several times in the last few years and it really is killing independently owned bars and music venues that can't afford the licenses, or don't qualify for them. This is totally a shakedown to choke off competition and there is no end to it in sight.

so that got me thinking..

a completely legal way to solve this problem would be to have bands/performers do music that is not to be danced to, like IDM for one. Film screenings would work, performance artists, comedians, etc. could step in and fill the gap by filling seats and minds and tills at the same time, with no dancing at all. I love a great rock show as much as the next person and I've been in bands that relied on crowds of wildly dancing audiences. But these days the music that I make and play are more or less undanceable. The do, however (I hope) engage the mind and ear in (potentially) fulfilling ways and I'd love to see more of it in live venues here.

I've been thinking in terms of beat-less music for a while now and most of the best moments from most of my favorite musicians of late have been ambient, atmospheric music with thickly applied dynamic and complex rhythmic patterns and surprises that can only be appreciated when focusing your attention into the music/sound/visuals, etc. I'm almost done with the 4 on the floor kick thing. Yes yes, I know I do it in this project now and then, but I'm exploring it in the hopes that I can find a way out of it. One cannot (should not) properly break rules that they don't fully understand.

Anyway, I've got a bunch of things going on creatively and they all are moving in the abovementioned direction.

We can whine all we want about the cops and the organized bs behind it all but the only way to beat them is by surviving it. I'm proposing a groundswell of music that engages the sober mind instead of the drunken body.. for which there are always plenty of outlets. Let's lean into cerebral before-hours shows and then hit the bar and talk about it and anything else you want with our friends. And enjoy not having the cops knock on your door for a little while..

... until they make a law against music.

on a side note, I should mention that Chicago is famous for house music and it was exactly that. People weren't hearing the music they wanted in the clubs and bars so they bought a few kegs, got their friends to spin new records for them, charged $4 for a red plastic cup and opened up the house to an all night party where people just rolled up from the street. I went to tons of these while living in Chicago and they all fun - including the part where the cops inevitably showed up and people were flushing stuff down the toilet. I don't remember a whole lot from those parties, just the early evening parts of it, of course, but they were always fun. You found out about them from friends of friends and maybe a flyer copied at Kinkos or just heard the awesome music from down the street and you just joined in. "I'm a friend of Mike's" usually worked.

I don't think the house party culture really caught on here, but who knows, it might.

Until then, I suggest feeding our heads with music for a change. I know not a ton of people would agree but who knows? It might work.