Introducing RFC's new (and our first ever!) columnist, Dave Knapik. Dave is a former Chicagoan currently exiled in London who will be taking a deeper look at all things music; from fans to bands to the industry and even the media that covers it. Today's first column examines a topic near and dear to RFC's heart, local music scenes. -Ed
Big cities have always been a major part of my life, probably as much as music. Having spent most of my years in Chicago before moving to London, I've also lived briefly in New York and Glasgow. I've never resided outside of a major metropolis and, for better or worse, I'm much more at home on the pavement than in the park.
The pressure of millions of people living so close to each other drives me crazy sometimes, but that same energy is too stimulating to leave. I've always felt that there is no other place for a music fan except the big city, but what if I'm wrong?
Before online shopping, file sharing and Last.fm made learning about obscure music easy, you used to have to track down physical copies of albums to hear them, or else resort to only reading about them in books and fanzines that you also had to dig somewhat deeply to find. That era has been over for what seems like an eternity now, and although it makes me an indie heathen, I'm completely liberated from the physical copy and its pretty little artwork too. I don't need a record shop to turn my ears on and there's millions of people like me in small towns across the globe. Easy access to good record shops was a major reason for a music fan to live in the city, but when even the most remote music lover can hear the strangest sounds on offer, why bother?
Well, gigs, mainly. The general rule of thumb is the bigger the city, the better the live music scene. Chicago, while naturally falling behind New York and London in the number of shows on offer, is almost the perfect size. London has so much going on in any given week, that the weirder, fringe sounds occur mid-week, with the weekends open for more mainstream acts. I often end up missing out on fantastic gigs simply because it's Tuesday and I'd rather stay home and have a (shitty, nowhere-near-stuffed) pizza. I remember feeling left out on a lot of tours when I lived in Chicago, but in retrospect, I can honestly say that it's not too big and not too small. More always looks better on paper, but in practice, you're probably not going to go out every night of the week.
So are gigs the main thing tethering devout music fans to the big cities? I could probably be happy seeing a lot less live music than I currently do. I like recorded music. I like sitting at home and listening to it. The booze is cheaper, too.
But I like having the option. I like having the option of going out to see quality live music probably more than exercising that option. I guess that means I value theory over practice, which sounds about right.
Having lived my entire life in big cities and made my love of music dependent upon that, I'm now for the first time finding that relationship a bit tense and most likely built on more than a few lies. The Saturday-turns-into-Sunday myth of partying hard that comes free with every purchase of music fandom is easier to live out in a city than in the middle of nowhere, but it's someone else's dream, not mine, and probably not yours either. The city is in many ways the perfect parallel to the dirt and grime at the core of thousands of records I've heard, but does living in the city enhance my experience of that sound more? Maybe I was at one time drawn to dirty sounds because I lived in a dirty place, but now it's a chicken-and-egg dilemma that I'm having trouble untangling.
I'm reminded of the classic Nick Hornby quote,"Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?" Do I continue to structure my life around major cities because I'm a culture addict? Is that even relevant anymore, when I can Netflix the entire Truffaut filmography instead of waiting for the local cinema to run a retrospective? Do I love the city itself or the just culture it offers me?
I grew up in Chicago as well, and can't imagine living a city without some kind of active music scene. In fact I daresay it's a criteria for wherever I may happen to move next.
I grew up on the far south side of the Chicago (the 'hood if you will) without a car Quite isolating, and so the city itself was like a world away to me. I didn't get to really enjoy the scene until i returned to Chicgo after college.
I think there's something about living in a bigger city that makes these kinds of scenes possible, access to diversity, (usually) public transportation, the kind of things that attract creative people (and posers, and hangers on, etc. all the people that make a scene what it is)
I love the Chicago music scene desperately, but I'm starting to hate Chicago (crime, corrupt politics, shitty public transit, you name it) so I am very willing and open about admitting that I am tethered to the city because of the music community here specifically. And of course, my family and friends,
Posted by: K. | 09/03/2008 at 08:45 PM
I think you bring up some real valid points here, Dave. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and as long as I can remember I've been listening to music. Not living in the city and not having access to the far superior record stores hindered my ability to acquire new sounds. I relied on local college radio stations for much of my late junior high and high school years.
It wasn't until I turned 16 that ye olde floodgates opened. A simple 30 minute drive to the Fireside once almost every other week was what really got me through those bleak teenage years. Then as I became a fan of many more bands the venues I frequented multiplied. Though still not old enough to attend the 21+ shows, I had the option of attending smaller scale shows in random houses, coffee shops, VFW halls, etc.
When I went away to college I made a somewhat grave mistake in attending a state university two and half hours in the middle of nowhere. Sure, there were tons of people like me who were constantly listening to/searching out music. And sure there were shows to attend if you were into Martina McBride or Foo Fighters or some other completely banal mainstream act (or novelty revival acts like Digital Underground). During this time was the Golden Era of Arbitrary MP3 downloading took place. Finally a group of like-minded individual decided enough is enough and started roping in good and decent bands to play in a café in the basement of a church (Ted Leo, Alkaline Trio, Jets to Brazil and more). It wasn’t an every night or every weekend occurrence, but at least we had the opportunity to see some real good bands in very intimate settings.
As a devout music listener, I couldn’t be happier living in Chicago. There are so many venues, street and weekend festivals. Like you I like to have the option to go to shows, knowing that these bands are coming to town though sometimes I’m overwhelmed when there’s an onslaught of acts I’d like to see (like the entire fall season, my wallet’s going to be hurting if I follow through on them). I think it’s no coincidence that many successful bands come from metropolitan areas, or at the very least areas where there is a living and breathing local music scene. I suppose if I were to move out of Chicago that I would be drawn to an area such as this, a little big city with a thriving music scene.
Posted by: Aubrey | 09/03/2008 at 10:31 AM