Ryan ChartrandA case of pneumonia wiped out the possibility of doing anything fun from St. Patrick’s Day until the day I got home to Reno for spring break.
Sadly, this bout of sickness required the most ultimate measures of abstinence from anything remotely sinful (even coffee!). Instead, I choked down pills and consumed an ungodly amount of nondairy substances.
I only say this to justify my odd choice of centering an entire Friday night around an open mic night in a Reno coffee shop. Let’s just say that I was really desperate for something to do.
In my defense, the coffee shop was quite crowded because, apparently, this is The Thing to do since I left home almost two years ago. However, I’m guessing the real reason is that the coffee shop had just installed a new tap and was taking it for a test drive that night.
I’m hanging out at Rudolph’s chugging free refills of coffee while everyone else is slamming down beers with some kid doing “Bright Eyes” covers in the corner. If this ended up being a “thing” for me, I’d have to cry into my pillow about my sad life.
Thank God, then, for San Luis Obispo and the Grass Roots Record showcase at Downtown Brewing Co. the following Monday, which was entirely different. The main differences are that Downtown Brew doesn’t serve coffee and that the showcase is basically an open mic night brought from Nevada City that doesn’t involve 8-year-olds singing along to reggae covers.
Grass Roots Record Co. recently formed with Marc Snegg of the Snegg Band at the helm. The label is based in Nevada City and concerned with providing a place for Nevada City musicians. In honor of the formation, the label recorded a compilation over two weeks featuring artists like Hella, Alela Diane, Golden Shoulders and Mariee Sioux.
The show at Downtown Brew was held to help promote this compilation and featured six of the artists found on the album.
The show gave each artist about minutes minutes but many artists played together, sometimes in a very impromptu fashion.
As usual, Mariee Sioux pulled out a great show. Locals will be happy to know that she’s putting together a full length for Grass Roots Records this summer.
The real surprise of the show was Lee Bob Watson. His sound is a balance of pop, folk and country sounds. The end of his set pulled every performer on stage for some kind of uberjam.
Alela Diane puts the finishing touches on the whole night. She only played a few songs, which gave me a taste of what she will be like when she plays at my birthday party in May.
And yes, it is at least slightly awkward when I bring up the fact I booked her to play at my birthday because I come off as total nerd.
Overall, the saddest part of the whole weekend was that there were more people at the open mic night in Reno than the Grass Roots Record show. Not that I was surprised. But if you were on spring break and missed out, check out the label because these artists will most likely be rolling through town in the next few months.
Show tip: Saturday is a tough call. Isis will be playing some avant-garde metal at Downtown Brewing Co. If you’re not down for that, Arbouretum and David Karsten Daniels will be performing at the Steynberg Gallery.