Last night I went to the opening of the new tapas restaurant on West Main, ‘Si’, and afterwards headed upstairs to the inaugural show at the venue formerly known as Starr Hill. With quite possibly (IMHO) the dumbest venue name ever, I had admittedly pretty low expectations. The space is great, though almost identical to Starr Hill. The only differences aside from paint and wall hangings was the position of the bar, which was moved to the left side. I actually like the bar where it is now. It’s much bigger and easier to see the band.
I’ll make some caveats here but the sound is still atrocious.
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There isn’t a PA in there now, so the bands were playing on a rented PA - which sounded so muddy that even bands I like (Sometime Favorites) were nearly unlistenable. I’d be considerably surprised if they manage to turn the sound in this room around. The PA in Starr Hill was a good one but the layout of the room was so weird that it was difficult finding that ’sweet spot’ where the mix was right. I think this same problem is going to plague ‘Is’. I spoke with some friends and they suggested maybe hanging some big heavy curtains on rails to be able to control the sound in the room a little more, or be able to have smaller shows and not be projecting into the cavernous room. If they resolve this I’ll be excited about this venue. All that being said it is nice to have a medium sized room back open since the Satellite closed. I just don’t see bands being very excited about playing there. I did hear from a few people that management of the venue was a nightmare but it’s their first night and the place is barely furnished except for booze so I’m gonna let them slide on this. I’m sure it will get better.
The only other issue I have with the place (and this may be more of an issue for the restaurant downstairs) is the thunderous booming that started around 9:15pm, as my date and I were finishing dinner. The atmosphere downstairs is loungy and the music was good, but the thundering from upstairs will surely kill any sort of ambiance they work hard to create in the restaurant. I’ll go there again in a few weeks to check it out but in the meantime if they want to have a real venue upstairs they are gonna need to do some work. With that room you can’t just throw any PA on the stage. Coran threw money at that place and it still didn’t sound spectacular. I’m going to reserve judgement for a while but even seeing bands I liked have their sound muddied (Sometime Favorites) was a bummer - to say nothing of a band like Sweetbriar whose affected southern-rock-meets-American-Eagle warble I won’t even dignify with more than a mention. That shit was downright ugly.
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Tagged as: IS, music venue, si, Starr Hill, tapas
Is there a calendar anywhere (online) for this place? I’d be curious what sort of bands they are going after?
I wish them well - we could use a venue like this…
you did notice that there were two bars, right? There was the completely new on the left, and a bar on the right where the old one used to be, but the difference was that it is now U-shaped, allowing for more boozers to booze.
I agree with you that the name sucks, and the sound is even worse, but I reaaallly hope this place does well, because the notion of having the Outback as the only place to see good smaller bands can eat a dick. With the two bars, and the new look, this place has some serious potential.
As for the food: of the the three things I ordered, the only thing worth mentioning is the apricot jam that came with the cheese plate. But it was their first night, so I’ll probably give ‘em another go.
Oh, and one of the original names being thrown around for the place was “The Venue” — LO fucking LZ.
squidtank. fabulous! I had hoped to make out to this, but I was moving in slow motion for most of the evening, watched a little of the VP debate, and then rushed out to Gravity for the Birds. I’m glad you not only went but shared your thoughts on the place. It sounds like, despite its current shortcoming, the place has potential and potential is a good thing. Now we’ll just have to see how it takes shape. I hope the folks who own/run the place are committed to the venue. Without commitment it won’t work.
On the flip side of that thought, let me add a quick thought. If they truly strive to make it happen, then I think that we as music fans also need to make a commitment. And not just to IS but to all the venues in town. I mean we ask of the venues to bring us great music that sounds good in an environment we enjoy seeing it in. And we ask of the artists who perform to either entertain us, enlighten us, or to occasionally, takes us someplace outside of ourselves. Whether it’s the Handsome Furs at Satellite, Paul Curreri at Gravity, Truman Sparks at Outback, the dodos at the Tea House, My Morning Jacket at the Pavilion, Ryan Adams at Paramount, Birdlips at the Garage, Keith Morris at the Box, Earl Knox at Rapture, Granville Mullings Quartet at enoteca, or Jim Waive at Blue Moon Diner. The idea of building it and they will come doesn’t mean much if you’re only reading about it.
Venue, artist, and audience. That’s what makes a music scene. I believe it really can happen. Maybe I’ve said too much. But squid, again, well done sir.
couple of things I have to take issue with here…
squidtank wrote:
“All that being said it is nice to have a medium sized room back open since the Satellite closed”
This town actually has a medium sized room, it’s called “Gravity Lounge.” I know that sounds silly at first, but it’s actually true. In fact, since the Ballroom closed, Gravity has hosted Bonnie Prince Billy - an epic show that turned out to be an amazingly perfect show for Gravity, Cass McCombs, Wild Sweet Orange, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Oppenheimer, Dubconscious, and others - all shows that would have been at the Ballroom - or Starr Hill, if either room was still open.
dijonbray wrote:
“but I reaaallly hope this place does well, because the notion of having the Outback as the only place to see good smaller bands can eat a dick.”
Again, the Outback is not the only place to see good smaller bands. Gravity had a great band the other night, check out Quiet Life:
http://www.myspace.com/quietlife
Last night saw Birdmonster and the night before was The Little Ones. All good smaller bands.
Is the sound perfect at Gravity? No, but it’s often better than it was at Starr Hill and pretty good in general and unlike the Outback, there’s no chance of suffering hearing damage during a show - and that’s not a dig, but a statement of fact. The Outback is LOUD.
Anyway, keep an eye out on the Gravity calendar and in between the acoustic acts the room is known for, watch for some great bands like the ones I listed above.
The noise from the music upstairs has always been a problem for the restaurant downstairs. People do not like eating dinner and hearing the thump thump from the drums, etc. And it’s even worse in the early evening when bands do soundcheck. When at Starr Hill we used to insist that bands be done with soundcheck by 6pm so any early diners wouldn’t be disturbed, but it doesn’t always work that way. If the bands late and soundcheck starts at 7pm, it’s right when the restaurant is starting to fill up. Not good.
This was always disturbing and many restaurant patrons complained and then never came back. I don’t know why the new owners think they can fix that problem, if they’ve even thought about it. IIRC, there’s not that much that can be done to soundproof the upstairs because of the age of the building and other restrictions.
let me re-phrase: good, smaller, LOUD bands.
Gravity is good for the quiet stuff, but that’s about the only thing they’re good for. What’s up with sometimes having louder bands there and keeping all the chairs? That shit is whack.
@6. You obviously haven’t been there when they are no chairs or a limited number of chairs. The floor is being opened up. The chairs off to the side. I wrote about this a couple weeks ago:
Gravity Lounge Opening Up the Floor to a Whole New Audience
BTW–Birdmonster loved the venue last night. They thought the feel of the Gravity was perfect. They would come back. I’d guarantee it!
@ dijonbray - all the aforementioned bands were loud and almost all those shows were chair-free.
Bonnie Prince Billy was especially an exceptional night as the room was packed, but not uncomfortably so and the overall volume - both from the PA and the stage, was appropriate and good in most of the venue.
As far as LOUD goes, there’s loud and then there’s LOUD! I know I’m old, but it’s gotten hard for me to enjoy a show where I’m getting blasted at super high db levels the whole night.
The Outback has a great PA setup and Terry is a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to live sound, but there are shows there where my ears take a beating even with pretty heavily attenuated ear plugs. If the Outback was a bigger room, it’d be no problem.
Back to “Is” - it’s a shame the sound was so bad. That’s a really tough room, but it can be done. It just requires a new take on the space - not a radical change, but a new take.
Unfortunately, as Sparrow pointed out, there is no getting around the issue that it will be obvious to diner’s below that there is a band upstairs. There’s also no getting around a tough load-in.
You aren’t old…it was extremely loud. If you don’t have a pair of etymotics, you’ll need to get some if you plan to hang out at this place.
@4: yeah, but there’ s no way in hell that gravity (or outback for that matter) could have bands like mogwai, animal collective, or sharon jones and the dap-kings play there.
THIS TOWN NEEDS A BIGGER ROOM THAT IS BUILT FOR BANDS.
Mogwai, Animal Collective & Sharon Jones deserve much better than the old Starr Hill space.
The Jefferson Theater will indeed be built for bands.
@10 - the Jefferson will be the appropriate room for shows that can sell 500+ tickets.
Hopefully I won’t die of old age before the Jefferson is finally finished. I mean, it’s only been over 2 years now.
@13 I have a feeling you’ll be seeing shows at the Jefferson long before your application to the AARP arrives.
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