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sad news. more upset that it
sad news. more upset that it has to be turned into condos and commercial space without offering it for sale first
I'm sad too, but I understand
I believe she owns the building, so why would she 'sell' the club?
I've seen an uncountable number of memorable shows there and even have performed in a few. The family has put in so much work at that place I'm sure she wants to end on her terms.
Can't blame her for doing the condo (or apartment?) thing. She may make more money by putting in a fraction of the hours.
Loved that place, and I knew her mom and brother. Great folks, busted their butts for so many years. She's the only one left from the family working at that place; I can't blame her at all.
Only so much one can do
If she owns the place, and the family has need of the money in their elder years, it might be the best thing for the family to develop it and retire.
Incredible run, and it will be very sad to see it go. I still remember the Dick Dale gigs where the confused Oldies station DJs found themselves thronged in a bizarre stew of bikers, parrotheads, young punks, and Goths. We knew the show was about to start when the elderly women with hearing protection (Dale's Aunts) were escorted to the front.
Ack
Really cool stories. I'm just jealous because I've missed Junior Brown there, twice, Neil Young stepping in for a song or two with his now ex-wife, other acts like Leon Russell, and so on and so forth. Just really sad to see such a club with such a rep. go. I also wonder how it'll affect Rockin' Bob's next door. Likely not TOO much, but they did offer a nice last minute stop for lots of incoming musicians, and I'm sure Bob, Nick, and the crew all have their stories to tell.
First TTs and now this
First TTs and now this. Live music venues are becoming about as rare as gay bars around here. I'm glad I was around in the 1970s heyday of both.
I'm definitely getting old....
Great times there from Bonerama to Shy Five. I once got called onstage to play drums for Sleepy Labeef and one of the Stray Cats....those were the days.
Where are the cool bars where something unprogrammed might happen from time to time these days?
Bonerama
Saw them there several times, and many other fantastic shows. I liked TTs but rarely went. This one, on the other hand, hurts. We're running out of awesome small venues that aren't controlled by live Nation or another big conglomerate.
sadly youth of today is more
sadly youth of today is more into watching the kardashians on their ipads than seeing live indie rock.
Sheesh, yeah, kids today, amirite?
And they need to stay offa my lawn!
To wax sociological for a moment
Although there is an element of "get offa my lawn" to above Anon's post, there still can be no denying that the live music experience and the venues that provided them are no longer the end all be all that they were to many of us in the 70s, 80s and early 90s pre-internet, pre-Youtube, pre-download, pre-access-to-everything era. It was the way we socialized, it was the way we experienced. And some of the music was absolutely incredible. It was the forum into which we interacted. There are too many other alternatives and forums now, for better or worse, and this type of thing in gloriously dingy clubs is not necessarily the center of young people's lives as it was for many of us of slightly (and not so slightly) earlier generations.
Know what else changed?
The drinking age. It was considerably lower for the first part of the time that Johnny D's has been open. It was also very loosely enforced up through about 1990.
Makes things kind of difficult when you are serving a highly college-age area.
Yes, because peddling toxic solvents trumps all.
The circle has closed.
Carla's dad was Johnny D, a Somerville cop and it was a low key neighborhood bar.
Once upon a time, a music policy was a way for a failing gin mill to get over the top, financially.
Now that people grow weary of the whole experience, the thrill is gone.
America drank and went home... for good.
Here's my old roommates doing a monster movie/klezmer mashup there in 89.
https://youtu.be/jtMYwvPyf48
It'll be nice when weed is legal. Maybe then, more congenial venue types can cohere without the need to flog liquor.
As someone who must now go through the rest of life partially impaired by booze, I can't say I'm sad for future people who may escape the impact of one of the dumbest sanctioned intoxicants ever foisted.
I quit drinking several years ago or I'd probably be dead. It is a scuzzy business model and its passing will be mourned by few with a clue.
And it makes running a place very high stress. You sweat the turnout, crowd behavior, booze sales and liability potential every night something is scheduled. People will look back on it all one day and wonder at the ridiculousness of it.
The itinerant tavern dinner performer will linger. A continuity of the Turlough O Carolan model probably has legs.
https://youtu.be/XbQfqjDapyw
Prohibition
Worked really well, didn't it?
Do you realize that the US has a drinking age that is so far off of most developed countries that it rivals those of Islamic countries that permit foreigners to drink?
The push to 21 is a dismal failure that promotes secretive and binge drinking. People aren't escaping the effects of alcohol because of the high drinking age - they are magnifying them in inappropriate settings.
Maybe the 21 return was due to drunk driving deaths?
It's as if the young can either drink or drive earl,y but doing both is an unacceptable hazard.
And maybe the conclusion was that driving is more useful and important to the young than drinking?
And there is one last element of euromutt booze culture I always found to be particularly despicable. It was used as an agent of cultural destruction for Red Earth people here.
You know... firewater??? I'm sure you've heard of it.
The ability to absorb distilled spirits is an acquired skill. It took euromutts a few generations to develop a capacity to tolerate it. Hogarth did a great job conveying a sense of the early impact with his epic work, "Gin Lane".
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/William_Hogart...
And when visited on people without that ability it is significantly more devastating.
Here's my favorite Red Earth elder, for no particular reason. I'm pretty sure he's no fan of booze.
Oren Lyons: https://youtu.be/Gs0EK1z9xhc
Now, if you'll excuse me, it's wake and bake time.
21+ shows keep annoying kids
21+ shows keep annoying kids away. There are still 18+ nights around and I avoid them.
Also colleges have shows for their students. That didn't happen as much back in the day either.
As cool as it was to go to shows at the Rat when I was 12-13 because they knew who I was and know we didn't cause trouble, it's not all about the drinking age. There's still tons of stuff for kids to do and live music for them to see even with the video games taking up a lot of the time, it's not the fault of "the system" OR a lack of interest.
I won't even touch on the absolutely hilarious notion that binge drinking somehow comes from THE MAN's law and not a lack of personal responsibility or alcohol awareness.
All ages shows are a complication.
The club staff has to keep track of who is legal. The weight of liability and risk increases.
The solution at the Middle East in 1990 was to provide bracelets for those who had proved age eligibility. No bracelet..no drinkee.
Booze self destruction is totally a personal choice and the law structure has little to do with it. Whatever I end up being, it's mainly my fault.
There were lots of private party shows at homes and lofts back then. The whole DIY ethic favored such.
Here's an example involving Left Nut. https://youtu.be/8i5BfuyJjX8
And then there was the wonderful world of Dischord bands. They generally disliked gin mills due to their straight edge adherence but were willing to work with you.
The Holy Rollers were fun. https://youtu.be/BgtFPQHREm4
A night out on a weekend is
A night out on a weekend is still an experience. It's not that affected by the Kardashians or ipads or whatever. Johnny D's is one of the best places to go in the area if you want to listen to live music, and a lot of people do (even 20 and 30-somethings!). Check out the crowd there, it's been pretty young in my experience at least on a Friday or Saturday the last few years. They also do great brunch service. The owner said she wants a change, I wish her the very best and thank her for providing such a cool place for so long!
There are plenty of young
There are plenty of young people who still live for live music. Most of them avoid Boston because it is an inhospitable place for underground music. From the inability of the under 21 crowd to get in to see their favorite bands to the outright refusal of all but a few venues to book punk, metal, noise, etc., the youth are giving up and driving out to Worcester or Providence. Johnny D's is located in a very young community while being known for jazz and blues, both great genres but not the most popular among the prime demo in the area. Johnny D's has done remarkably well considering. Perhaps the old timers should have dusted off their ascots a bit more often and frequented the one place in Davis geared more specifically towards them.
Don't forget "live" DJs...
as much as I'd like to.
"Kids These Days" will pay more money to see a "Live DJ" (whatever the hell that is) than a live band.
Yup
It may sound a little "get off my lawn", but majority of the people that "go out" now a days are more interested in DJ sets, or the music that is force-fed them from Apple, etc than the small indie shows that the majority of 20-somethings attended when I was that age (late 90's). Very sad indeed.
This just in...
Apparently these kids today would rather go out to some place that has dance music rather than go to a hip indie bar which plays a mix of country, r&b, & blues. Which is exactly the way it was when you were younger, but you have chosen to forget that.
It's alive and well, though
It's alive and well, though spaces are hard to come by and don't last long. Plenty of people still see bands play at house shows and other 'unlicensed venues'.
I love the t-shirts that the staff wears
They say "Johnny D's. It's where your nana got drunk"
So sad!
Love this club. It can actually have a really nice mix of "old timers" and (somewhat) younger folks, depending on the show. I probably wasn't here for the true heyday, but I've gone there for about 20 years now and am probably firmly in the older set at this point. Guess my ascot and I will have to settle for The Sinclair now.