For those of you who are not in the Twin Cities area, you probably know nothing of Myth, the suburban rock club. And not sub-urban, as in some witty play on an underground theme, but rather in reference to the place you go to live so that you don't have to be near black people.
I have long refused to go the subrubs for any but the most important reasons, and usually those involve getting arrested outside the headquarters of major weapons manufacturers. However, I begrudgingly recognize that in a capitalist state we need those rascists and their money to keep our neat little city humming. It's sort of a Faustin bargain that those of us with morals/ideals have to make--major cities just can't survive without assholes, it seems. Myth, however, takes it all to a new level. Not only is it trying to ramove the last of any reasons racist suburbanites would come to the city and give us their ill-begotten money (e.g. in exchange for actual entertainment), but it's also now owned by local ego-maniacal car-magnate Denny Hecker, who in addition to purchasing apparently everything he can, always appears to be a cheeseburger shy of a heart attack, which only adds to the reasons to boycott (his ego-maniacal purchase of everything in the Twin Cities area, not his imminent stress-induced death).
As for now, it's been a preety easy boycott to maintain, with the majority of concerts featuring people you would expect at a suburban night club, with the exception of what were probably some decent shows, such as the recent Nas appearance.
However, the bar has been re-set. It was recently announced the the only Minnesota tour stop of the Flaming Lips will be at Myth. Fortunately, I got the chance to see the Lips do a show with Sonic Youth at the State Fair last year, so again, it won't be much of task to keep myself from attending. But it does mark the start of what could be a disturbing trend of good bands playing at there. The suburbanites have already damaged us enough with the massive pollution from their hour-plus daily commutes, their repeated elections of right-wing nut jobs to national offices, and their constant production of wealthy ersatz-punk teenagers clogging shows with their latest Hot Topic purchases. Must they steal our last vestiges of hope by taking away our good alt-rock psychedlia as well?
4 comments:
If you haven't realized it yet, the suburbanites are the ones with money. People with good jobs don't want to live in the city... whether it's black people, poor people, or the simple lack of status (where do you live? Minneapolis. But where? Minneapolis. Oh. I see.) the concerts will follow.
Oh, and by the way, a suburban trek to see Nas is still gangsta. Here in the styx, I went to see Buckcherry, just because they did an outdoor concert three blocks from where I work. Desperation? Yep. So enjoy Nas and make your way to a Prince concert... just make sure that you re-watch and Evening with Kevin Smith afterwards.
wow, that's a very brady view of suburbanization and the demographic landscape. i'm no demographer, but i think the numbers might challenge certain of your assumptions about economic and racial homogeneity in the burbs.
in addition to all those presumably racist whites, most of the nation's poor people and new immigrants are suburbanites as well. according to brookings, the suburban poor outnumbered the urban poor by over one million in 2005. moreover, more immigrants today live in suburbs than in central cities.
the local situation is the same and it is mostly a matter of numbers. there are 3.5 million people in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area. about 370,000 live in minneapolis and 275,000 in st. paul. because these urbanites with "morals/ideals" have been building more luxury condos than affordable housing for their "neat little city," that leaves over 2.8 million other twin citians (or about 80 percent of the metro population) to find their way in the surrounding suburbs. having lived in suburbs for about half my adult life, i have trouble believing that all of these residents are racists and reactionaries.
finally, i hate to break it to you woz, but you've already seen the flaming lips in a suburb -- the fairgrounds are in falcon heights, my friend. i'll see you at the myth ...
Ah, fair, fair. Yes, the suburbs are indeed much different than they once were, but it's still hard to shake the stereotype. But, to be fair, one could make the argument that since the original justification of the suburbs was indeed a racist desire to flee the city, then one could argue that their continued existance would point to some continuing legacy of racial antipathy...but yes, I was painting with a pretty broad brush.
But really, can't we all agree that the suburbs are whack? I mean, come on, nothing sound less cool than suburbs. They're not even urban, they're sub-urban...
BTW Myth is an Asian nightclub.
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