Local Live Music Flair in Minneapolis

In keeping with my practice of meeting new people and soaking in life, last night my friend Zach and I went to a music club, The Kitty Kat, in Dinkytown (a section of Minneapolis at the heart of the Univ. of Minn. campus) and saw three great local music groups. This particular club has a great atmosphere and can allow people to both enjoy live music and good conversation at the same time. The music is not overwhelmingly loud and the atmosphere is extremely low key and chill. The seating in much of the place is on couches or other soft chairs and is in multicolored light emitted from low hanging ceiling lamps. In case anyone reading this is a fan of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, you might imagine the ‘Red Room’ from Agent Dale Cooper’s dream except with lower, warmer lighting and without the ‘The Man From Another Place’ and with more Laura Palmers. :-)

The first act, a guy named Adam, reminded me a lot of Jeff Buckley and consisted of just he and an electric guitar. After his set I introduced myself to Adam and told him he reminded me of Jeff Buckley, which he apparently gets a lot, but still has not listened to him. When we met up later during the last act’s set I learned that Adam’s main pursuit in life right now is finishing his Doctoral Degree in Audiology at the U of M right across the street. In fact, as he explained to me, the lab where he is completing most of his research is just down the street from the Kitty Kat. He also told me that his goal after finishing this degree is to teach Communication Disorders at Western Washington in Bellingham, WA. This is an interesting coincidence, because I have a friend who just graduated from Western Washington and who I visited on spring break a few years ago. I shared with Adam my goals and aspirations for the next two decades of my life and told him how refreshing it was to meet someone with such a definite goal in mind for his life. This was something he and I could relate with, as I also have a fairly set idea of what I would like to do with my life: international teaching. Another similarity we shared is being South Dakota natives.

The second act was a quartet that I enjoyed but can not remember anything particular about except that they reminded me of a family bluegrass/hillbilly band (not their sound, just their look). We actually did not see much of this group, mainly because I had not eaten much during the day and as a result left the club to go get some food, which was a fun excursion in itself! When Zach and I got back to the club the hillbillies were just finishing up and the next group, The Sunny Era, started to set up their gear. During this time we stepped outside on the patio to enjoy a beautiful summer evening, but as soon as the band started to play I immediately knew this was going to be a dancing affair. So I spent the better part of the rest of our time out dancing to the sweet and lovely sounds of The Sunny Era, a trio that includes a husband/wife. After the show I introduced myself to the couple, Eric and Laila, and told them how much I enjoyed their show. I also explained to them that I had taken some video of their set and wanted their permission to post it on my blog in addition to name checking them. Not only did they say yes, but Laila told Eric to take me over to their merchandise table and he then gave me a copy of their album for free, though I insisted on giving him five dollars. It was such a great surprise to see such a unique and talented group on a Wednesday night in a small club in the middle of Minneapolis. Their music is the kind that just sort of hangs in the air and floats but at the same time has a definite direction in which it is going. This is partly because of the steady hand of their drummer, Rob, who kept things interesting regarding tempo. Laila regularly switched instruments and excelled at each she played: her violin playing is reminiscent of Jean Luc-Ponty (at least to me); she can ‘shred’ on the clarinet and make it sing (she has some definite influence from klezmer music too, something I was told); and she (Eric plays it too) makes the accordion look and sound hip. Overall a great group as well as nice, generous people.

So after a few hours of great homegrown music, we ventured home and enjoyed a nice walk on a beautiful summer evening. What a perfect finish to the first day of what will be an awesome trip.