Saturday Night Lights

You've worked all week, sweating out from hard labor to climb the random ladder, and now it's the weekend and you just want to escape.  What better way to do just that than find some dark and loud place to drown your cares away into oblivion.  Find out here where you can find the bright stage lights to wash away the week and emerge into a musical world where you can just be you and nobody thinks you owe them anything (except maybe a small entrance fee).  I'll be highlighting some great shows to catch on Saturday nights and you can find a little place to escape for a few hours at least, and remember what it's like to be human again. 
Let's start out with this coming Saturday.  If you like Irish music, you definitely want to check out Fiddler's Hearth in downtown South Bend.  The pub has the feeling like it's been there for century or so, but not in a bad way.  It feels like it has the kind of character that only comes with age and wisdom and you can just relax in the atmosphere.

This place has always felt like an authentic Irish pub to me and not some corporation's ridiculous idea of what will appeal to Irish yuppies.  This coming Saturday you can see Sanctified Grumblers.  This Chicago-based band describe themselves as having an old-time 1930's jug band with some old country influence as well (an interesting mix).  They'll be performing Saturday, March 10th at 9pm, at Fiddler's Hearth.  Whether you check out this concert or another one at Fiddler's, you won't be sorry you stumbled in for a pint and a jig.

LangLab: Feel the Music

I decided to write about one of my favorite local venues in the area, which is Langlab.  This is a venue that lends itself to attracting musical talent, both local and national, in an intimate and eclectic space.  In order to give you a feel for the place if you've never visited, I thought I would link a video of one interesting band performing there.  The band is called Slothpop and this video starts out weaving through the crowd and space surrounding the performance area.  This gives you a little glimpse into what it is like for an audience member.  The space is intimate and you feel almost as if you are a member of the band or at least a part of the performance somehow. 
This intimacy is what makes this a great venue.  You don't feel cut off or separate from what is happening on the stage.  The participation you experience as part of the audience accelerates the connection with the music.  Within the first few notes or beats you may want to jump around or do something to act out what seems to be happening to you.  If you can catch a concert at this place, do it.  The management of the venue is such that great care is taken to host performers of great caliber and talent.  Even if you have never heard of the group that will be performing, you could find yourself a new obsession.  I personally experienced this with a visit to Langlab when it hosted the band Maus Haus.

About this blog

    This blog is about finding great places to hear great music in Michiana.  For the record, no, I don't think that our area is necessarily the best place in the world to find great music venues.  But, as with anything in life, if you look hard enough, you will find what you're looking for.  The fact that good music venues are hard to find in Michiana is exactly why finding some make them all the more precious! So, I am creating this blog to help other music lovers like myself find out about some great venues in the region, and perhaps start some conversations about creating new venues for some of the great talent we do have in our area.
    Part of the problem is ourselves.  I know that many people in the region simply don't think of a night out at some concert as the first option on their agenda.  I am not sure why this is, I know that life can be busy for many of us, and perhaps people are simply to tired to go out.  This is a talking point I would be interested to hear other people's opinion on.    I am a musician and song-writer myself and have numerous musician friends who are incredibly talented, so I know that we don't have a shortage of talent in our area, rather, we find a shortage of platforms to showcase that talent.  I hope this blog can serve as a platform for people to find new favorite venues and maybe even inspire some new ones along the way.