August 18, 2023
The Pioneer • www.pioneerpublishers.com
Page B5
Can all-ages music venues make a comeback? music … it was everything. It was how I navigated the chaos of adolescence, how I developed my own interest in music and how I met some of the greatest friends I’ll ever have, including my wife. I can’t DAVE HUGHES imagine who I’d be today withTHE BEAT OF out that nurturing environment that celebrated individualism as DIABLO much as it did communitybuilding. When I was a teenager in That environment is virtualthe late ’90s, live shows were ly non-existent in our region the center of my universe. today. In this two-part series, I I looked forward to nothing will discuss the scarcity of allmore than the next time a band ages venues with local performI loved passed through the area ers, promoters, venue owners and played at the local vet’s hall, and, of course, the youth. the after-hours coffee house or “There’s a lack of all-ages some other off-beat, all-ages venues, and we need them. It’s venue that wasn’t built around important for the future of selling alcohol. Sometimes these music, especially with the lack shows would be held at an actu- of music education in our al bar, and all us underage kids schools,” notes promoter Chriswould be marked with a big X tine Lommori of Lommori on our hands. Productions. Spending those nights out, For decades, Lommori has gathered with other outcasts put on countless shows at local and weirdos of a similar age, venues. She recalls a time when bonding over our mutual inter- more businesses were open to ests and buzzing on an endorall-ages shows and how that phin rush fueled by the live helped to cultivate much of
Tattered Press
Concord band Tungsten Reigns performs at a rare all-ages show in the basement of a Martinez church.
today’s local music scene. “I used to do all-ages shows at Lindee’s every Sunday. Bourbon Street too – they regularly had all-ages shows. That’s where I first met Vince Lay and Forrest Day.” For years, the under 21 crowd was the driving force behind the local music scene thanks to places like Bourbon Street, Concord Depot and Under the Capri providing a safe space for the youth to come together and express
themselves. Sadly, these places are no more. Today, the younger crowd must travel to Berkeley or San Francisco to experience anything reminiscent of what once thrived in our own backyard. One Concord business owner is working to change that. Jim Settle, owner and CEO of NuWater USA, recently decided to use his commercial space in North Concord to double as an all-ages venue with an emphasis on metal, punk
With many flowers in bloom, your August garden is calling layer of earthworm castings beneath your plants. For poor leaf color, water deep less often NICOLE HACKETT and fertilize with a 5-7-3 formuGARDEN GIRL la with a hardy quantity of calcium. If you have great-looking August in the garden is filled plants but poor flowering or with flowers, fragrance, fertilizsmall vegetables, use a highing and addressing some landphosphorus type fertilizer. And scape troubles. pay attention to the calcium There is always something content. to do for those who enjoy garAlthough it has been a dening. Monthly installations warm summer, we still must CORNFLOWER and chores help keep the landfertilize our landscape. Feeding scape interesting and tidy. your plants lets them know that The flowers of August are you love them and helps them many: coneflowers, black-eyed deal with the stress of summer. hit the scene during summer. Susans, salvia of all types, As the temperature increases Sedum Autumn Joy is a sturdy sedum, coreopsis and gaillardia. garden favorite, as well as Bril- in August and September, we Coneflowers, also called turn to fish emulsion at the liant. echinacea, come in colors of Threadleaf Coreopsis brings nursery to feed our plants. Fish red, pink, orange, yellow and a whimsical look to the garden, emulsion is water-soluble and white. They have daisy-shaped easy for all the plants in the with tiny, thread-like leaves petals that surround a dark cen- holding bounties of yellow, rus- landscape to digest. Fertilize ter that cones up as the flower plants that have been watered set, orange or bi-color simply matures. Bees and butterflies first. shaped flowers. This perennial cannot get enough of this If a plant is weeping and is herbaceous and gets better perennial. Install in partial sun appears stressed, skip the fertilevery year. for best results. izer and wait until you see signs Fragrance is an important Black-eyed Susans are also of recovery before you feed. element of gardening for many. daisy-shaped flowers available in You can enjoy some of the This summer, many local yellow, gold, orange, burgundy crape myrtle trees and shrubs landscape’s best fragrances in and occasionally a cherry wine have been experiencing an outthe early morning, before the color. They’re also bee- and heat. The smell of water on the break of aphids. This garden butterfly-friendly. Find blackpest is different than the ones asphalt, the fragrance of the eyed Susans in the nursery that are on your roses in the oleander flowers, coneflower under the name rudbeckia. spring. The crape myrtle aphid blossoms, panicle hydrangeas, Salvia thrives in our hot secretes a honeydew that coats star jasmine, the foliage of the environments, and there are the leaves and dirties the rocks, tomato plants – these smells many colors and shapes of concrete, other shrubs or cars evoke childhood memories. flowers to consider. Durning that park beneath the crapes Summer vegetable gardens summer, Mystic Spires and should be fertilized. Depending canopy. If left unattended, the Salvia Leucantha (Mexican sage) on the condition of your vegleaves of the crape myrtle can are mostly available. Sedum is a etables, you’ll need different eventually get a fungus called succulent-like perennial with sooty mold, which can defoliate products. With lackluster tall, robust selections that also it and kill young branches. growth, consider applying a
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and other heavier genres. The Black Rat has already hosted a number of very successful allages shows. “I believe that kids need to go somewhere where they can find other kids just like them,” says Settle. “That’s what they’re looking for, you know? ‘Hey, you guys are just like me; you’re into the same music, the same weird style …’ “Kids are just trying to fit in, and the school system certainly isn’t helping there,” he adds. “They don’t all fit together. Some kids need to find a place where they can listen to metal, listen to punk and just be
themselves, if just for one night.” Settle is optimistic that places like the Black Rat will help pave the path for a more inclusive music scene that doesn’t alienate youth. “We are the changers. If we can’t help guide the kids and have a place for them to be themselves, and to hopefully one day be the next changers, we aren’t going to have anything at all.” Part 2 of this series will appear in the September issue. Contact Dave Hughes at MrDaveHughes@gmail.com.
Grandfather’s work in Spanish bar inspires Concord novelist there almost 100 years now and is a protected landmark. “I was discussing Hemingway’s books with one of my A chance meeting at the students when we came across library got Concord resident a short story called ‘The Ana Galvan writing her first Denunciation,’ where the setnovel. She was at the library ting is this famous Spanish bar for a workshop on pruning Chicote,” said Galvan. “I told roses and ran into a friend who encouraged her to come my student that my grandfather worked there, and it was to a creative writing class. at that moment that it dawned That was in 2014; now on me that my grandfather Galvan has written 16 books may have known Hemingway and poetry collections and … or served him a cocktail.” teaches her own classes on She became hooked on the writing. Her latest book is “Meet Me at Chicote” (Ama- 1930s in Spain, and her story zon 2021), a historical fiction was born with a lively cast of characters who visit this bar in novel based on her grandfathe pre-Spanish Civil War era. ther – who was a barman at In researching the book, she the famous Madrid cocktail found a recipe for a cocktail bar on the Gran Via. from the bar called “the GalIn its early days, Chicote was frequented by artists, writ- van,” named for her grandfaers and bullfighters, including ther by owner Perico Chicote. notables such as Ernest Hem- She also found photographs ingway, Frank Sinatra and SalSee Galvan, page B6 vador Dalí. The bar has been KARA NAVOLIO Correspondent
POOL, DARTS, LIVE MUSIC and GOOD FOOD Mon - Sat 11 am to 1:30 am Sun 10 am to 1:30am (during football season)
August/Sept. Line-Up Fri - Aug 18 . . . Big Thang
Fri - Sept 15 . . . AP Band
Sat - Aug 19 . . . Union Jack and the Rippers and ACDZ plus guest Unearthed
Sat - Sept 16 . . Annie Sampson singing Blues
Fri- Aug 25 . . . . Bay Area Grooveline Sat - Aug 26 . . . Journey Revisited and Def Leppard Revisited
Sat - Sept 23 . . Almost Dead, Monster God, Blackwulf, Gurschach & Captive State
Sun - Aug 27 . . Fuego Fest all day
Fri - Sept 29 . . . TBA
Thurs - Aug 31 . Mariah Angeliq
Sat - Sept 30 . . Pinball Wizards and Liid Sky
Fri - Sept 1 . . . . On the Rocks plus guest
Fri - Sept 22 . . . PTK Band
Sat - Sept 2 . . . Nu Metal Sing Along Fri - Sept 8 . . . . The UnOriginals Sat - Sept 9 . . . The Passion Project: An Unknown Showcase
The Unoriginals - Sept. 8
Regular Weekly Schedule Sunday - Corn Toss Open Tournament 1:30 p.m. ($10 to play). Indie Rock Bands at 7pm (no cover)
Thursday - Salsa & Bachata Dance
Monday - Open Mic Night hosted by Joey Nunez and Vince Lay (no cover) Sign-up by 8:30
lessons from 7-9 p.m. with instructor Lorans Latin Dance Academy from 9 p.m. on is open dancing with Latin DJ Tonee Salsa/Bachata/Merengue/ Reggaeton ($10 cover after 9pm)
Tuesday - Country Line Dancing with
Saturday - Aces Cracked Poker
DJ Delta Dave (no cover) 8pm
League (free to play) 1pm
Wednesday - Karaoke With DJ SolRok (no cover) 8pm start time
Downtown Concord, 2045 Mt. Diablo St. between Salvio and Pacheco Ample free parking is available in the Salvio Street garage.
925-685-9515
www.vinniesbar.com
