By: Taylor Carik
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Spider John Koerner at the 2005 MMA awards - Photo by Dan Schultz of Mordac.org
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Maybe I'm not old enough; maybe someday I'll get it. Maybe sometime in the next ten or twenty or thirty years I'll figure it out, I'll get what's going on.
But for right now, I don't understand. I don't understand why people would go to a show -- at a bar -- and just sit quietly in front of a stage while a group performs. Why would anyone do that?
Spider John Koerner and Tony Glover are legends in the Minneapolis folk scene. They're buddies with Bob Dylan and they've done "A Prairie Home Companion." They're undeniably talented musicians and they perform wonderful sets of music.
So you would think that such high caliber performers would evoke singing or dancing or clapping or something. But last night, at one of the few acoustic shows that Koerner and Glover are playing in January at the 400 Bar, no one, in fact, did any of that.
The floor in front of the stage, the floor which is usually packed with young concert-goers standing shoulder to shoulder and spilling their drinks, was full of mostly middle-aged men that stayed seated and seldom moved. There were a few younger folks milling around, but they clung to the bar rail while the committed music congregation reverently watched as their preachers sang out some hymns.
And like prudes at a church service, fans sat and shot disapproving looks at disobedient youngsters during the performance. Seriously. People were expected to whisper at a bar, and not just any bar, but the 400 Bar. Where there's a broken guitar framed on the wall. Where, when the men's restroom door opens up, you can see a side shot of a man peeing into a urinal.
I just don't understand it. Did these people enjoy the show? Was it fun? The music was, yes, really good. Spider John has an amazing voice. He has mastered the twelve string guitar, and sometimes ever so subtly changes his timing, even mid-song. Koerner also casually decorates standard melodic lines with impromptu blues bends or blue grass slides. And Glover's mouth harp works in the same way. He reacts to a song and accentuates each tune in the most appropriate manner, whether over or alongside the singing and guitar work.
But look, if I wanted to silently appreciate beauty, I'd go to the MIA. Or to the Ordway. Or to the bar at The Graves Hotel. This show was at the 400 bar. Let's stomp our feet, let's yell out after a good lyric, let's start a party! Someone actually gave me a dirty look because I was talking to my friend and not whispering. What the hell is going on?
And if the event sounds entirely contextual, like it was a special recording session or something, it's important to note the last act of the night was The Como Avenue Jug Band. All eleven of them. By the time of the Jug Band's performance, most of the folk music faithful had gone home and gone to bed, and the young – and young at heart – danced and clapped and whooped and hollered. There were even some bad jokes about Minnesota that received a few boos.
The Como Avenue Jug Band, using all the instruments they could fit on the small stage, got the almost drunk audience all riled up and filled the small space with good vibes and good music. And that's what a show at a bar is supposed to be like.
Location Info:
400 Bar
Artist Info: Como Avenue Jug Band, Spider John Koerner, Tony Glover
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