RTS Party Plan: Support a starving musician

 

Writer at Bar Pink. Photo from excellent events blog sddialedin.

Muse uses a video screen the size of a big rig. The Killers use pyrotechnics. Weezer has the letter “W” adorned with thousands of lights. Why? Because you’re sitting 100 yards away and they need to do everything they can to capture your attention.

But that band playing at the bar? Only about an arms length away. Special effects? Maybe a fog machine they picked up from Spencer’s, if that. More likely it’ll be nothing.

Rock concerts at festivals and arenas are great. Hearing thousands of people singing “Say It Ain’t So” is an experience. But seeing a band you’ve barely heard (aside from a few songs on MySpace), oftentimes for free, and a cheap drink in hand is a great experience. Seeing the guitarist step on the petals and change frets. Feeling the vibration from the drums rather than a subwoofer. Even the (romanticised) notion that they’re playing the music not for money (because they aren’t getting much, if any) but because they want to to get their music out there. Go out and see Young Love at your campus bar. Or catch Finding Fiction at the bar with the $2.50 beers. With some minor research (like the excellent sddialedin for San Diego) it’s never hard to find a free show and a good band on any day of the week.

RTS Party Plan: A Night At the Museum

I have a hangover. The culprit? Four bottles of wine. But I won’t pretend I have any degree of sophistication during its consumption or knowledge of its intricacies. Case in point: the vintners which I most frequently purchase end with Shaw and Rossi. One inadvertent benefit in these harsh economic times is that restaurants – in their struggle to maintain clientele – have resorted to promotions which reek of desperation. Last night’s $12 a bottle wine special is a good example.

Times are hard. But the sacrifices we make for our bank accounts should not mean sacrifices for our hedonistic lifestyles. Clubbing with Jamie, Jake, Sam, Forest, and Ron may be no longer financially viable, but there are other locales where you can drink with your friends besides a nightclub.

Like a museum. Intrigued? It seems to be an emerging trend in many major cities. Like San Francisco. San Diego. New York. Chicago. Last weekend a few friends of mine went to the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Arts and amidst the art installations, artists were…performing yoga. What? I didn’t really understand it. You could also get your fortune read by a tarot card reader and watch a local band perform. While drinking $3 Stone Levitation bottles and $4 Seagrams mixed drinks.

As a result, we at Roaring twentySomethings have drafted a Stimulus Plan. The purpose: bail out museums, many of which are not immune to these economic times. The means: you and your friends visiting a museum for one of these events. It’s also a good habit to break the monotony – albeit fun monotony – of going to a bar, ordering your precession of drinks, and dancing like a fool. Even the most harsh art critic or clueless purveyor (i.e. me) will find perusing art with friends an entertaining activity, especially in the presence of fellow RTSs.

Event at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego