Show: The Urban Sandbox 4 Year Anniversary Spectacular
Performers: Death From Below, Lamon Manuel, avery r young, Seemore Perspective, Kevin Coval, Mina Corwin, Robbie Q, Butter, Add-2, Billy Tuggle and much much more.
Location: The Ice Factory
Cost: $4 suggested
Drinks: $1 PBR
Things I missed to be there: Extreme Noise Terror and Phobia at the Note; DMBQ at the Empty Bottle; Vertonen at Enemy; Newcity Pool Party at Motel Bar; Spring Fever with the DJs from Think Pink and the Women on Women Music Show at T's Bar; Disrobe, No Slogan, Rager and Canadian Rifle at La Casa Maldita; Major Taylor, Jordan Z, Bald Eagle, The Kampfire Killaz gang, Trancid and Geertz at Debonair Social Club
Reason for going: I was invited...wouldn't have missed it for the world
The pool of awesomeness in this city just got a little smaller. For the poetry scene, the open mic scene, and the all-ages scene, it was a much bigger hit. For the last four years, Dan Sully and friends have been throwing the Urban Sandbox at the Ice Factory. Remember when I printed that letter the Ice Factory sent out, that explained why they were going to stop throwing punk shows? There were a number of factors involved, but one of the big ones was that the neighborhood was comin up, and the new neighbors, acting the part of the disgruntled yuppies they were bound to be labelled as, raised a fit about the punks and poets they'd see congregating outside of the Ice Factory's big green door, and now the whole place is going away.
Nobody knows what the future of the show is. When I talked to Sully about it, he said that he would need to find a location that provided everything that the Ice Factory had. Really, the show wasn't that different from many others. Every month there was a featured poet and a featured artist; at the end, there was the innovation of a featured photographer. A revolving group of DJs was always on hand to play inbetween each performer, and a charming group of skilled motherfuckers got to act as host. It wasn't until I thought about it that I realized how integral the Ice Factory was to the run of the show, an all-ages space that wasn't a bar or a cafe, that wasn't looking to make any money off the thing, that existed for more than a year.
There are only a couple open mics in the city that I could stand on a regular basis. I met some of my oldest and dearest friends over at the In One Ear at the Heartland Cafe. The Heartland has been the show's home for almost ten years but they aren't really that dedicated to it, and while every poet worth their salt in this city goes through the Heartland once or twice a year, few of them are regulars. Every Tuesday, Charlie Newman runs an open mic out of a cafe cleverly referred to as The Cafe. The place is full of skilled regulars, some of the best in the city, but they aren't young and hungry anymore, they're all over thirty and set for themselves. No one's looking to get famous, which is wonderful because when you go there, you can tell that no one is trying to sell you anything, or do anything other than share their words. Still, while it's technically an all-ages show, and an all-ages venue, it isn't the right scene for the cats who are still in high school.
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