ALARM’s ongoing series exploring the best grassroots, non-traditional music venues

Name: 1919 Hemphill
Founded: 2002
Location: 1919 Hemphill, Fort Worth, TX 76109
Booking contact: Rick: rick@1919hemphill.org
Q&A With: Al, The loudmouth, website, and flyer guy and Rick, the event coordinator, guy to ask about 1919, and bad communicator.

What type of bands do you book?
Al: All kinds, but mostly DIY punk and hardcore bands.

Why did you want to open a DIY venue?
Al: Well, we didn't, but this guy Cri did. He wanted to have a DIY safe space for artists, musicians, activists — basically anyone — to call home.

What kind of crowd do you attract?
Al: Depends on the show, but mostly young people, punks, and non-punks.

How has the venue been an attribute to a community?
Rick: We are located in a kind of poor area, and we allow people to wander in and watch shows if they want. Sometimes they are drunk and rowdy and we have to tell them to leave.

We also have a room full of donated clothes and household items. People will sometimes drop donations for people outside 1919 when we're closed and it will be gone before we get there.

I was told by a neighbor once that somebody dropped off like a hundred cans of food outside of our space. It was picked through and cleaned out in less than an hour. Our neighbors (community) love us.

Have you been met with any challenges running a DIY venue?
Rick: Yes. People straight up not giving shit seems to be the main challenge. Trying to convince people that it's not just another club is kind of hard.

Al: I think it's people thinking that we're something that we aren't. We get complaints from certain aspects of the punk community that get angry at us for sticking to our ideals (i.e. DIY, no drinking or smoking at shows, not tolerating intolerance, etc.). We occasionally get accused of being PC fascists or "crusty hippies," and neither of those things are even close to true.

Aside from live music, do you host any other events or programs in your space?
Rick: We have a lot of different on-the-road acts come through. We have also hosted a freak show, a play, several film fests, some art shows, and fun skill shares / workshops.

Are there any significant musical acts or artists that have drawn a crowd or have had a significant performance?
Al: This Bike is a Pipebomb, The Bananas, An Albatross, Best Fwends, Japanther, Hot Cross, Brickfight, Matt & Kim and Iron Lung.

Rick: Kimya Dawson, Blueberry Fist, O' Pioneers, Boogdish, Can Kickers, World/Inferno Friendship Society, Surrender and Ooga Booga.

Do you have a favorite anecdote regarding your venue?
Al: Keith Morris talks a lot about boring stuff.

Rick: The night that someone went into our parking lot and smashed a bunch of people's windshields for no reason. Wait, that wasn't funny at all!

Do you plan on expanding or modifying your venue in the future?
Al: Right now we're in the process of trying to get more diverse events going on. Eventually, we'll fix the leaks too.

What advice could you give to those who are interested in opening their own venue?
Al: Don't, unless you have a person that's ready to spend about 15-20 nights out of the month doing stuff related to the venue. Also, if you are going to let people drink, then you are up for a real challenge.

Rick: Don't let anybody tell you how you should be doing things, and don't let the lack of interest get you down. It took five years for people to start going to shows that I set up.

What events do you have coming up?
Check out this link.

1919 Hemphill: www.1919hemphill.org

ALARM’s ongoing series exploring the best grassroots, non-traditional music venues

Photo courtesy of venue.

Name: The Bike Barn
Founded: 2004
Location: 547 Blackstrap Rd, Falmouth, ME 04105
Booking contact: Aaron Parker, rustic_live@yahoo.com
Q&A With: Aaron Parker, main organizer and resident.

What type of bands do you book?
Punk, hardcore, indie, folk, pop and weird…sometimes hip hop, noise and ska. Once, jazz.

Why did you want to open a DIY venue?
My friends had been setting up shows in an illegally rented space that got busted; we were without a show space, and we had this big old barn at my dad's house.

Is your venue grounded on any ideals?
Sure. DIY is the big one, but also being anti-capitalist/anarchist and sober. We would let people drink if it wasn't a hazard to losing the space, but most of the people who set up shows are sober and prefer shows without alcohol.

What kind of crowd do you attract?
Mostly the same old crowd of local punks and travelers. Occasionally, a wider audience shows up if someone outside of the punk scene is playing (Kimya Dawson, for instance).

How has the venue been an attribute to the community?
The Bike Barn has been a consistent place for a few types of music to have the chance to be heard. We also host workshops and cheap classes once in a while.

Have you been met with any challenges running a DIY venue?
Because the barn is owned by my family and is a multi-use space, there is no rent, so it's a very easy project to maintain. Of course, we have perennial problems with noise complaints, but the police department has finally given up on shutting down shows as long as they end at a reasonable hour.

Aside from live music, do you host any other events or programs in your space?
We have had video showings as well as workshops and classes, which are usually centered around gardening and sustainability.

Are there any significant musical acts or artists that have drawn a crowd or have had a significant performance?
We have only broken the 100-person mark twice. The first time was Plan-It-X Fest 2005 (a traveling festival) and the second time was when Defiance, Ohio played here…anytime Defiance, Ohio plays here, it's a good show.

Do you have a favorite anecdote regarding your venue?
This might not be the best one, but it's recent so it stands out in my head. I was at a local art festival a few months ago and a random guy approached me and my partner and asked to take our photo.

After he took some photos, we got to talking, and his first question was about where we lived. With no information other than that we live in Falmouth, he asked if we lived at the Bike Barn, and we do. I guess it's just funny because apparently, we are the only interesting thing going on in Falmouth.

Do you plan on expanding or modifying your venue in the future?
Not really. We would insulate it, but we're building a house and winter shows will probably just happen there.

What advice could you give those who are interested in opening their own venue?
Just do it. Almost any space can be a decent DIY venue. If the Bike Barn has become a known venue (in some circles), then your living room could be as well.

What events do you have coming up?
None right now. It's currently 27 degrees in the barn, so there won't be anything happening 'til the spring.

The Bike Barn: www.geocities.com/rustic_live/bikebarn.html

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy the singer-songwriter, former model, and third wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, recently covered "Anyone Else But You" by the Moldy Peaches (watch the video below). Kimya Dawson of the Moldy Peaches said this about Bruni-Sarkozy's performance on her blog:

So, let me tell you…They sing the whole song! I actually squealed and doubled over laughing, and maybe even thrust my clenched fist in the air upon hearing THE FIRST LADY OF FRANCE sing the line…

"squinched up your face and did a dance, then you shook a little turd out of the bottom of your pants"!!!!

SHE SANG THE LINE! For some reason, in my mind, that changes everything!

When I finished running around in circles, I shouted a big "HA! How you like me now?" to the 9th grade French teacher who dropped me from the class after 2 weeks and told me I was no good at French and would likely never visit France or have anything to do with France. Well, it's true, I still am lousy at the language, but the first lady of the country sang MY turd lyric! That has got to count for something, right?!