Galen's Stuff | Jess Dewes
Photo Essay
Streetside Pick Up | Elie Gardner
Photo Elie Gardner
The Gift and Burden of Possession | Ari Holz
Franklin Visits eBay! | Franklin Jennings
The Book| Luby Kelley
Illustration Matt Kindt
Killed By Their Own ARt | Byron Kerman
Liberation | Julie Newberry
Bless This Mess | Claire Nowak-Boyd
Photos Michael R. Allen
Best of Mississippi Nights | Jim Utz
Andrea Avery, Diana Benanti, Thomas Crone, M. Davis, Heidi Dean, Amanda E. Doyle, Joe Esser, Chris King, François Luong, L.A. Ramsey, Stefene Russell, Steven Schreiner, and Erik Smetana.
Andrea Avery, Thomas Crone, Bill Cable, Jess Dewes, Katy Fischer, Jane Godfrey, Dave Gray.
Best of Mississippi Nights |
by Jim Utz
While
there were always other venues around town in the 1980s (The Manor,
Turner's, Bernard's Pub, Sports Palace), Mississippi Nights' musical
range was wider and booking ambitions bigger than the competition.
You couldn't label it anything but a music club, the musical
selections were too diverse for it to be simply a "punk club" or a
"blues club", etc. By not falling into niche booking, Mississippi
Nights' calendar was as full as the other clubs but contained less
filler.
My
concert experiences up to spring 1984 had been mostly arena or
stadium affairs, so walking in to Mississippi Nights at 14 years old
for the first time (before their expansion) made it feel like you
were catching a band in your home. General admission seating,
extremely inexpensive tickets and bands that could be caught hanging
out with the crowd before and after shows...I left my first
Mississippi Nights show (Accept - "Balls To The Wall" tour) knowing
that arena rock shows would soon be a thing of the past for me as I
began to seek out more artists I could catch in this musical utopia.
Smart
club ownership, booking, and management along with a little good
luck in having open space available immediately next to them,
allowed Mississippi Nights to expand in winter 1987/1988 doubling
its size without relocating and cementing their reputation as THE
MUSIC VENUE in town. The venue's growth in size was organic and
timely as it mirrored the growing audiences for many artists (mainly
the exploding "college rock" scene) the club had booked and nurtured
relationships with over the years (when booking agents/management
maintained loyalty with venues instead of just selling to the
highest bidder next time through). As artists like Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Flaming Lips, Fishbone, Soul Asylum and The Ramones'
audiences grew, the club grew and was able to accommodate the bigger
crowds while not going too big and having to abandon the smaller,
developing artists that built the club's reputation. Favorite MN
shows of the 1980s included The Ramones, John Lee Hooker, Sonic
Youth, Znowhite and Joan Jett.
As
the 1990s moved along the live music business started to change.
Music conglomerates like SFX were moving in on the "club" scenes
which made competition for the independents tougher and tougher by
bringing a bizarro 'Wal-Mart effect' to the biz where ticket prices
and guarantees went up (instead of down) to squeeze out the indie
competition. Mississippi Nights found a way to survive in these
times while the other local venues that partnered with "the man"
would die off from things like overpaying on guarantees, not enough
in-house booking, etc. Favorite MN shows of the 1990s included
Primal Scream, Fiona Apple, Iggy Pop, Lush, Voi Vod, Slayer,
Nirvana, My Bloody Valentine, Merle Haggard and Joan Jett.
As
the city entered the 2000s fiercer competition to Mississippi Nights
reign arrived with Pop's establishing itself as a major force in
hosting national acts as well as the building of The Pageant. Other
factors like further sprawl of the city's population, Laclede's
Landing no longer being a destination for original live music clubs,
minimal free parking and the constant rumors of the redevelopment of
Laclede's Landing factored in rumors that Mississippi Nights would
be closing. When urban and harder edged shows started to move to
other venues in town, Mississippi Nights adapted and began
cultivating the emo/pop punk and jam band scenes. While no longer
the only game in town, Mississippi Nights existence remained as
important and vital to the St. Louis music scene as they continued
to book developing bands that would inevitably move on to the bigger
venues around town their next time through. Favorite shows of 2000s
would include Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, Blood Brothers, Built To
Spill and Joan Jett.
So
finally on January 19, 2007, the 10+ years of rumors and speculation
about the closing of the club scene becomes realized as Pinnacle
Entertainment takes over the club's space as part of their new
McCasino being built on the north end of Laclede's Landing. While
the new occupants of 914 N. 1st Street will undisputedly bring more
revenue for the city of St. Louis, its the bittersweet trading of
one form of riches (cultural) for another (monetary). Thankfully the
loss may only be temporary as Mississippi Nights' plans are to
relocate by year's end....so hopefully this stays a tribute to just
an address rather than a memorial for an institution.
Catch any concert in town and you're likely to spot Jim Utz, a Kick Ass recipient and long-time collector of ticket stubs, posters and music memorabilia.