A few years ago, former Sun Day Managing Editor Mason Souza told me I looked like a guy who liked folk music. I almost fired him.
We were talking about musical tastes, and I wasn’t going to tolerate the assessment of a young man who actually liked jazz (sorry jazz lovers out there, I hate it), so I dismissed his assessment as the thoughts of a misguided youth. Not to say he didn’t have evidence. A razor hasn’t landed on my face in 20 years, I commonly wear a leather band on my right wrist and a spoon ring on my right pointer finger, beaten jeans with holes in both knees, a denim shirt, a pair of campus boots (akin to cowboy boots but with round toes), and a flat cap on my head. I also have a tattoo (some Japanese lettering that I have no idea what it means).
My shock only worsened when I later told my wife about Mason’s opinion, and she said, “But you do like folk music.”
I wanted to divorce her.
We were in our kitchen, my wife dressed like a normal, cute adult woman, and me in jeans and a t-shirt that looked handed down to me from a century ago, when I started ticking off the bands I listened.
“Yeah,” my wife said, “folk.”
“They’re not folk,” I argued.
“No? Then what are they?”
“They’re…they’re…they’re…” I stumbled.
Then something very unsettling happened. I couldn’t tell her what genre of music the bands I listened was. My wife let me brood over this for a few minutes until I finally realized, with something near revulsion: “They’re folk.”
I ran to that smart idiot Google and started inputting band names into the search field and was greeted back with a series of
Folk
Indie Folk
Folk Rock
Alternative Folk
and then the label that put it all into perspective: Modern Folk, an oxymoron if I ever heard one.
The word “modern” made all the difference to me because until that moment, when I thought of the word “folk,” I thought of bands like Peter, Paul, and Mary or Gordon Lightfoot or The Mammas and the Pappas. And when I think of those bands, well, I’ll use a popular valley girl phrase from the early 90s: Ugh, gag me with a spoon.
I know there are probably lots of readers out there who are big fans of the folk music from the 60s and 70s, but I’m not one of them. I have an eclectic music taste and enjoy music from just about every genre out there but folk.
“I’m leavin’ on a jet plane…”
Great.
“Don’t know when I’ll be back again…”
Even better.
In high school my girlfriend and I drove up to Milwaukee one night for some reason, and she insisted on listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary the whole way. I almost broke up with her.
Flash forward twenty years, and here I stand a changed man, humming along with bands singing about moss on a rolling stone or flowers in your hair.
My enjoyment of this music led me to some pretty solid bands and a place called Evanston SPACE, in, you guessed it, Evanston, IL.
SPACE is a low-keyed, subdued venue with cocktail tables and an atmosphere that reminds you of a vintage wreck-room. It’s intimate and puts you up close with the main attraction no matter your seat. Moreover, it’s a big draw for modern folk bands and their fans, among other acts. It’s also a bid draw for people over the age of 55.
In March of this year, my wife and I went to our first concert at SPACE, and I was a little worried we were going to be the oldest people in the room, remembering the concerts of my youth. SPACE is located near-ish Northwestern University, and when I was in college, live music was like a magnet, attracting any kid with some money in his pocket and eager for live music. However, when we sat down, we noticed that nearly the entire front row was occupied by seniors. Further glances showed that not only were my wife and I not the oldest people in the room, we were some of the youngest. Mind you, too, that the oldest member of the band everyone was there to see is 25.
A couple weeks ago, my wife and I went to our second concert at SPACE and were greeted with the same mix of ages while we waited for the doors to open, which is a testament to two things: The diverse reach of these young and modern folk bands and that people over the age of 55 like really cool music.
My suggestion, if you like cool music, small venues, and bands that will soft-rock you out of your seat, check out Evanston SPACE here: www.evanstonspace.com.
