Local-eyes™: Anchorage, Alaska

by Androo Wellner

In this article... Anchorage, Alaska More Zine Fun Table of Contents Introduction & Credits More Issues Index (all issues) WRCU Home Listen: high speed

Anchorage, Alaska, a sleepy little town with a population of just over five hundred thousand, has a music scene that is pretty well washed up. Unless, of course, you are a hippie. The hippie population that gave 10% of the popular vote to Ralph Nader in the last election probably has the most thriving scene of all the cliques here in Anchorage. For the most part, it is because this type of band has venues. The hippie population is well established here and a lot of them have grown up to be respectable businessmen, opening restaurants or bars, and not forgetting their hippie brethren.      These hippie-businessmen let the undesirable hippies into their establishments because they were once "cool" and they still like the music. Bands like Leftover Salmon, the Photon Band, Denali Cooks, and Gangly Moose, therefore, have places to play, whether it is a coffee house, cafe, pizzeria, bar, or even movie theater. But these bands, besides being all old men with little else to do, are also entirely hippie-oriented. The music is about nature, played on acoustic guitars, and oftentimes improvised. One can't help but be reminded of Phish or other such well-established hippie/jam-bands.      The more interesting bands (at least in this reporter's opinion) are, by contrast, rather hungry for venues. Ever since the closing of Gig's Music Theater (the coolest little hole-in-the-wall all-ages music club) and the subsequent closing of the Firehouse Café (the place famous for giving EVERYONE a show) hardcore, punk, and indie acts have had a tough time finding a place to play. Perhaps it is out of sheer frustration, then, that a large number of these acts are hardcore acts. Hardcore, being one of the more pissed-off cousins of punk rock is somewhat of a release for people trapped in this town. Bands like Crypto Fascist Clowns, the Billy Dirt Cult, and GxFxYx (three of the better-known hardcore acts in this town) have, however, by hook or by crook found places to play.      One place they can play at is the PAX café. However, the PAX is a bad café and an even worse venue. The place is barely large enough to barely fit five tables and a stage, the food is terrible, and, as a punk venue, it is not exactly what one would expect. The place is obviously run by hippies (the storefront windows have large pot-leaves painted on them) and it is in the same building and under the same management as the store next door (one of Anchorage's many head shops, where one may purchase, among other things, hemp pajamas and glass pipes). But at least these bands have found a place to play.      Another option--one that comes around quite infrequently--is to play a show with a band with the wherewithal to rent out one of the many spaces made available by the municipality to anyone with enough money. As this option is rather expensive, it doesn't come around that often. A band which has rented out The Spenard Rec Center or the Fairview Rec Center has put a lot of money into their show, and therefore usually wishes to have as many bands as possible play with them, to split the cost. Another option is to play a show through the University of Alaska at Anchorage's club, Coffeehouse Productions. Ben Harper, the man in charge of the club, puts on about four or five shows a year in the UAA Pub, or the Cafeteria. The shows are usually free or four dollars, and there can be as many as five or six punk/hardcore acts. Coffeehouse Productions also use their UAA funding to put on shows by acts from "the lower forty eight" (as Alaskans like to refer to the continental United States).      So there you have it, there are two options for up-and-coming bands, 1) play respectable acoustic hippie music or 2) scrounge for venues.

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