Laramie's Hot New Venue: The Gryphon Theatre
One shot of Hornitos...Still not yet ready to write.
Two shots of Hornitos...Interview notes in front of me, Beethoven on
the playlist...No, Beethoven’s distracting right now.
Thoughts=Music-LaramiePlainsCivicCenter-GryphonTheatre-AHome.
Three shots...
Last week I ended my article with, and I paraphrase myself, “there’s no point in making music if it’s not to be heard.” But what if there is no place to put the players of music and the ears of listeners together in the same room? The Laramie music scene needs a home. A center. A place where mother muse rings the triangle and we come a runnin’, mouths waterin’.
Some of the bars work some of the time. The 3rd Street Cowboy has stepped up and arranged for live music to be played, even letting the loud music and social misfits of the “punk” scene into their establishment. But wait. The punk scene and the folk scene and the rock scene and even the hip hop heads overlap into an unnameable amalgam of a scene within in the Laramie community. And not to disregard the bars in this town who have graciously allowed local bands and townie followers into their businesses, but there is a seeming lack of consistency in Laramie’s live music space/time continuum. Click play again on Beethoven...Oh “Moonlight Sonata,” you beautiful broken heart yearning hope within sadness of a song.
Shows cost money. Professional shows cost even more. There is a monetary risk involved. Take our newest local music festival: much like a restaurant, the Snowy Range Music Festival is on a five-year plan. To break even in five years, that is. And like these music fests and restaurants, music shows must have investors; there has to be someone or some people with good enough sense to “fill” a void which will hopefully show itself to be financially viable; there has to be an enthusiastic person willing to be the undying energetic catalyst for something bigger than themselves; and there must be a population of people to sell these shows to. Enter the transient and awkward college town of Laramie, home to the University of Wyoming. In the fall semester of 2010, there were 12,992 enrolled students. Of that population, 9,325 were Wyoming state residents. By my estimate, there were 7,253 Wyoming state resident undergraduates. A large portion of these undergraduates are presumably under 21 years of age. If we roughly estimate that 5000 of them were under 21, that makes for an estimated 16% of the Laramie population between the ages of 18 and a day under 21. And that’s just a historical estimation of University of Wyoming students. Four shots of hornitos and the popping hiss of a beer can... Beethoven is out. Hip-hop is in. Something with a beat. Something that encourages a cadence. Word flow, word flow, word flow...ideas, thoughts, centralized, linear line, beginning and end.
I went to a Derek Trucks show three or four years ago in the Union Ballroom at the University of Wyoming. The Derek Trucks who is the son of Butch Trucks, who was an original member of the Allman Brother’s Band. The Derek Trucks who plays with the new version of the Allman Brothers Band. The Derek Trucks who is now married to Susan Tedeschi and whose album was recently named number 46 on Rolling Stones Magazine's top 50 albums of the year. At this show I again estimate that there were maybe 120-150 people in attendance. Where were the 5,000 under-21 students who couldn’t go get wasted in a Laramie bar and begin their life of closing-time bad decisions? Looking back, I now think I know the answer.
Wyoming. The beautiful state I claim as my own after nine years in residence. The beautiful state of Wyoming, which is 93.97% the size of Colorado; ranked 10th behind Colorado’s 8th in state size, but has only 10.83% of Colorado’s 5 million+ inhabitants. Culture is bred amongst people. Art, trends, literature, intellect, and style. Fashion, music, collective education, and community. What is it to be raised in Rock Springs, Torrington, Lander, and Greybull? To come to the “urban” skyline of Laramie? Everything I love about Wyoming is everything the people raised in these small towns are born into. The sparseness. The sage. The mountains. The rivers. The land. The land, The Land. But part of the difficulty of rallying the Laramie community behind an artistic, musical, movement is born of the geographical disconnect of small town Wyoming and it also exists in the lack of identity college students have with the city of Laramie. Why care?
Damn…Redbull at 7pm sooooo…8-thumb 9-index 10-middle 11-ring 12-pinky 1-thumb 2-index 3-middle (sigh) 7 hours …The bottle says melatonin is non-addictive but if I know it helps put me to sleep and I’ve used it 13days in a row to go to sleep, does that make me an addict?
So do we solve the identity/culture issues of the population first or do we solve the issue of a musical home? The Laramie Plains Civic Center has answered that for us. David Soules and Paul Gallegos have answered it for us. They’ve been making strides to turn the Gryphon Theatre at the LPCC into a quality venue with consistent booking for all markets of the Laramie community.
“What is there to do in this town?”
From now on that question can often be answered with, “check out the Gryphon Theatre.” In striving to bring quality entertainment for those aged 18 to a day under 21, and all ages under and over that spectrum, the Gryphon Theatre will be hosting nationally touring plays, locally generated entertainment, and music from nationally-touring acts.
Scheduled so far is: a play from award winning director Mathew Zrebski, the blood-pumping performance of the Laramie Burlesque, and music from the likes of The Stereofidelics, Screen Door Porch, Tinhorn Molly—and a band that will be opening for the Dropkick Murphy’s in Boston over St. Patricks Day weekend—The Mighty Regis.
Most importantly, with all of these nationally touring acts, local bands have been tapped as opening acts. You can see local bands Rattrapper, Trash Canyon and the Honeybees, and Dusty McQueen in a new light, on stage, at a more traditional venue, made for the viewing of artistic ventures. The Gryphon Theatre is making quality attempts to include the burgeoning local music scene.
Your first chance to catch a show at the Gryphon is next Friday, February 3rd. My band, Jeff Duloz and the Heady Altitude, will be opening up for the funky country of One Ton Pig. Tickets can be found at ticketfly.com, and the new calendar will be launched soon at Gryphontheatre.org. In the meantime tickets are available at 710 E. Garfield, suite 119. Pre-sale tickets for most shows will be starting at $12 and will generally be $15 at the door.
From the guy who wrote about the $3 cover, believe me – skip the late night pizza or the one pitcher of beer or the lame 3D movie ticket you would have purchased on that Friday and come engage yourself with people. We all exist. We exist that much more when we’re in existence together and not separated by video games, television, Hulu, Netflix, and the false golden calf named Facebook. And besides, for those of age, there’s a full cash bar with reasonable prices. So go accept that Facebook event request and I’ll see you on the 3rd.
Mmmmmm…pillow.
