One of my favorite Boise past times is hitting up the night life downtown at The Reef. While The Reef is one of my favorite local restaurants and bar, it also plays host to some amazing musicians. Saturday night, they featured Matt White and Lauren Pritchard. While sadly, the Reef was lacking in numbers, the entertainment factor was a plus 10.
Lauren Pritchard started the evening out for us. She's an amazing talent, with a relentless voice, that's a mix of folk and happy funk. Check out her newest single Stuck from her debut album Wasted in Jackson. For those of you that haven't heard of Matt White, this up and coming artist reminds me of a mix between John Mayer and Jason Mraz. His soulful voice will melt your heart and leave you wanting more. He jammed for a good solid 2 hours. Alternating between the piano and guitar, the New Jersey native is an amazing talent that we are bound to hear more of. Check out my favorite song of the nightBest Days:
The Reef took it to the next level again as their booked talent played to near capacity. Bob Marley was the theme as both performers, Trevor Hall and Cas Haley, laid out their island tunes while the tiki gods smiled and the torches burned.
Cas Haley opened and is best known for winning runner-up on America's Got Talent show, but is becoming even more well-known in the industry for being a purist and anything but a sell out. He walked from a major label contract after his win to reinforce his belief in his music and his way.
While Cas covers Marley, he does it his way and it works with his Texas drawl. It's music you can sing along to and then demands from you the respect to let Haley do Marley leaving the listener to do nothing, but groove while he finishes the trill.
Trevor Hall is Marley with an American-hippie edge, and not because he is the white guy in the room jammin' to reggae in full garb. Hall sings it hippie and seldom sings the same song the same way twice. Duplicating a performance for Hall would be like disrespecting the agency of the song, which of course would deny the love, peace, and harmony of the universe.
The Reef was the perfect venue for these two young and talented artists who had the appeal from a surprisingly young crowd not to mention half of last years BSU football team, who took in the tunes. Keep the Reef on your radar as their upcoming talent has sold out much larger venues throughout the country.
We were taking the night in downtown just as the club scene began jumping. It was that moment when you don't know what you want to do and you have no plans, but are contemplating whether to dance, take in live music. or buy four street tacos with hot sauce and a drink a monster before calling it a night.
As that happened on the night after St. Patty's Day, a traditionally slow night in the entertainment industry, something eerie happened. Spontaneity sprouted on the corner of 5th and Main. We could just make it out from the far side of Addie's lot. A slight fog fell just under the street lamps and was further illuminated by the lights of the building's ground lights from below.
A crowd of about 25 people surrounded what looked like a homeless man from our vantage point. Shoe-less, unkempt, and vocal. I had seen mobs gather in various cities with various outcomes, so naturally intrigued, we made our way to witness...whatever. Entertainment comes at varying costs and with unpredictable outcomes. My date hoped it was the witnessing of a werewolf transforming, my hope was a giant Leprechaun just waking from a stupor.
This was neither. It was a man taking requests from what seemed to be a crowd from a gig they had been performing in at a coffee shop of sorts. While packing up their equipment, the lead singer and performer had been enticed by the crowd to start an impromptu performance right there on the corner.
As the other band members came with equipment in hand to load their van, they instead opened their instruments and began a jam session that had everything but the jews harp and the coon dog howling from the porch.
As this pied piper led his group to the next corner of 6th and Main they picked up followers...when they arrived in front of the old Red Room venue, they encountered competition. Another band was playing and entertaining their own crowd. As this band played and the lead singer intensely belted out more mature vocals the crowds merged. We caught some of the action on our phone...and enjoyed the set. Something seemed off. These bands were talented had a following and were producing cds for sale...then they introduced themselves.
The first was Adam Stip and the second Michael of Grand Falconer a hot new artist whose voice is pure, rugged, and resonating. This story was building. I recognized the names and then it hit me.
These were both bands booked this month at the Color Cube on Main Street just behind the Red Lion. A small almost underground club whose site explicitly claims to never book cover bands. A nice twist in the community that has relied heavily on the remix and looms on the brink of a creative blue funk.
This noble mantra however, has not impressed the landlord who has put the proverbial kabash on bands playing at this super mini mall storefront. We had an email in to them over the past week to get the scoop and have not heard back. Their site has several acts announced and redirects their dates to various venues around town including tonight at the Linen Building on Grove St. where the Grand Falconer will perform. Enjoy some of the footage we captured...
For those who never knew, Boise had a nice and well positioned comedy club on 8th street. It was perfectly situated, advertised, branded, and decorated. The missing link for HiJynx was the absence of customers to their 4-5 nights of comedy needed to keep a club of this size operational.
It was just too much overhead and not enough customers for one club in a city this size. In Vegas, comedy clubs struggle as well; just too many options. However, the clubs in medium to small sized markets remain relevant by re-inventing themselves. China Blue and the whole Bistro family of clubs in Boise do just that from Bikini bull-riding to "No Pants Night".
Comedy is the new addition to their "What can we do next" mentality, and it is filling that void Hijynx left behind. Tonight, Lief Skyving has been booked. Someone you may have recognized from tv or in Fred Meyers down the street. He is local and is nationally recognized and is admired by competing talent and agents alike for being spot on no matter what the crowd.
"Leif Skyving may be keeping his stand up a secret living in Idaho, but this guy would fit in performing in Los Angeles, New York, and anywhere in the country. Performing for our holiday crowds can be tough, but Leif rose to the occasion and elicited tons of laughs and great response. Can't wait to see him back at the Comedy Castle."
--Mark Ridley, Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle, Royal Oak MI
A club that can produce this caliber of entertainment as cheaply as they are offering it for, can only do so by transforming that club after the show to one of the premier dance clubs in the Boise club district. China Blue is one of the only clubs TixxFixx knows of that has VIP quarters and bottle service.
So like all things, vote with your wallet, but support the local scene when they go out of their way to produce something fresh and something unique. It should be a spectacular night down town this evening. We counted 8 major events on our calendar for tonight, all of which end up creating their own brand of after parties, not to mention it is the day after the day after a drinking holiday.
On the night after St. Patrick's Day if you're under age, what is there to do in Boise besides Wahooz' version of miniature golf? Bowling, movies, and Hookah, right?
Longtime Boise local, Tim Beck disagrees. Enter, Lucky Charms and Audio Thrill. Local school principals and teachers call it unsupervised Rave's and suggest that parents are under-informed about this "underground" and seedy event. Their cries made the news and their claims of drunken border-line orgies were the product of these un-supervised school events. Tim Beck immediately rebutted and aired his contrasting explanation and the music of Audio Thrill continues.
We at TixxFixx.com believe it continues because Audio Thrill stepped up and blasted the claims out of the water. Tim's casual, but passionate explanation, dismissed all their accusations and he continues to defend his position that these are not in fact Raves...
Raves started in the early 1960's and are the offspring of the beatnik rallies. these raves had characteristics that we tried to compare to Audio Thrill's to see which side was closer to the truth...you decide for yourself:
Raves:
Audio Thrill:
• Completely underground
• Completely out in the open
• Last until the sun comes up
• Strict hours of 7pm-12am during teen night
• Alcohol present and available <-18>
• No alcohol w/exception: mixed age events
• Excuse to use club drugs
• No drugs aloud
• Fire codes disregarded
• Limited number of tickets sold per code
• Typically no entrance fee
• Tickets are cheap, but not free
The list could go on. The difference seems basic. Raves filled a void from the 50's forward and helped in Europe to overcome the simple bar scene and in effect helped create what is now known as a dance club.
In America, raves filled the void created within the disco generation after the "Disco Sucks" movement killed it. The desire for deep heart pumping pulses of repetitive beats inspired a generation to enjoy dancing, while doing it under the radar of the popular culture.
Raves always end the same way; with a governmentally involved stoppage. They end because they planned on ending after a surge of defiant behavior by their organizers and the attendees.
Bad clubs and bars end the same way. The trick for Audio Thrill in their apparent quest to exist and teeter on the brink of mainstream and underground, is to remain consistently in front of the discussion, offer openness, and the most important ingredient in any event that includes under aged expression...security.
This balance will ensure a long life in Boise and finally a safe, clean environment with a fresh new option for our underage youth and raising the bar for the city's goal of becoming the most livable city in America.
Look for tickets soon to all these events at your only local, one stop shop for VIP and discount tickets...TixxFixx.com
Idaho Botanical Gardens has announced 3 of their concerts this summer: Sheryl Crow, The Moody Blues, and Ray LaMontagne w/Brandi Carlile. Everyone knows that. What we don't know is the stress in the eyes of the office workers every time anyone asks them who else is coming...
You don't get to see that unless you go there and look at their faces and physically and deliberately mouth the words..."who else is coming?". I like to do it about once a week at the very least. The truth is that every rumor that creeps out is based on truth, the problem is the competition.
Every time a promoter such as the Knitting Factory identifies a plausible tour, they now have competition from a number of other promoters. The days of submitting a bid and receiving a contract back are over and the bidding has begun. Tight lips are the product. There have been several almost's only to be outbid by a competitor and the concert lost. Boise fans win with quality of shows coming, but may start feeling it more where it hurts.
Stay tuned as we are not afraid to post the rumors on our quest to be at the big shows, produce pixx for your pleasure, and write what you could have seen had you just gone to the show. Promote Boise entertainment and recreation in this unique part of the world is our goal...so if you're local, you will know where you should have been, and if you're visiting you will know where to go and how to get there...
For those of you that haven't heard of Matt White, this up and coming artist reminds me of a mix between John Mayer and Jason Mraz. His soulful voice will melt your heart and leave you wanting more. He jammed for a good solid 2 hours. Alternating between the piano and guitar, the New Jersey native is an amazing talent that we are bound to hear more of. Check out my favorite song of the night Best Days: 
