Tour Bus Syndrome

No matter how long I work in the music business, I still get butterflies when a huge tour bus pulls up to the venue. The whole club is buzzing. Equipment is loading in from all doors. The phone's ringing off the hook. Tickets are flying off the website. Fans are lined up around the block.

Those butterflies can also be attributed to the stress and worry about a live performance. There's no "restart" button. No guarantees. It's thrilling, but it's nerve-wracking as hell. I'm old beyond my years, and I should have started a zanax regimen years ago...But when it all comes together, it's nothing short of amazing. 100% totally worth it.

Last weekend could be considered one of those amazing weekends, no doubt. We hosted Eric Lindell, Tab Benoit, and Poncho Sanchez. Thurs, Fri, and Sat. Hit, after hit, after hit! (You're welcome.) These dudes are some of the most talented artists in the world. Legendary musicians. Even a few Grammy's in the mix. (When we have to special order a bottle of courvoisier a week before, you know they are 'kind of a big deal'.) I couldn't wait to see what show they were bringing to the South Bay, and I was working my ass off, making sure every detail was under control.  But when those gentlemen took the stage, it was like they were home. You could hear a pin drop. The crowd was captivated, under their spell. Everyone was impressed. I was relieved. All in all, a solid weekend at The Rocke.

What do we have in store for you this time around? More of the same: great live tunes, and more butterflies for yours truly. Friday is a rage-your-face-off Spazmatics 80's party, and Saturday is the one and only: English Beat. (Or The Beat, as they're known in England. Duh.) Thanks for being a fan, and we'll see you at the show!

Love,
KT

Owning a venue isn't about me...

I built Saint Rocke in 2007.
I still remember the men I built it with, and I still have the graph drawing of the bar on my wall at work. I build it with my own two hands, and my own mind..every wall, every drawing, every inkling of what I thought it would be, and what I wanted it to be.  Saint Rocke still stands 5 years later, and not much about the historical building has changed - but I have.

5 years x 365 days x average 2 bands a day = 3,650 bands that have played on Saint Rocke's stage, and if they all played a 60 minute set, that would be 219,000 minutes of music, or if we played it straigh, 152 days of music that has graced our venue.  I've met everyone from John Popper to Gavin Rossdale to Amos Lee to Toots, but those aren't the people that have made an impression on me. Really. It's the people that work at Saint Rocke -- it's those that bleed music, spit lyrics, and sleep in melody to make Saint Rocke's heart beat. If you haven't met them yet, you should. Everyone in the South Bay probably takes it for granted, but we have music again. Live Music. And I like to think we are authentic, for whatever that means.

So as the Saint Rocke brand grows, so too does our staff, and so too does the reminder that owning this venue isn't about me, or the partners, but its about those that have made it their life and identity to build & maintain a community of music & culture within the South Bay. And I've decided that it's time that the voice of Saint Rocke be not a singular perspective, but a unified wider look at what it's like behind the scenes of owning a live venue. On that note, one of our most epic family members, Katie, will be taking authorship of this blog, as she is closer to the source than I can be.  We'll be including more frequent updates, and more informative information of whats going on at the venue, including show reviews, and weekly summaries of bands coming through.

Because it's not about me. It's about us. And it's about Music.
Click the video and you'll see a past vid of Katie and how she rolls....