flanerie

is that this state has such a stupid relationship with alcohol that none of the bars can or will wristband 19- and 20-year-olds like every other Big Ten college town does, so there’s little to no overlap between what the undergrads do culture-wise and what everyone else is doing, so kids figure there’s no reason to stay around and build a scene after they graduate because all their friends are going to leave anyway

and any time you try and do an all-ages thing so that, y’know, half the people who would show for stuff actually can, older people will say “well can I drink at [event X]” and then refuse to show up if the answer is no. I got flat-out told this several times when I used to DJ at Chronic Town and people wouldn’t come out for it, it’s one of the reasons I hate it here so much

and plus on top of that, because there’s no social scene here outside of people’s grad school programs or whatever, nobody actually wants to leave their circle of friends and/or do anything new, and even the ones who do are such a tiny minority of people that there’s no reason for any of the bars to branch out and book anyone but the same six bands that work the circuit every week (except the Darkhorse, bless their hearts; please book Foghat Leghorn on a Friday night one day, though, thanks :D)

but anyway, I’ve been trying to find something to latch onto scene-wise outside of my job for as long as I’ve lived here and I think I’ve done okay, it’s just that there’s so little reason to put effort into it when the whole culture of the town (high population turnover, mostly conservative, people’s commitments in different places than my own) is against it. and I mean, I like my job, it’s still interesting and that, but at some point (long passed) I’m over going home and playing Football Manager every night because what the hell else is there to do, the bar? you can’t even talk there, there’s too many of the same band every night

small towns, higher education, whatever