Sure, any local music aficionado worth his or her salt knows and loves the Blind Pig, the Ark and (until recently) Woodruff’s. But there’s a whole other world of local sounds to be found–if you know where to look.
Ann Arbor and Ypsi have a long history of alternative music venues; old-timers may remember the days of the Lab and Huron House. But there’s still a wide range of lesser-known places to see a show in town, from those that have long flown under the radar to those that may just be the next big thing.
Concentrate profiles three unique venues on the underground scene, with an added rundown of others in town (at least those who said we could put their names in print).
Arbor Vitae: A long legacy
Located just up the stairs from
Wazoo Records, Arbor Vitae is first and foremost a co-op-style home for six people, and secondarily a music venue for several shows a year. But the venue had a long, weird history before it was ever used for either of those purposes. The cavernous space has served as a dance studio (there’s a layer of sand to muffle sound between Vitae’s polished hardwood floors and Wazoo’s ceiling), a miniature golf course (check out the hole and putter next to the bathroom) and a corset factory (a work table from those days still sits just around the corner from the stairway entrance).
Ian Fulcher, Vitae’s longest-running current tenant, says the place “collects history” and residents are encouraged to keep it that way. “I’ve personally played shows at the houses, the co-ops, where the MC5 lived,” Fulcher says. “But there’s no hint of them there now, none of their stuff on the walls or whatever.”
One of the most crucial parts of Vitae’s history sits in the literal heart of the space. A central island-like room, the roof of which is often used for a DJ booth during shows, houses architect Rich Ahern’s archives. Ahern moved into the space in 1962 and was instrumental in turning it into a co-op-style artists’ haven. Since Ahern’s death in 2004, Fulcher says Vitae has operated under a “what would Rich do?” philosophy. He says with Ann Arbor’s high “churn rate” a long-running institution like Vitae is crucial to maintaining the “flavor” of the town.
“If kids are coming from home, and that’s where their money is coming from, and home has a Starbucks, then we're going to have a Starbucks,” he says. “We’re not going to have a place like this. I feel like we’re a front-line kind of thing when it comes to that.”
Zal Gaz Grotto Club: Don’t call it a comeback
When the
Zal Gaz Grotto Club started presenting weekly rock shows last fall, many in the local music scene considered it the return of a dormant venue.
“People were like, ‘Oh, the Grotto! That place just opened up again,’” says Grotto rock booker Claudia Leo. “But no. The place is basically an old Masonic lodge.”
The local chapter of the Grottoes, a division of the Freemasons, has operated out of the west Ann Arbor location uninterrupted since 1911. The building has also long held significance to the local rock scene; Leo recalls attending the wake of former Stooges bassist and roadie Bill Cheatham there in the early ‘90s.
Bringing rock shows back to the Grotto was just Leo’s latest project as a booker. Over the past decade she’s been involved in reestablishing live music at the Heidelberg, Live and Goodnite Gracie’s, although those venues have all since changed their formats back. She says she’s “always trying to find an alternative to the few existing, established places in town,” where many local bands don’t often get a chance to play.
Over the past year, Leo has worked to book a Grotto show every Saturday. However, she says she books partially based on demand, and many people still don’t realize that the shows are more than just one-offs.
The Grotto is some distance from Ann Arbor’s downtown hub, but it also offers its own unique amenities including free onsite parking and a full-service kitchen. Leo says the Grotto’s established space offers a unique opportunity to present weekend entertainment at a much lower overhead cost than downtown’s established venues.
“Just to open doors, it costs them a lot of money…especially on Saturday night,” she says. “It’s like booking prime real estate, so the established clubs charge the bands a lot off the door money. This provides [bands] a cheaper alternative, and also it helps the club out.”
Ninde’s: New kid on the block
Woodruff’s left a massive void in the Ypsi music scene when it closed this spring, to be replaced by Mexican restaurant
Maiz. But
Ninde’s, a new venue that could well fill Woodruff’s shoes, is now in development just around the corner. And in an odd coincidence, Ninde’s manager Jenelle Yarmoluk was already working on the new space before Woodruff’s announced its closing.
Tucked almost directly behind the former Woodruff’s on Ninde St., Ninde’s is a former automotive garage. The cement-floored interior is stark but surprisingly cozy, with painted windows admitting colorful sunlight and an old-fashioned wood stove providing heat. Yarmoluk is personal assistant to the building’s owner, who last year proposed to her the idea of transforming the space into a music venue.
“I was like, ‘I think we could do a fantastic music venue over there,” Yarmoluk says. “’I don’t think we’d have any trouble finding people that would want to play or patronize the location.’”
They cleaned out the space and repaired its roof last winter, holding Ninde’s first event three days after Woodruff’s closed.
But with Ninde’s third event, an art show, Yarmoluk realized she had more demand on her hands than the building could safely handle. “We were expecting maybe like 125 people to filter through over the course of the night,” she says. “We had to shut it down at 10:30 because there were like 400 people here.”
The venue is temporarily closed so it can be brought up to code with an additional bathroom and entrance/exit, but Yarmoluk says the plan is to have it fully up and running by next summer.
“Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been hoping for a Mexican restaurant in Depot Town,” the former Woodruff’s regular says. “But not at the expense of live music.”
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s a quick guide to some of Ann Arbor and Ypsi’s other lesser-known venues.
Johnny’s Speakeasy: An 18-foot ceiling creates lovely acoustics in this former fruit cellar (and actual speakeasy, back in the Prohibition days). Seating is limited to 70 at absolute maximum, so to get show dates or an exact location proprietor Johnny Williams says you just have to “ask around.”
The Yellow Barn: As
Concentrate recently reported, organizers at this community arts center just west of downtown Ann Arbor were uncertain if they’d be continuing for another year. At press time they could not be reached to confirm the venue’s future.
James L. Crawford
Elks Lodge: The Ann Arbor lodge’s cozy basement provides full bar service and a variety of music ranging from indie rock to reggae to jazz. Shows can be irregular, but they’re always a blast.
Dreamland Theater: This downtown Ypsi venue is known mostly for its puppet shows, but it also plays host to the occasional concert.
Crossroads Bar and Grill: This Ypsi establishment has picked up some of the slack since Woodruff’s closed, taking the venue’s signature Elbow Deep drag show under its wing. Musical performances are becoming more of a regular bet as well.
Patrick Dunn is an Ann Arbor-based freelance writer and a lead writer to Metromode and Concentrate.
All photos by Doug Coombe
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