Houston’s music scene is a diamond in our rough city, and although we’ve been touting it for a while now, we’ll continue to do so until more UH students take notice. And the Fall 2010 semester may be the turning point for UH students’ awareness of local music.
“I’m trying to get a mixture (of bands) together,” said University Hut’s Tangee Tart, who is turning her patio-setting location into what she hopes will be a hub for both students and entertainers. “Right now, what I want to get going is a band one night, karaoke the next, etc.”
While the Student Program Board hosts many local acts as well as performers who are coming through town, one organization alone can’t nearly take on the task of covering Houston’s music scene. The University Hut, located off Scott and Alabama, will try to help showcase talent and provide another venue at which students can go.
“When the kids want to come relax, do their homework, get away from the house and enjoy some live entertainment, I want this to be the place they go,” Tart said.
For those of you unfamiliar with Houston’s music scene, it is as diverse as the city itself. Local music also provides many establishments with revenue and gives an outlet to musicians who may otherwise never get a chance to perform.
“Music is the avenue by which things are said that would not normally be said,” said Desmond Bitner, a Houston native and accounting and economics senior at Texas State University. “And when you have local musicians addressing local concerns, it creates an environment conducive to the kinds of constructive criticism people want to address, but tend not to.”
Bitner currently lives in San Marcos where he attends school, but when he graduates he plans to move back to Houston and might get involved in the business aspect of local music, working either as a promoter or owning a venue.
“I think a diverse music culture is important to a diverse student body,” said former SPB concerts chair Derrick Maples, who may have resigned his position but is still an avid music enthusiast.
It doesn’t matter if you’re into rap, rock, punk, noise, hardcore or even ska – yes, Houston still has a ska scene – because Houston’s underground has a sound for your musical palette.
Fat Tony and Hollywood Floss, From Guts To Glory and The Last Place You Look, Skeleton Dick and A dream Asleep are just a few of the many, many bands of all genres you can find in H-Town. And if you’re worried about going to seedy bars late at night in bad parts of town, know that the venues that showcase such great music are varied as well.
Don’t hesitate to check Discovery Green’s Web site for near-constant updates on the park’s recreation plans; Fitzgerald’s, a historic Heights-area music club, is under new management and promises to deliver nothing short of greatness from both local and national acts; and even the Washington strip has a redeeming venue in Walter’s on Washington, one of the few bars left on the Washington strip that’s 18 and up and is friendly to people from all walks of life.
This semester, The Daily Cougar hopes to showcase local talent, especially acts that are affiliated with UH. So if you’re in a band, you play shows and/or have an album, get at us, because we think local music is important, and we think other people should too.
Sounds great !