d Nuts || January 25, 2007
Anyone with their eye on Denton last week might wonder what kind of simultaneous flood-torna-sunami hit the veritable Secret Headquarters. Stories of canceled shows and flooding overwhelmed the famed DRC bulletin board, leaving the already vulnerable SHQ in even more questionable status. We phoned SHQ part-owner and Record Hop/Spitfire Tumbleweeds member Scott Porter to find out what exactly happened.
The trouble started on what should have been a particularly busy Friday, with two new SHQ staples suffering: Singer-Songwriter Thunderdome (an open mike in the early evening) and Robert Gomez's late night jazz sessions (with random Denton hands playing together no earlier than 2 a.m.).
"You know it rained all weekend," Porter says. "We used to have five leaks, and [the landlord] came and fixed our roof...by the time the Thunderdome was done, there were 22 leaks. On the stage, soundboard area, audience area...pretty much straight down the middle of the building. It was uninhabitable."
The leaking continued through the weekend, turning SHQ's floors into a mix of buckets and flood. Porter has been assured by the building's landlord that the roof will be taken care of by Saturday morning: "It's still gonna be cold because we don't have a heater, but not having standing water in the show room goes a long way towards success."
When asked if this sort of calamity is par for the course with a DIY venue, Porter counters, "It's par for the course for reality," citing various venue problems throughout Denton over the years. Still, he's optimistic about the condition of SHQ and its finances, and he's got another reason for cheer--the back-to-back concert lineup for this Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, Tree Wave headlines a We Shot JR bash that also features Chris Garver (and his first full-band solo show) and a new project starring Mwanz Dover and Lars Larsen. If not must-see, it's certainly the best out-there showcase of the weekend, and we're banking on Garver's performance as being the highlight of the night.
Saturday, however, is a must-see, thanks to the incrediblations of Tre Orsi, perhaps the most exciting new band we've seen in a long time. The lineup's chops are vast and proven (South San Gabriel, History at our Disposal, Shearwater, Okkervil River, Little Grizzly, *gasp*), and their three-piece attack is precise, methodical and surprisingly pulverizing--having little in common with the rest of their output, really. Don't let the MySpace demos fool you into thinking this'll be a calm affair. These guys will rule you.
...assuming, of course, that bad luck doesn't rule SHQ. But Porter's pretty confident: "SHQ is at full capacity with tenants, and we're better off financially than we've been since we opened. The first six months, that was the battle, that was the bad luck. Once the membership shakeup and the roof thing happened...I feel like we're leaving the fire because we've been able to not let it get us down." He pauses. "It's not supposed to rain this weekend, is it?" -SM
The trouble started on what should have been a particularly busy Friday, with two new SHQ staples suffering: Singer-Songwriter Thunderdome (an open mike in the early evening) and Robert Gomez's late night jazz sessions (with random Denton hands playing together no earlier than 2 a.m.).
"You know it rained all weekend," Porter says. "We used to have five leaks, and [the landlord] came and fixed our roof...by the time the Thunderdome was done, there were 22 leaks. On the stage, soundboard area, audience area...pretty much straight down the middle of the building. It was uninhabitable."
The leaking continued through the weekend, turning SHQ's floors into a mix of buckets and flood. Porter has been assured by the building's landlord that the roof will be taken care of by Saturday morning: "It's still gonna be cold because we don't have a heater, but not having standing water in the show room goes a long way towards success."
When asked if this sort of calamity is par for the course with a DIY venue, Porter counters, "It's par for the course for reality," citing various venue problems throughout Denton over the years. Still, he's optimistic about the condition of SHQ and its finances, and he's got another reason for cheer--the back-to-back concert lineup for this Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, Tree Wave headlines a We Shot JR bash that also features Chris Garver (and his first full-band solo show) and a new project starring Mwanz Dover and Lars Larsen. If not must-see, it's certainly the best out-there showcase of the weekend, and we're banking on Garver's performance as being the highlight of the night.
Saturday, however, is a must-see, thanks to the incrediblations of Tre Orsi, perhaps the most exciting new band we've seen in a long time. The lineup's chops are vast and proven (South San Gabriel, History at our Disposal, Shearwater, Okkervil River, Little Grizzly, *gasp*), and their three-piece attack is precise, methodical and surprisingly pulverizing--having little in common with the rest of their output, really. Don't let the MySpace demos fool you into thinking this'll be a calm affair. These guys will rule you.
...assuming, of course, that bad luck doesn't rule SHQ. But Porter's pretty confident: "SHQ is at full capacity with tenants, and we're better off financially than we've been since we opened. The first six months, that was the battle, that was the bad luck. Once the membership shakeup and the roof thing happened...I feel like we're leaving the fire because we've been able to not let it get us down." He pauses. "It's not supposed to rain this weekend, is it?" -SM
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