Asshole of the Week
See Ya Sundee...
CinePhillyist Reviews... The Men Who Stare at Goats
Proofreading Philly
Thanks to This Week's Advertisers
The World Cafe has a number of things to recommend it to music lovers: it's easy to get to; it has great acoustics; it has a strong focus on independent artists (which we dig); there are two separate stages so they can offer a variety of programming each night; it is large enough to comfortably accommodate a reasonable crowd, yet still intimate enough for the audience to connect with the performers; their staff is friendly and helpful; and - perhaps our favorite feature - there are seats. Seats where they'll even bring your drinks to you.
Don't get us wrong - we appreciate that some venues eschew seating to offer vast, wide open spaces to allow us to get our groove on. But we are not in high school anymore, Philadelphia, and sometimes even we need to take a break and sit down. We're not ashamed to admit it. And what's more, we know we're not the only ones. We've seen you turn leaning against the wall between acts at the TLA into a gradual, casual slide down to sit on the floor; we've caught you scrambling for a spot on the steps near the end of the show at The First Unitarian Church; and we've jockeyed with you for a coveted sofa spot upstairs at the North Star Bar. This is because rock and roll takes its toll. On all of us.
Heck, we'd even be willing to forego seating at these seat-less venues if we weren't so often forced to stand on cement floors for hours on end. Phillyist always ends up leaving these shows with throbbing knees and aching backs no matter what shoes we wear, and often this pain sets in before the opening act has finished their set. Besides, standing on cement always makes us feel as though we're at a party in our friend's parents' basement, only the drinks are much more expensive and we worry less about getting caught by our parents and more about running into our boss (you laugh, but it's happened to us...and just try explaining that hangover away the next day at the office). So we'll do you a deal, cement-floored venues (Electric Factory, TLA, we're looking especially hard at you): you install some nice, cushy, supportive carpeting, and we'll try real hard not to ruin it by spilling our drinks while we're dancing.
Sigh. Fine. We know you won't do it; and you know we'll still come down to see the shows. But we'll keep complaining about it. Probably while we're comfortably seated at the World Cafe. (Note: we see on World Cafe's website that they do, sometimes, have Standing Room Only performances, although we've never been to one. Sigh. Where have all the cabarets gone? Oh well, at least their acoustics and stage set-up are still excellent.)
Image via Stonaera.gr
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