The Bluebird
2706 Olive St.
St. Louis, MO 63103
bluebirdstl.com

The closing of Mississippi Nights left a hole in the St. Louis music scene. Fortunately, a new venue has opened up, ready to serve the needs of rock fans. The Bluebird, located near St. Louis University on Olive St. just west of Jefferson, looks to be the place in town where all types of local and regional bands can share the stage with national acts.

With a capacity of over 400, the Bluebird is one of the larger venues in St. Louis. The venue itself brings back the glory days of live music. That’s right kiddos: revisit those wonderful high school nights, hanging out with your closest friends in the VFW hall. The Bluebird has perfected the cozy atmosphere: a pool table, booths and couches fill out the large space. Management moves all the furniture around depending on the show, so audiences can always expect something new. Patrons of the bar can easily see the stage where bands like Ladybug Transistors and State Radio have played. The kicker: the venue shares a double door with a respectable family eatery, Beffa’s. Nothing feels more like high school than being watched over by the older gents who own the place next door.

Two Mikes, Tomko of the band Gentleman Auction House and Cracchiolo from The Bureau, own the venue. Two guys in bands opening a venue seemed “to make sense,” and has definitely affected how they deal with patrons and talent. A simple ideal, “treat bands decent and give them guidance,” has served them well so far. Voted Best Place to See Local Music in 2007 by the Riverfront Times, they must be doing something right. Touring with their own bands made them realize that most people in bands “work nine to five, they don’t want to be yelled at and treated like dirt by the staff and owner.” With their own venue they “tried to not do all the things [they] hate about playing.” They also were exposed to the way other venues run shows in different parts of the country. Maybe that’s why they’re able to handle seemingly disastrous situations.

While I was interviewing the Mikes, two of the four bands that were slated to play that evening canceled. They handled it with cool heads and a very “stuff happens” attitude.

The venue also has one great mission: to help local bands along. Sometimes this means hooking them up with local artists for album art or t-shirts, or helping them to find practice space, but mostly, and most importantly, it means having local bands open for national acts. The idea is to give local bands exposure to the professionalism of more successful bands and hopefully a leg up on booking more outside shows.

The best news for you? Show your student ID and get a buck off any show. Sweet deal, no doubt. Check out all of their upcoming shows on their Web site or on their MySpace.

Upcoming shows at The Bluebird

February
1 8:30 p.m. – Parachute Musical, Kentucky Knife Fight, Circus Window, Ryne Watts
8 8:30 p.m. – Early Day Miners, Victoria, Gentleman Auc-
tion House, Grace Basement
9 8 p.m. – Nina Nastasia, Tree Heart Orch., Walk Sophie, Cameron Matthews (all ages)
11 8:30 p.m. – A.K.A.C.O.D. (x-Morphine/Common Ail-
ments), The Aviation Club, Bill Boll
12 8:30 p.m. – Soft, The Incurables, The Sham,
The Mirror Stage
13 8:30 p.m. – KDHX 88.1FM Welcomes: Glossary, Ghost finger, Theodore, Dock Ellis Band
14 8:30 p.m. – Mr. Goodbye’s God Sex Immaculate Valentine’s
Day Revue
15 8:30 p.m. – Feed St. Louis Benefit with Esther Macomb, The Feed, Upright Animals, P.F.I.C.
16 8:30 p.m. – The Bureau, Riddle of Steel, So Many Dynamos
19 8 p.m. – Mutiny Productions: Dead to Fall, Winds of Plague,
Belay My Last, Impending Doom
22 8 p.m. – RTX (Jennifer Herrema of Royal Trux), Shame Club, Banshee Lips (all ages)
23 8:30 p.m. – People Noise, Troubadour Dali, Daydream Astronauts
28 8:30 p.m. – Gone City, Von Guarde, A Bit Shifty, Tone Rodent 29 8 p.m. – The Redwalls, John Henry and The Engine, Marlow Honey

March
1 8:30 p.m. – Mucca Pazza, Ether Project, Super Fun Yeah Yeah Rocketship
8 8 p.m. – One Lone Car CD Release w/Calhoun, Bear Hug Jersey, The Late Hours (all ages)
9 7:30 p.m. – Canada, Cotton Jones Basket Ride, Ryne Watts
10 8:30 p.m. – Holy Fuck, A Place To Bury Strangers, Stella Mora, The Bureau
11 8:30 p.m. – Two Girls, Shame Club
14 8:30 p.m. – The Kinetiks, Barn Owl (CoMo), Hibernauts, Make shift Gentlemen
15 8:30 p.m. – Call Me Lightning, Ring Cicada
17 8:30 p.m. – Cloud Cult
18 8:30 p.m. – Gil Mantera’s Party Dream
19 8:30 p.m. – Delta Spirit, Port O’Brien
21 8 p.m. – Black Mountain, Birds of Avalon, Nordic Nomadic
22 8:30 p.m. – Lollipop Factory, Strawfoot, Bad Folk
23 7:30 p.m. – Icarus Himself, Circus Window
24 7:30 p.m. – The Independents, Benedict Arnold, Johnny Saint & TPOH
25 8:30 p.m. – The Paper Chase, Sinkane
29 8 p.m. – Comasoft, the Beautiful Bodies, Femme Fatality

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