First Tracks Article--Fond Farewell

My name is Brian Bergeron. I am a Boston-based acoustic  singer-songwriter and I'm competing in the second round of Gather.com's First Tracks Competition for a record deal with Decca Label Group. As part of immersing myself in the site and so people can get to know me better (and hopefully grow to support me), I have decided to post an article a day on the site during the length of the contest. Please comment/vote for my song "Tell My Story". If you like what you hear and you can vote ONCE PER DAY until March 31st...There, I've pimped myself enough. On with the article.

Last night my band opened for Syd at The Paradise Lounge. The Lounge is my second favorite venue to play at in Boston, behind only the Paradise Rock Club (duh!). The only thing that separates them is a 400-person difference in capacity, a thin wall, and thirty years of history. Before going on stage I was informed from my guitarist and later confirmed by a couple friends I have that work there that the Paradise Lounge will be closing on Tuesday April 1st. They will re-open as a restaurant and are axing live music.

I'm sad.

Though the Lounge room has only been open since 2002 (The Rock Club, however, has been open since 1977) I've grown attached. I've been going there since my freshman year—coincidentally right when it opened, but I didn't know at the time—and I've grown extremely attached. Now that the 'Dise Lounge is closing, I'm going to have to find another venue to frequent because I've been playing there several times a year for the last few years.
 
I feel there's a pattern that's a recurring pattern for me. In high school I saw the closing of both The Sugar Shack and Higher Grounds in Lowell. Higher Grounds in particular I practically lived in. There's nothing quite like them in Lowell anymore…

I'm definitely bummed out. I could go into a rant about Live Nation buying out The Paradise Lounge and turning it into a Pub but I'll spare you. For now, I'm going to mourn the loss of yet another good room in Boston and plot my escape in September of 2009. I don't know where yet…I'm thinking San Francisco…but we'll see.

The show was great by the way. We played well and got a great response and Syd was gracious as always. A fond farewell.