I’ve been thinking about this a lot and, although it’s pretty random, maybe it will inspire the nostalgia of someone else who recalls the days of Hands-Up Houston and when great emo and indie rock was coming through town on an almost weekly basis.
I moved back for college in July of 1999 and left in July of 2003, so these venues reflect that time period.
- Brick Oven Pizza: Unfortunately, I can’t recall the specific name of this place (anyone?). It was a pizza restaurant on Westheimer at Taft that just happened to have live music some nights. It was open for less than a year while I was there, then abruptly shut down. I saw Pop Unknown here once and remember thinking that I would love to come back. Too bad.
- The Metropole: This was in the basement of the Metropole Hotel Downtown, which was kind of a flophouse and doesn’t even exist anymore. I believe it was on Travis though, but I could certainly be wrong. It operated for two years, at the most, ditching the live music for the later part of its existence. Very briefly though, this was the hip club in Houston. I spent several evenings here and caught a Gloria Record show.
- The Proletariat: This existed up until about 2007 and, throughout the middle part of the decade, was very much the hip club. They had the best jukebox in town. I once played Black Sabbath’s “Warning” and Mogwai’s “Christmas Steps” with $1 to maximize my money. I can recall seeing The Octopus Project here, years ago but don’t specifically recall other shows.
- NotsuoH: “Houston” backwards, this faced Main Street in Downtown and was a coffee shop by day and a venue by night, with shows upstairs. The building used to be a shoe store, so there were boxes of ancient shoes everywhere. The second floor could only be reached by a rickety, narrow staircase and the floor shook to the point that you were sure it was about to cave in. The power would often go out during shows because the place had few outlets and had ancient wiring. They were also famous for their “special coffee” and being the only place where you could get liquor after 2am, as they were 24 hours but were not licensed to sell it anyway. They were shut down sometime around 2002 but have since reopened at the same location but in a very different form.
I saw I Am Spoonbender here, in what I believe was their only Texas show ever. I still remember it well. I also saw Cursive with the Paper Chase as an opener soon after. Strangely, while I Am Spoonbender set up at the back by the window, Cursive set up right by the stairs. Maybe for the sake of electricity access. - Mary Jane’s: This also existed for several years in the late 90′s and up until about 2002, when it suddenly became “Mary Jane’s Fat Cat” and, soon after “Fat Cat’s,” and it change drastically. I played here once in either 1999 or 2000, opening for Antarctica and The Gloria Record. I saw The Gloria Record (again) and Karate here, as well as a number of other shows. This was the best venue in town for a while.
More to come.
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