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Sean McKeon: ""The music scene was on fire." (Facebook photos)
"Thanks for a great weekend in The D," Chicago keyboardist Sean McKeon says at the start of an enthusiastic shout on Reddit that turns into an extended riff on Detroit's "real do it yourself vibe."
He and three bandmates in Business As Usual, a jam-electronic fusion group, played at a late-night show in McCarthy's, at Fort and 10th streets on the southwest side. It was an unofficial after-party for Umphrey's McGee fans who had been at Fillmore Detroit that night. The Chicagoans, who hadn't seen Detroit before, played a night later at City Club on Bagley.
"I went to your city and had an amazing time," McKeon posts under a screen name (Pay ThisNucka). He identifies himself in a message to Deadline, adding: "Detroit truly took a piece of may heart."
The four-year-old combo -- which also has drummer Gary Goodheart, bassist Daniel Ranieri and guitarist Adrian Slezak -- joined a post-midnight lineup at McCarthy's hosted by DJ Brian Borsa.
Business As Usual plans to return this summer, says keys player Sean McKeon, second from left.
Here's most of what the recent visitor says his first post Saturday and in replies to local Redditors:
The music scene was on fire. I ate sandwiches and drank awesome beer at Mudgies.
I told Greg [Mudge, the owner] I would tell everyone I know to go to Mudgies. So here I am telling you to go to Mudgies [1300 Porter St.].
He truly went above and beyond for my group. Tasting beers, buying us a couple rounds and dessert. He was super-knowledgeable, which was sweet because so are a few in my group (about beer and music). He really made us feel at home in Detroit. Greg is THE MAN.
My band often plays "late night" shows after larger jam bands play cities. The weekend of Feb. 3 we were up in Detroit for our first time.
Now, most cities we play have curfews and shows are put on in establishments that have rules of some sort. This was not the case in Detroit.
There were no promoters. The rooms we played were just places made into something (McCarthy's and City Club). The entire city had a real do it yourself vibe that resonated with me.
Also everything you hear about is how Detroit is a wasteland. In our scene of music the word is that the late-night scene is dead. We sold 250 [tickets] to our show at McCarthy's, which is a great draw for what we do.
We had a DJ spinning in the front room with the "bar". We had a huge stage in the back room and there was plenty of space to hold 250.
It was a bit crazy -- basically a gutted0out venue, no rules, bartenders making up drink prices as they went -- but all that added to the atmosphere. We brought in a semi full of sound equipment and lights and turned it into something special.
While the venues were probably not up to code and I could see some people being turned off by the atmosphere, I fell in love with it . . . and people came out in great numbers.
We are already working to book our next trip up this summer. We have a good draw in Lansing and Ann Arbor, so we will be putting together a three- night Mitten run.
McKeon's post earns about 180 upvotes and starts a discussion with 43 comments by Sunday afternoon, including these:
- "Detroit's a lot cooler than people think. It's just everyone's favorite city to shit on because of the crime. Why do you think people from the D are so proud of where they're from?"
- "Just booked a trip to Detroit in April and can't wait!"
- "Glad you had a good time. A lot of people I've known from other places I've lived that have come to Detroit have said similar things. Now, if you could please spread the word, that would be great."
- "The consensus here seems to be to spread the word about Detroit, which I thought was very interesting. I grew up here and then moved to Austin, where people try to suppress any positive information to outsiders and generally do everything they can to keep people from moving there."
- "Glad you had a good time! There is so much for you to do here! Come back soon!"
Hear the band:
A free download of their second set at McCarthy's is here.
