The Matinee

A few years ago, when I was still actually in Cleveland, I was pretty heavily involved in the music scene. I had been in local bands and even a few touring bands. Those experiences were some of my favorite memories of Cleveland and of all time.

The music scene in Cleveland was always very "unique" to say the least. There really were and are a lot of amazing bands that are playing some great music. The bands however, the ones I was in included, seemed to only be looking out for themselves, unless helping another band would be useful. The promoters, venues, and fans did little to dissuade these types of interactions. It was almost as if each band was their own high school football team.

I think most of this type of thought process may come from the underdog idea of Cleveland, and that musicians especially see themselves as some of the greatest underdogs of all time. They have to fight to get anywhere, to achieve anything, and it takes a lot to try to help someone else out along the way.

There were small pockets of DIY venues, and some of the larger venues had their favortie local bands, and there were some other smaller cliques of bands throughout the Cleveland area. The bands in these groups tended to help each other out, but again, not much in the sense of a broad music community. However, this was all over three years ago, so hopefully things have changed.

For Cleveland to be successful and for the Cleveland music scene to be successful, those that are there have to want to be there and have to work together and look at the larger picture outside of themselves. Don't take this as some utopian idea, but more of a nuts and bolts effort to show some pride in others around the city.

The reason for this entire post was that I learned of a new venue The Matinee moving to Cleveland. Apparently the owner has a club in the Akron area and is now opening a club here. What really intrigued me the most about this club, however, was the location. It is between the Ohio City and Tremont neighborhoods, an area that as far as I have seen has been underdeveloped or under utilized. I have not been in a while so please update me if need be. After seeing how the Beachland Ballroom has helped grow the Waterloo/Collinwood area, I have a lot of hope for the Matinee. It would be great if the Matinee can connect the Tremont and Ohio City areas a little more. The Matinee can be a reminder to residents that while they are residents of niche neighborhoods, that they are also residents of the rest of Cleveland, and that they should take pride in the other residents in the rest of Cleveland.