Music means a lot to me.
It inspires greatness, emotes feelings people didn't even know they had and, above all, brings people together.
Which begs me to question: Why don't more people in this town support local music?
The city I grew up in, a town of barely 11,000 in southern Illinois called Herrin, was hardly a metropolis. Mankato makes Herrin look like Redneck Podunk, U.S.A. Yet, every weekend, there were kids young and old from Herrin, as well as other small surrounding cities, devoutly attending whatever collection of bands were playing at Teen Town, the local music venue that also served as dancehall to middle school children every other Saturday.
And I, who attended my beloved Teen Town regularly, will be the first to say that the small music venue pales in comparison to the What's Up Lounge, Chopper's, the Red Sky Lounge, the Sugar Room and any other venue in Mankato that houses musical acts on a regular basis.
Furthermore, the local college, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, which is made up of very similar demographics as far as population and number of bars/music venues, continues to rake in thousands of locals and students at their concerts on a weekly basis.
So I ask again, why isn't this happening here?
Why aren't you people supporting the local music scene? It's not like there aren't shows to go to and it's not like there aren't local bands to play them. It isn't even that Mankato doesn't get bigger name acts to come here and play the small venues, because we do - Mac Lethal and Freezepop are upcoming at the What's Up Lounge and Brother Ali, P.O.S. and Quietdrive have already played there this year.
And just a short while ago Green Day passed through Mankato often, and as the legend goes, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong fell in love with Minnesota State alumnus Adrienne Nesser while she was working for Pagliai's Pizza.
Yet every weekend, droves of the young adult population of Mankato head to the same bars or the same houses to do the same drinking with the same people - over and over.
Is this out of a fear of getting out of one's comfort zone, an obsession with the familiar or just because that's where the people are?
Even more frustrating is the fact that the only time the masses do congregate to a local music concert, it's the vomit-inducing Johnny Holm Band. You do realize it's just a cover band, right? And you do realize that there are millions of cover bands that do the same, if not better, job than the Johnny Holm band. Hell, most Holm fans don't even know that his last name is Holm, always saying Holmes, confusing him with the "larger than life" '70s porn star.
Please don't take this article as finger-pointing or bitching and whining, because it isn't meant to be. It's supposed to be a wake-up call, a quick jab to the collective conscious of the people of Mankato, specifically you college students and younger adults.
I want Matt Smith to know his music isn't "fallin' on deaf ears." I want Forever Dumb's favorite place to play to be in their hometown of Mankato, and not Rochester. I want Charlie Wheeler of the Style Biters to know that all the work he does to make sure bands still come to this town and its residents have some music to watch isn't just a waste of time.
We can make Mankato a better place for local music, but you have to help.
My name is Nate Brennan. And I am here to recruit you.
Nate Brennan is the Reporter variety editor
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