So long, been good to know ya

Update:
LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTS
January 19, 2007
Jam session featuring members of the best St. Louis bands from the last three decades.
Tickets: $10.00 flat

Doors:7pm
Show: 8pm

Unlike some people, I ignored the meaningless football this weekend. I figure if I'm going to be denied the Packers-Bears game (which, by definition, cannot be meaningless), why bother. Instead, I stumbled into the end of an era and had a fine time doing it.

Though there's been no official announcement, the rumor mill is certain that this weekend's Bottle Rockets/ Todd Snider and the Nervous Wrecks shows will be the end of the line for Mississippi Nights, "The Music Club in St. Louis." One look at the steamboat-and-disco-lettering logo tells you how long that place has been around, and, at this point, I'm not sure which is more hard to believe-- that it made it this far or that it's going to be gone.

Plenty of people have stories about seeing bands--U2, the Police, Nirvana--in that long, low room before they hit it big, but I'm not of them. I think the end of Uncle Tupelo and the beginning of Wilco is probaby the best I could do. No matter. I was never out to see the newest, coolest band; I just wanted to hear good music with my friends, and, virtually every time, from the days that we were barely legal until last night, we did. Over the years,some people, who shall remain nameless, may have learned lessons about drinking Molson or keeping one's footing in the bathroom during a Whitesnake (serves him right) show, but I just had a good time.

If I had my druthers, or perhaps even if I exactly knew what druthers are, Mississippi Nights would always be there for us, always be exactly what it is. For better or worse, that does not seem to be the way of the world. Nonetheless, I did get one more stamp on my hand, one more Fat Tire, one more good guitar band, and one more memory of moving to the music in the smoky dark. If Mississippi Nights never opens its doors again, it'll be a shame, but at least I'll have that.