connecting*the*dots

14 Responses to “Small Town Superstar”  

1. 1 Jon Michael Mar 24th, 2007 at 12:15 pm

   This was quite the spectacle. Me and a couple friends were heading downtown for another show and we decided to brave the crowd en route to the venue, and man what an adventure! it involved much sweat, claustrophobia, the threat of an upcoming headache, jumping fences, getting separated, and frenzied phone calls trying to coordinate our next plan of action as we tried to navigate through the masses. But all in all, it was quite the experience!

2. 2 sean coon Mar 24th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

   yeah, we walked downtown (i live two blocks away in southside) around 9:15pm and it was packed down s. davie, up mcgee and from smothers to washington on s. elm. luckily, angela has a friend that lives in the apartment above the green bean, so we were able to hang out there for a bit.

   

   when we left, we made our way across s. elm to the mcoul’s parking lot and headed up to the green burro. simonne was nice enough to give us access to the roof, so with a handful of other folk, we got a birds-eye view of the entire spectacle.

   

   the music didn’t interest me as much as the craziness of the event. though i’m glad this isn’t a weekly summer thing…

3. 3 Molly Mar 25th, 2007 at 9:08 am

   I could hear the show all the way to my house, over by Latham Park.

   I heard people slept in their vans the night before to see the show. Is Phish aware of this?

4. 4 Fec Stench Mar 25th, 2007 at 1:01 pm

   I just noticed your comment about Roanoke Rapids. Being 2.5 hours of horrible road away is not nearby. I have a customer in the woods beyond whom I visit occasionally. RR is on I-95, and except for a few hotels it is a dank and festering cultural backwater.

   Dolly Parton’s brother is trying to build a Country Music Mecca there, like Myrtle Beach and Branson, MO. I say nuke it now.

   Parke Puterbaugh’s review in today’s N&R was scathing. Creed without God.

   You are to be commended for taking a chance on downtown GSO.

   Several times per year someone gets run over by a train here. It is indeed remarkable that so many inebriates congregated so closely to the rails without another incident.

   Finally, I wish Chief Bellamy well and Guarino is a Racist.

5. 5 sean coon Mar 25th, 2007 at 1:58 pm

   downtown is struggling, man. from smothers to washington on s. elm, there are at least 7 shops with for rent signs in the windows. i wish i had a dime for every local tom, dick and harriett that toots the horn of downtown, yet refuses to frequent the establishments, let alone invest in property and become a part of the community they pimp so vocally.

   it’s networking of the worst kind.

   creed without god. that’s a great line. yeah, i wasn’t too impressed with daughtry either, but more than 8,000 people came in from out of town to see him. so for those folk that drove from his neck of the woods, i’ll bet they considered the 2.5 hours a nominal drive. i wouldn’t drive 25 minutes to see most bands.

   as for guarino… ever hear the saying, “like white on rice?” he’s the rice in this neck of the woods. the white flocks to him.

6. 6 Fec Stench Mar 25th, 2007 at 6:49 pm

   I stole the Creed line.

   I am so fucking tired of peeps coming in from out of town and making fun of our popo, when we are perfectly capable of doing it ourselves. Personally, I am grooving on the scene of these uber smart blacks getting over on the dumb white rednecks. All I’ve every said is don’t be a pig about it. Too late.

   I would kill to make downtown a happening scene. Hell, I am just returned from McCouls myself. We’ve been to Savannah and Sarasota and understand what it can be. But until downtown GSO imports a river, lake or ocean to give me an incredible sunset, it’s a nonstarter.

   Again, I admire you for coming to GSO and trying to make it work. Truth is we’re stuck in the 19th century still trying to get the Reconstruction started. It’s a time warp thing like you used to see on Star Trek.

7. 7 sean coon Mar 25th, 2007 at 7:27 pm

   well, there are a bunch of fluid-challenged tier three cities/towns that are thriving in their own right. i think the challenge here is on a few levels:

   1) parking
   the city says there are 14,000 available spots downtown, but in reality, only 3,600 of them are available to the public. something needs to change with that or the driving culture of greensboro will kill downtown.

   2) urban necessities
   there’s a huge opportunity for a few small, independently owned & operated, fresh food markets to thrive downtown (i.e. butcher, seafood, fresh vegetables, etc.). we don’t need a supermarket; we need a place to shop after work, meal to meal, like city folk do.

   3) stable businesses
   retail shops that rely on foot traffic cannot survive on their own right now. it’s too early for a browse culture to take hold. we need people to rent storefronts that have business models extending online and who plan on using the shop as either a front or storage… or both. and i don’t mean front in a nefarious manner, i mean as a mechanism for introducing their product to the casual browsers or specific shoppers in the area. basketdoodle, in southside, is a great example of such a business.

   if we can get these three areas addressed, which is not simple by any stretch, then we can look forward and start talking about connecting the suburbs and downtown in others ways (e.g. light rail system), making commuting for business, entertainment and shopping a viable option.

8. 8 Fec Stench Mar 26th, 2007 at 9:45 am

   Uh, I was actually joking about the water thing.

   The Wife and I are intimately familiar with one of the retail shops that recently closed downtown. The demise could have been avoided had the owner changed her hours to chase the foot traffic. And I totally agree that on online effort would have helped. The few successful retailers have gone high end and service the hell out of their customers.

   I still have hope for retail downtown, but it appears only the smart and savvy can make a go if it right now.

   As for us, the Wife put her second store right behind a Cookout which amazingly is mobbed from 12 ’til 9 most days.

9. 9 sean coon Mar 26th, 2007 at 11:05 am

   i know which shop you’re talking about; the little boutique two stores in from the corner of mcgee and s. elm, right? she had less hours of operation than the press wine cafe in southside. you know, i called up the owners of the building to the left of that spot and asked about the rent for the 4700 sq. foot space. the answer: $5,000. i know it’s “prime location,” but with limited foot traffic, who’ll pay that much for the space?

   btw, what’s the name of your wife’s store? we were talking about it at the meetup the other day. she’s up by the blockbuster on battleground, right? man, you need to do some name dropping here and there when you blog. ;-)

10. 10 Fec Stench Mar 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    No, no, no, mon frere. One cannot behave as I do and bring the Wife into it. She has her own methods for driving traffic and needs no help from me.

11. 11 sean coon Mar 26th, 2007 at 12:50 pm

    heh. i guess if you neutered your “fecness” it would be an option. well, don’t do it. we need more rabid folk like you.

12. 12 Fec Stench Mar 26th, 2007 at 1:34 pm

    Thanks. As Ed Cone recently reminded me, I can talk about many things obliquely, inform those in the know and still get away with it.

13. 13 sean coon Mar 26th, 2007 at 3:05 pm

    agreed.

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