Clubbing Our Culture to Death, or Beating More Life into Downtown?
December 13, 2008 
10 Comments
Despite the sluggish economy a whole crop of new nightclubs have opened up in Spokane this year. Yet at the same time certain theater and live music locations have struggled to stay open, with some closing their doors altogether. Does the clubbish bent to these new venues mean Spokane is becoming a generic and predictable middle-America meat market? Or should we be optimistic for the potential of businesses like the MarQuee and Casbah to encourage new consumers to develop their ‘urban identity’?
Certainly not all clubs are created equal. Some will inflame people’s most base instincts, while others are 
better positioned to bring about the class they claim to represent. How this “classing up” can be done with intention instead of by accident is important to consider. Otherwise we risk more of what most can agree are the downsides of the typical club scene. Social drama, hollow conspicuous consumption, senseless drinking, and otherwise attractive women looking and acting like this:
Manic Mondays at the MarQuee are supposed to “toast what’s sassy, sexy and sophisticated in Spokane” on a monthly basis. Similarly, a commercial-themed social networking night happens every Wednesday at Rain. We hope these “after work casual” and other “dress to impress” events will remain accessible and interesting to the general public. To the skeptic on the street they can seem highly artificial and just plain overpriced.
Either way, it is interesting to observe how a venue markets itself and eventually becomes defined by the collective identity that gathers there. These social associations become so sticky a business has to go through significant re-branding if it is to overcome an unwanted stereotype. Try this simple experiment: What do you see when you imagine yourself at Trick Shot Dixie’s?
Anyways, Spokane has always had its fair share of seedy bump-’n-grind style dance clubs. And let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with these. They serve their purpose and are a natural component of any city’s social ecosystem. The funny thing is when a dance venue tries to get it’s patrons to step it up a notch by enforcing dress codes, changing cover requirements, and introducing a section for VIPs. The public response to this policy at Studio 23 was surprising. Some people didn’t know what to make of the command “be sexy” and many were turned away at the door. Now that the location is Envy people know the general drill and it’s not a big deal anymore.
LET US END WITH A RANT: This whole process of growing pains goes to the heart of Spokane’s tortured (or dare we say it, non-existent) fashion identity. At some point we need to stop and consider the social meaning of the popped collar. Just like gentrifying low-income housing in the downtown core, the question of how clubs can impact Spokane culturally is a loaded one. Does squeezing ourselves into a mini-dress make us sophisticated? Or does it paper over the need for a deeper process of authentic cultural soul-searching? Spokane has the potential to be a truly distinguished “best kept secret” kind of place. Little old Spokane can balance the best of high-brow and low-brow in ways that larger cities can only dream of. As we continue to grow and shape our own modern regional ethos, let us do so with intention. Let us not sell ourselves short of our true potential, and lets enjoy to the fullest the fruits of our labor – sans pretension.
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I’m glad you brought this up. It’s kind of a mystery how, despite the economic downturn, our nightclub scene expands. Maybe it’s just the booze. (And judging by the photos, the booty!) But let’s not kid ourselves: The clubs mentioned are typical. They symbolize Spokane’s excessive drinking, and penchant for the mainstream, where downtown streets run sloppy with Vodka Redbull and “Now That’s What I Call Music 2002” blasts on repeat. I know, I know. That’s a pretentious/oversimplified observation, but these businesses aim for simplicity; an indication of our self-esteem problem to try something different other than a superficially defined “to be sexy or not to be sexy.” That’s the question I ask myself every morning, even when I’m not clubbing but I digress.
ANYWAYS, more of the same is even more gloomy when you consider the fate of Center Stage/Ella’s and other socially vital live music venues.
Verdict: Clubbed to death.
As host of a dance music show (yes you can and should dance to Spotucky Music) the opening of the Casbah scared the shit outta me. They claimed to want to be more then just the typical club, yet the crowds and money came and they are now a club that has a rep for being hyper aggressive around closing time. I mentioned on my show that because I am a true believer in my form of music it goes against my moral fiber to go into clubs like the Casbah and Marquee. Incidentally the owner of one of those clubs was listening and personally invited me to come by.
Being seen in a rich mans suit does not make one classy. Showing restraint in your consumption of socially acceptable drugs, hitting on someone because of the way they spoke to you not looked at you, looking good due to your fitness level not your income level, signify class to me. Then again I would not be caught dead in some of the “classy” places around Spokane.
Spovangelist, are the people that frequent these joints college students? Is Spokane somewhat of a college town? Or are these yuppies? Help me!!
Re: Who are these people?
The average crowd composition varies significantly from location to location and from night to night. I’d say that while a mix makes up the whole in any given circumstance, there is a third general category that defies the college student/yuppie dichotomy.
You could call them blue collar aspirants, suburban yups, or post-classroom service workers. I don’t know, take your pick. Basically they are receptionists a real estate management firms, floor managers at the furniture store, and/or cell phone sales reps at kiosks in the mall, etc.
Mixed in with this are handfuls of textbook yuppies and actual students. While the majority of the students attend community college programs of various sorts, there are usually a visible number of athletics fans and others from GU, plus a small contingent of Whitworth alumni.
I think it would be interesting to note the relative percent return to Spokane of graduates from UW and WSU. I’m guessing more return from Pullman, but the question is by how much.
In agreement with your rant, i would offer a relatively hearty “hear, hear!” The pretty people probably do need a location to blow off steam, objectify, and be objectified in return, and i’m sure local business could use their money.
What will be interesting to watch will be what happens to these new pretenders to the crown of our fair city’s nightlife while the economy slowly collapses around them. The Stranger had a fairly interesting article regarding how cultural institutions will fair in a way that only the Stranger could deliver:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=729134
i for one am getting to the point where i’m quite tired of trying to vie for parking spots where i live with the trendy kids from Liberty Lake and their SUV’s. And honestly, as much as a majority of the lads appreciate the “sophistication” of a mini-dress, one should be comfortable enough in themselves to not need to appear to be literally on the market.
every now and then, the long sleeve button-ups call to me from my closet.
when i finally succumb to their plea, i reappear in the mirror and see some comical version of the corporate whore, greasy haired, jersey shore, ‘tail-chaser’ that i find so entertainingly pathetic.
do i feel shamed? surprisingly….. no.
while dawning the aforementioned ‘club’ attire i am not doing so in an effort to appropriate a mentality that lacks the moral decency that my mother was kind enough to pass along to me, but rather i am actively engaging in an often uncomfortable (but absolutely necessary) type of progressive conformism that is ultimately one of the best ways to encourage the growth and unification of the spokane community.
i feel no shame in my desire to dip my feet into every social scene that presents itself. i can’t go to a poetry slam or art gallery every single night and then still claim to be a ‘propagator of cultural development.’
while having a preference is only human nature, having a predetermined distaste for something because it is unfamiliar and shunned by your social group is a mentality that parallels generates past where cultural segregation was the norm.
spokane needs to grow in order to survive.
i say let the college kids spend dad’s money by pumping it (one vodka redbull at a time) back into our economy.
culture is bred from circumstance…. and spokane has thick skin.
my vote: ‘beating more life into downtown’
I agree with “predictably unpredictable” – clubbing is a vice used by many, and it can’t be pegged by a demographic. I have friends who live for it, I’ve done it, I’m fine with it as a cultural thing, whatever.
The only thing that’s awkward about walking through downtown Spokane at night around the rising bar scene is seeing it juxtaposed against the homeless population. There’s nothing wrong with it or the music/arts scene for that matter.
Something that’s perplexed me a bit since I got here has been The Knitting Factory.
Locals have been little help in throwing light on the matter saying “What? (whatever the club used to be called) changed its name?!” and then grumbling about corporate takeover Starbucks/WalMarting of America.
This did nothing to help me sort out the relationship between this Knitting Factory and the one I’ve known back in NYC (which, I believe, was originally a knitting factory and thus the name).
NYX to the rescue!
Here’s the real deal on the last hurrah of the mothership to our franchise version of genuine hip.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/arts/music/01knitting.html