mine used to be the fireside bowl in chicago but since it has recently closed down for good...my new favorite has to be the empty bottle. how bout you?

Ancienne Belgique



Botanique



Nijdrop

the first two are just the two biggest venues for more alternative acts, the third is a small "youth house" which is great because you're so close to the acts

St Andrews Hall in Detroit. It's a brownstone where all 3 floors are used (sometimes concurrently), but the main hall at ground level is where "almost there" bands play. I saw I Mother Earth (Dig) there, PJ Harvey (To Bring You My Love), Luscious Jackson (Natural Ingredients), and Quicksand (Slip) there, among others too numerous to totally recall. Jane's Addiction hit there for both Nothing's Shocking and Ritual De La Habitual, to give another idea of what level of bands play there. The acoustics are amazing. I never did go to a show that didn't sound excellent.

The basement, which has a separate entrance, is called "The Shelter", and they used to (might still) have $6-all-you-can-drink night on Wednesdays. The dance floor was smaller than many living rooms, but we just got in there anyway, especially as the hours went by and we got more drunk. We got to know the DJ quite well, and were there every Wednesday open to close for almost a year straight at one point. There is also a small stage and barely-known bands play there from time to time. We've caught some gems there.

Upstairs is the Burns room, a much smaller space. It's well lit, but basically it's a bar and some standing room to see a show or hear a DJ's music. At least that's what I remember. I was always too drunk to walk when I was up there, and usually too busy getting another beer to accompnay me back down the stairs to pay much more attention. Once I was in the Shelter when some unknown band named Combustible Edison was playing. I was too drunk for stairs, so I skipped it. Many years later, after hearing the band, I would regret the decision to skip a chance to see them for free.

They used to (again, still might) have "3 Floors of Fun" on Friday Nights, but I didn't do this too often. You can go a lot of different directions on Fridays in the Detroit area, and we often did...