The Kickstand

The Kickstand is a community oriented bike shop, venue and thrift store. If you have not heard about it — it’s about time.

The quirky warehouse mainly functions as a charitable means for bike repair and bike repair education, but also houses a thrift shop and stage area, which help raise funds for The Kickstand’s main project. The place was started late last year by Ani Previc.

As a venue, The Kickstand has a great deal of charm. The lack of air conditioning and disheveled pieces of bicycles add to the charm. On the walls hang local artwork for sale. Painted bicycles and Christmas lights also decorate the red interior. The people are nice and everything is in the name of DIY bike repair. The only downside is its distance from campus.

It is a gigantic building, but can be difficult to find. The most helpful directions come from Glypher, creator of Gainesvillebands.com, who backs The Kickstand as a committee member. He has a picture of the area on his news forum.

The Alligator has done two pieces on The Kickstand. The first is a multimedia article that has pictures of the interior under construction and is narrated by Vyki Englert. In the piece, Chelsea Carnes is quoted as stressing the importance of the venue aspect of The Kickstand.

The other Alligator article can be read by clicking here.

Back in May, my own band opened for a show at the Kickstand. It was a great time. My girlfriend came down from Tallahassee to witness. My newspaper editor and her friends also came. A modest slew of others too (including a roommate). The atmosphere was relaxed (despite my own anxiety before any live performance) and we were told to start whenever we felt comfortable.

Jon Crocker played after us. His set was very intimate, full of personal anecdotes and jokes that interrupted his songs. Everyone sat around him in a style reminiscent of elementary story time. A dog hopped around the crowd and interrupted many musical moments.

The seemingly awkward highschool band, Max’s Birthday played after Crocker. Their piano driven indie music was amusing. Here is a picture of what the stage looked like with them on it.

The last band to play was the Muse/Radiohead-esque Dead Songwriters. A very talented group of musicians who originated from Ocala.

The night was blisteringy hot. The night was authentic.

A list of upcoming Kickstand shows can be found here. I strongly urge you to support the shows.

I earnestly hope the place becomes big — it deserves to. The many volunteers backing the project have big hearts and great ambitions for the place.

The Kickstand has both a MySpace and a website. Check them out and go to their shows. Learn how to get your bike fixed if necissary. If you do not have a bike, let them help you build one.

Action Researchness = Weirdness = More words that end in “ness”

I suppose I will mention my last article.

It came out well — to say the least. That last part was unnecessary.

Anyways, it was an interesting process. I discovered a new stereotype: experimental musicians are even more awkward than “normal” musicians. Imagine that.

I interviewed a lot more people than were in the story, but maybe the extra bodies were unnecessary.

There is an interesting documentary about the Action Research movement, which I will put here (as well as a link to the story).

Action Research story

That is it for the night. I started too late. Vague promises of more later.