Monday, September 12, 2005

Off Season Alternative to the Buzz?
Wendy Back, from Grounds for Appeal, 3242 S. Oak Park Avenue, a coffee house in Berwyn across from McNeil Hospital, said she would be happy to host the market group. She would open at 7 am and we could stay until around noon. Free coffee, of course.

The plus is that Grounds for Appeal can comfortably hold the group that normally plays at the Buzz. The minuses are that it is a little farther away, it doesn't reunite the entire group and parking might be a little bit harder. Also, Wendy permits smoking, though she has a pretty good ventilation system.

Please post your comments using the "comments" link below.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

While I'm into the notion that the whole group could convene in one venue during the off season, I'm reluctant to leave Oak Park. The Buzz and Something's Brewing have built-in local audiences. So I'm reluctant to make the move. That's my $00.02, Miguel

Anonymous said...

The Buzz, along with Borders, Something's Brewing have given the group places to play over the winter in "smaller" more intimate settings allowing us to hear each other better and not have the large group that often attends the OPFM.
That's a benefit for musicians and moving to Berwyn would be removing the group from OP, where it's home is and taking from Oak Park Businesses. While the musicians come from all over, it is the Oak Park Farmers Market Band.
For most,the Berwyn location is not 5 mins further either.
On the other hand, once in a while, to go to another place might be ok, but if we leave the places we're at to play at Berwyn and that doesn't work out and it takes some time, it might be hard to go back.

Anonymous said...

I'm sort of reluctant to leave the Buzz too. Mainly because it is simply a cool place that supports artists from the community, including us. Also, many Buzz customers would really miss the music if we left. I like the place - though I wish it were about 50% bigger.

NOTE: One misunderstanding I generated by my first note, was that Wendy's space was big enough to hold all of us. I meant that it was big enough to comfortably hold everyone that currently goes to the Buzz. If the whole group went, it would be as crowded as the Buzz is now.

Maybe a small group of us could go to Wendy's once a month, like some of do to play at the Berwyn farmer's market in the summer - 4th Sat of the month. That might be good. I checked with Mike Casey, who initially brought up the idea of the Berwyn’s farmer’s market, and he is up for this. Anyone else interested? Everyone welcomed. Vicki

Anonymous said...

Since the Berwyn venue can't hold everyone, we could announce the date(s) at the Buzz and Something's Brewing among the musicians and even use a sign-up sheet to prevent an overflow of players. Meanwhile, we need to make sure both Buzz and SB are well attended. There's always a need to keep SB attendance up; while the Buzz can be overcrowded any Sat morning. Perhaps this Berwyn venue can help with the overflow.

Anonymous said...

Once we start having sign-sheets and overflow from the Buzz, isn't it going to get confusing? Folks will go to the Buzz, find it crowded, then go to Berwyn and if no one is there, well, I think the idea is self-undertanding.
Yes, it would be simpler if the Buzz were larger, but it isn't and if all this get TOO COMPLICATED, who's going to go driving from place to place, to place....