New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston ... Phoenix. It still doesn't sound right.
According to the people that keep track of these things, our very own Phoenix is the fifth biggest city in the United States. However, despite our enormous size in population, we continue to eek out a meager existence that is lacking of any real culture.
To Phoenix's credit, original, local artwork is now available at independently owned galleries in the downtown area.
On the first Friday of each month, people are invited to visit what used to be one of the seediest areas and is now transformed. Instead of drug pushers, its streets are lined with galleries, which often double as live music venues to showcase the talents of the Valley's burgeoning artists.
This is great, but if any of you take this as a sign that culture in Phoenix is finally getting a chance to grow and develop, please, think again.
Let's not forget the local music, or the city's soundtrack, as I like to call it. Lately, Valley residents have been forced to sit and watch as developers from all over the world with no vested interest in our city, make their millions at the expense of the Valley's heritage. Buildings that house live, local music are being bulldozed faster than you can say "TIMBER!," slowly making Phoenix more like a documentary with no music to speak of.
Live music venues all over the Valley have come down only to be replaced by something corporate, and I'm not talking about the band here, folks.
Just ask writer and Motorola employee, Raven Blackwood, 33.
"It's like at the present time, in this new age, the mass public doesn't really seem to care all that much about history. They like their big shopping malls and the clubs with laser light shows; the mass public seems to like to only listen to music that they hear on the radio," Blackwood said. "As this nation grows older, it's leaving very little room to be an individual. It's leaving very little room to stand out in the crowd."
Blackwood spent the last four years of his life frequenting the recently closed Long Wong's for the purpose of capturing the performances of the local live bands on his camera.
"I videotape the live bands because there is this belief that there is no culture in Arizona," Blackwood said. "It's kind of devoid of culture and personality. I thought it would be a good idea to get these bands on film, to preserve the uniqueness of what was going on here."
Long Wong's last day of official operation was Thursday.
The general manager and music coordinator of Long Wong's, Sarah Cina, 38, said she is sad about the closing and that a part of the Valley will be lost forever.
"I think it's taking away a huge part of [Tempe's] heart and its character. It's one of the last things that make it unique," Cina said. "You go to most of the restaurants and shops on Mill Avenue, and now, you know, you can just go to the mall and see them. There's no difference."
Although there may be plans for a reopening in the works, Cina said one of her biggest concerns was regarding the impact that Long Wong's closing would have on the Valley's local music scene.
"I think it's going to be a shock for a little while; it's going to take a little bit of time, then hopefully, some other bars and maybe even some other cities will pick up the flack and start having live, local music," she said.
Local music venues such as the Sun Club, Gibson's, Boston's, Beelow's, Bash on Ash, and Nita's Hideaway (both the original and the new one) once were major hubs supporting the Valley's local music scene, and one by one they have all disappeared and taken a lot of the music with them.
If this destruction keeps up, the outcome is anyone's guess. However, Brianna Grimmer, guitar player and vocalist for local band Fifteen Minutes Fast, said although she thinks the closing of yet another music venue, especially Long Wong's, will have a huge impact on the local music scene, she is optimistic about the future.
"The local music will always survive," she said. "As long as people are playing music, there will be a local music scene."
Nicole Girard is a journalism graduate student. Reach her at nicole.girard@asu.edu.
