Rockin’ out

"Everybody’s working for the weekend. Everybody wants a little romance.”\nI work for my weekends (just like Loverboy), as short as they might be. Forty to 50 hours in front of a computer screen can get monotonous. So on Friday afternoons, when it’s clear that the office won’t be anywhere in the plans for the next two days, rockin’ out seems the way to go. I spend most weekends in a dingy and dark pub, waiting with adrenaline pumping, for a rock band to come on stage and blow the entire crowd’s eardrums with one hell of a bass line (I kind of like bass lines).\nIn the Bloomington community, rockin’ out is one of the favorite local pastimes. It’s not unheard of to see a nationally-known band at one of the venues around town, or to know every band member as townies.\nBut what makes the music scene in Bloomington great is very closely related to what makes IU such a great university: diversity. On a given weekend, one could see an array of shows ranging from the likes of Hairbanger’s Ball with its ’80s rock covers and Who’s Bad? with its Michael Jackson hits, to the rap and hip-hop of the 17th floor. On Saturday night I saw Autovaughn and Paradise City (a Guns n’ Roses cover band) at the Blue Bird. But it wasn’t for lack of options that I ended up screaming the lyrics to “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and sharing a drink with the drummer’s girlfriend (no joke – she was really nice). Just a few blocks away at Uncle Fester’s House of Blooze, the alternative rock band that has it roots in Indiana, Murder by Death, could be found playing a set.\nThe bands listed above join many others in stopping at one of Bloomington’s many venues. The fact that each finds a following here, complete with screaming girls hoping to touch the hands of the bassist (I have a thing for bass lines), speaks in loud words: diversity is alive and well in the IU community.\nCommitment to diversity is an idea; for that idea to have effect, it must be accepted by a great proportion of the IU and Bloomington community. In times when there is unrest between groups separated by cultural differences, it is easy to be distraught about the state of that commitment. But when you look at the evidence, the music culture around Bloomington, it appears that one of two trends exists: Either the renewed commitment to diversity over the past few years has actually been accepted by many people in the right places, or diversity is a simple fact of life in Bloomington and manifests itself in culture.\nUltimately, I couldn’t care less which of these is the real reason for such a great music scene. As long as bands keep coming to B-town (and have good bass lines) I will be more than happy to go and rock out. And of course, I will always be working for the weekend. Put the drinks on ice.