Arts This Week: Live Music in July at Book Club C’ville
By Sage Tanguay
Ella Powell: You’re listening to WTJU Charlottesville. On Saturday, July 12th and 26th at 8pm, Book Club C’ville will host live music performances set up in a local DIY space. For Arts This Week, we spoke to the band coordinator, John, who gave us all the details on what to expect this month at Book Club.
Odd John: I go by the name Odd John, Book Club C’ville. It’s a monthly volunteer driven nonprofit music event. The name comes from the fact that our current space is filled with books.
Ella: Do you have details on like how you started running Book Club C’ville, or how you got involved?
John: That is a popular misconception that I run Book Club, and I’m happy to give credit where credit is due. Jackson, it was his brainchild. We were going to shows at Chinchilla Cafe, Chinchilla House. And I think even before that ended, I want to say he had that sort of notion of helping promote a DIY scene. He had space available to have shows, and he organized the first initial meeting of getting volunteers together, and he contributes significantly to each show. As far as the donations, they go to the bands. He did task me with booking bands because he’d seen me often at times at chinchilla cafe. I also like to post pictures of bands. And so, he kind of figured, well, John takes pictures of these bands. John must know these bands. John will book the shows for Book Club. And fortunately, he was right. It’s something I have no experience doing, but so far, it’s been a really great experience.
Ella: And what details do you have on events lined up for July?
John: July is going to be a template of what we kind of strive to do at book club, which is giving people the opportunity, either because they haven’t had a lot of chances to play around town, like they don’t have a lot of experience, or they do play a lot and they want a little bit of variety. We have great little venues peppered throughout town. Beautiful Idea, C’ville Skates, J-Bird, Infinite Repeats, Visible Records. These are just some of the places around town where you can see really great music from local arts and even artists from out of town. But as far as what’s coming up in July, on the 12th, we should have The Clergyman, Knifing Around, and Wolf boy. Clergyman, I’ve never heard of, just one of our volunteers who lives out in Richmond suggested them like, “Hey, there’s this band in Richmond called Clergyman.” I said, “I’m sold. Like, if you vouch for them, I’m gonna give them a chance.” Knifing Around. I had seen them at Chinchilla, and they were a lot of fun. And Wolf Boy was someone who performed at a previous Book Club show. They came up to me and asked, “Hey, can I play?” I said, “How much music do you have?” And they said, “about 15 minutes.” I said, “Absolutely.” Then later in the month on the 26th we have two mainstays of Charlottesville, Chloe Esther, Seventh Grade Girl Fight, and Aaron McCloud.
Ella: Nice. And how would you describe the vibe of your shows?
John: The vibe is supportive. We want to continue that Chinchilla Cafe ethos of being welcoming and respectful and giving people a space to hang out and enjoy hearing music or just to hang out. We have a $10 suggested donation. It’s perfectly fine if you just don’t want to give. There’s plenty of people who sometimes just pop in, listen to someone play for a little bit and then leave. That’s fine. All the money that we get, we divide it up between the bands. We don’t take anything, and so it’s just a communal artistic event.
Ella: Could you list some of the genres that are most prevalent at your shows, perhaps?
John: We seem to be rock focused, and that’s a little bit of my unintentional biases. I’m big into post punk and post hard core. I strive for variety. I don’t want to have us be all of one genre, and I don’t want it to be a night of all of the same genre, if possible, and so I encourage fans to reach out. We certainly could use a lot more different styles than rock, but we definitely want to have that sort of energy.
Ella: And what would you say is your favorite part about helping manage or book shows for this DIY music collective?
John: It’s altruistic, because there isn’t a money component. No one is doing this for the money. Yes, bands will sometimes have some shirts or CDs or records. We really want to make sure bands have some money to help cover for gas, to help pay for their time. These are musicians who are compelled to create, and in addition to that, they really want to perform their music. This is a place for them to do that. It’s a small space. It’s very intimate. You will be seeing the musician. The musician will be seeing you. There’s a chance for that connection by giving them this space and win over some fans. There have been shows when people from other bands have come in and they look around, they go, yes, I want to play here. And that’s inspiring.
Ella: Where can listeners find out more information about Book Club?
John: I believe just on Instagram, we’re kind of semi secretive. In that way, the hidden gem of just having people want to find us, you spend just a few moments and figure out where we are and you can come to a show. And we want you to come to a show.
Ella: For your live sound escape this month, come out to see performances hosted by Book Club C’ville. On July 12th, the Richmond band Clergymen will perform along with sets by Knifing Around, and Wolf Boy. On July 26th, local performers Chloë Ester, 7th Grade Girl Fight, and Aaron McCloud take the stage. Music normally starts at 9:30 and there’s a suggested donation of $10. You can find location details on their Instagram, @Book_Club_Cville.
Arts this week is supported by the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College. PVCC Arts presents a rich array of dance, music, theater and visual arts programming. Learn more@pvcc.edu.
