dayton is not in ohio

The closest I ever got to seeing the kinds of indie rock bands that are the regular fare of Rob Matthews and many of my other Philadelphia friends, was a little bar/club located in a double-wide trailer in a borderline bad part of Jackson, Mississippi called W.C. Don’s. This place was small, hot and dark, but it was one of the places I ended up occasionally my freshman year of college (1993). Over the years many, many unknown bands played there, and I’m sorry to say that I missed such unknowns as REM, Widespread Panic and the Flaming Lips, as mentioned in the linked article below. I did see Galactic, a New Orleans based jam band that ended up becoming much more well known. I think the cover was $3. The other draw was that they accepted school IDs as proof of age. My fake one said I was 21, and it’s hard to believe that anyone bought it (my age, not the ID… the ID was perfect…) because at age 18 I looked about 15.

Don’s came back to me recently because The Spares, folk-country-americana band of our pastor’s wife, played there on a recent tour swing through God’s country. She said it was the worst show of all time, and hates Jackson. Now she certainly should know better that to judge a city by it’s most seedy rock club, but having been put on a double bill with a hardcore band probably didn’t help her impression. You should check out the Spares, Jacksonites, buy a CD and maybe she’ll feel better about the town.

Anyway, that little reminiscence is just a lead in to saying that, perhaps as an act of divine judgment, W.C. Don’s is closing forever. Here’s an article about it.