A Sad Weekend in ETown

I received a sad message on my MySpace page on Friday. The 'Track, a staple location of the Edmonton music scene, announced that they were closing their doors. To put this in perspective, this would be analogous to the Horseshoe, or Lee's Palace. announcing that they were closing. Even though I've only been around here for 8 months, the 'Track has been around for 26 years, and I can appreciate how shocked the music community here is. There are many people who have started their careers at the 'Track, and there are even more that have performed there on their rise to the top. There are a lot of very sad musicians around these days.

The other reason the Track was so great was because it was the closest bar to our place. Ergo, by definition, it was our local.

So Chiquita and I headed out last night, to enjoy one of our last open mic nights (a Monday night pseudoritual that we have adopted). With some work in hand, we were expecting to sit down, have a couple of pints, do some reading, and enjoy some ambient live music in the background. It really is one of the usual high points of my week. When we reached the door, there was no activity. It was dark. The streets were silent. There was only a small and simple sign taped to the door to indicate:

Closed

And only a mere 2 days after their announcement. I feel sad that we weren't even able to say goodbye. Also, a little bit robbed that I only got to enjoy it for 8 months. We were just getting to know each other. And now I've got to start to look for a new venue all over again.

Sigh.