FourthBase » Thu Nov 17, 2016 9:50 pm wrote:vondardanelle » 17 Nov 2016 20:51 wrote:my band played at Comet Ping Pong last year and for what it's worth (probably not much), I thought i'd share my thoughts on the venue/restaurant outside of anything that may be happening there or around there.
our booking agent set the show up and I didn't interact with any staff other than the person who gave the bands dinner (pizza, obviously, and beers). they were nice enough. it was a fairly typical bar-type restaurant. located in a strip mall type thing. bar with booths and seating in the front, some booths towards the back and space for two ping pong tables. in the absolute back of the place was a large-ish room or maybe small warehouse space (it had a high ceiling, or the floor was lower in the back than in the bar) which was the "backstage" area where bands could hang out and keep their equipment between sets. they also put the ping pong tables here when the show started and assorted other pieces of restaurant ephemera were stored back here. when we arrived, which was around 6pm or so, the crowd was a bit of a mix-- young couples, older folks, a few families. i was playing ping pong next to a family with young kids playing on the table next to me. around 8-9 or so the place switched into "venue mode" where the back area with the booths was cleared of people eating and the bands set up. i dont think there was a stage, maybe a small 1 foot elevation where the band set up. but the audience was right on top you, which is very punk-show. (btw, my band and the other band on the bill are best described as indie rock and alot of the bands that go through comet ping pong are the same, but that back room had the feel of a punk venue for sure. mostly because "punk venue" often means anywhere that people and a band can fit in the same space). definitely struck me a place that was not built as a venue but as a bar, but they figured they could throw bands in a space to maybe bring in a different crowd and make more money. sound was not great at all (and no sound check), i think they only mic-ed the kick drum and then vocal mics. not ideal from the perspective of sounding good as a band, but always fun to play a show like this now and again. keeps you honest and it's alot like everyone-- the band, the fans-- are just hanging out with each other.
so yeah, i don't remember seeing anything really creepy or strange but i wasn't looking for anything like that. after touring in bands for over a decade and playing in hundreds of places across america, comet ping pong struck me as a slightly above average place to play a show, overall. nowhere near the worst place i've ever played and nowhere near the best. easy load in with plenty of parking around the back. well below average in terms of sound and stage, but they were good to the bands and it was a fun environment in that it was so intimate. also i love ping pong and being able to play ping pong in the hours between load in and the show (usually incredibly tedious sitting around) was a plus. pizza was nothing special. good crowd and a good time for sure. if i lived near that place i would probably go in there once in a while to play ping pong and have some beers with friends, but it was really nothing special.
Alright. Have you read the article right above you? Did you see any paintings or posters that weren't child-appropriate? What was your opinion of the bathrooms being in that false wooden wall or whatever? Lastly, how long have you known Luther?
skimmed that article and missed the comet ping pong parts. i vaguely recall that artwork, it definitely didn't register as sinister. penis graffiti is probably present in 98% of venues i have ever played in. it's posibl;e the drummer in my band drew that as he often draws things like that on walls of these places. i also did not spend much time in the front part of the restaurant, which was bigger. it's a little strange to me to hear it's popular with "liberal 20-somethings in kahkis". it wasn't a full-on "dive", but it wasn't really that nice either. closer to dive i'd say, certainly the back area where the bands played. the backstage/storage room was fairly clean and seemed functional.
the bathrooms also did not strike me as sinister. i definitely remember that fake wall (it was more of a "divider" maybe? kind of like a japanese screen but attached to the floor in spots and the wall, and i think to the ceiling as well, with an opening so people can get to the bathrooms) and in the context of the scene it makes sense. the bathrooms were just across from several booths in the room where bands played. maybe 6 feet from the doors (there were 2, single person bathrooms) to the booth if you were eating in one of those booths you would likely have to watch people come and go from those bathrooms (and probably get some smells from the bathrooms as well) and i can see how the fake wall made sense. it created privacy for both bathroom go-ers and the people sitting in the booths. once the place was full of people for the shows, the bathrooms and that wall were a real pain. the wall comes out into the room, making the space smaller, and the line for the bathrooms was difficult to differentiate from the rest of the crowd. i am thinking that the bathrooms were also covered in graffiti but i could be misremembering that. most venue bathrooms are covered. really, my impression of the back room and the storage area was that it was fairly typical of alot of venues i've played in over the years.
i do not know Luther but i am originally from Philly (haven't lived there for 7+ years). from lurking here for many years and seeing Luther's posts, i feel it's likely we know some of the same people, and maybe i actually do know Luther but don't realize it? i once went on a national tour with Bruce Dazzling and didn't know it until years later. at any rate, i love west philly and miss it, and i appreciate his references to it now and again, as well as general updates as to what's going on back in greater philly.
