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Artist of the Year Honorable Mention: First Avenue
FIRST AVENUE
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FIRST AVENUE
No building may be more central to the Twin Cities music community than this nightclub, which had a pinnacle year following a fight for its very life. A court battle among its owners and longtime managers led to a bankruptcy filing, and the club closed for three weeks in November 2004. When First Avenue reopened -- with the same old blah-black paint job and its unusually pierced waitstaff -- folks rallied around its very presence. An estimated 250,000 people went through that curved wall of doors in 2005. In its 35th year, the club went into the black financially for the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It even cleaned up its bathrooms (a little, anyway). Meanwhile, corporate competitor Clear Channel was clearly in the toilet and shuttered its local offices. After all these years, the Quest for a better rock venue has turned out to be a Myth.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
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