The Wake

It’s a Monday evening in autumn and the familiar buzz of fall semester returns with a swarm of people commonly known as the student body. New texts, new faces, and if you’re lucky, new classrooms are enough to avoid thinking about the inevitable upcoming midterm week. To break the tension of amassing assignments, as well as to find a comfortable way to get them done, you have to find the right surroundings. The coffee shops and libraries that are scattered across campus are suitable for a cram-session. But for a new ambiance, one with personality to break the monotony, I decided to check out a couple of recurring jazz nights near campus.

First I hit up Varsity, the old theatre-turned-atmospheric music venue. I went in around scheduled show time, 8:00 p.m. and was one of only a few people in the place. I looked around, wondering whom to pay. After inquiring to the bartender on this matter, I handed over my $5 cover charge along with a matching Lincoln for a Bass Ale. Other choices included Guiness, Summit and the typical piss-waters most Americans have somehow developed a palate for. I scanned the room debating where to sit; elegant furniture encircles the stage, where musicians were preparing for their set. The couches and chairs add an intimate, homey feel to the venue, but I chose to sit at one of the tables along the wall to avoid getting too comfortable and abandoning my studies. Just when my history homework began numbing my brain, I was brought back to my senses by two string players and a drummer. I tore through pages of Facundo while the room took on an intense array of sounds. Some pieces had a dark, off-kilter demeanor reminding me of a trip-hop record. The set was over before 10 p.m., but as one member of the audience summarized it, “That was satisfying.”

The following week I decided to check out Real Book Jazz at “Coffee Grounds” (1579 Hamline Ave.) near the St. Paul campus. Again, the show starts around eight. Showing up at the same time as the saxophonist and drummer I found out the sax player has also “dug himself a hole” in school. After getting an above-average chai tea, I went in and picked up a new reading. This time, the soundtrack was a medley of selections from The Real Book. Classics from Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillepsie were interpreted from a quintet diverse in age, yet playing uniformly on the same page. Even with most of the customers out the door towards the end of the evening, they continued to play.

Both evenings offered comfortable environments while remaining entertaining. Either venue would be an ideal study or date location for a wide range of ages. So if you’re looking to kill a couple of hours on or away from campus, check out one of these weekly events. Or, if you’re the disparate type, go explore the cities for your own comfort zone.