By’r Lady drummer Jason Walter is booking shows for the Blue Heron. The venue’s monthly schedule includes regular slots for local bands.
Photo: Matt Wake
The last thing sold at Black Dog Music was the Crosby, Stills and Nash box set. On Aug. 21, the shop closed its doors forever, leaving Clemson without a record store. Black Dog’s manager, Brian Moroney, saw it coming.
“Business had been progressively going down for the last two years,” Moroney said. “There’s so little room to make money on a CD. The profit margins just weren’t covering the cost we had in the store.”
The death of record stores has been well documented —30 percent have closed since 2003 — so Black Dog’s shuttering shouldn’t be a shocker. After all, the business model for brick-and-mortar CD sales sucks. Black Dog, which opened in 2002, only made around $3 on each new CD they sold. The retailer had to shell out $12-a-piece to obtain those units.
That math is ass-backwards from other businesses. For example, most restaurants charge three times what they pay in ingredients for an item.
Moroney received only a one-day notice from Black Dog owner Laurie Jarman that the store was closing. But it was an academic decision. The shop’s profits had gone down by a third just since the beginning of the year. Also, when Black Dog retreated from its stylish downtown space in early 2006 to a sleepy shopping center, the store lost much of its atmosphere — and impulse buys. To make any money in the retail music game, you have to sell a ton of units; and at Black Dog the numbers just weren’t there anymore
“People are downtown throughout the day,” Moroney said. “Maybe they’re walking to go eat or they have some time to kill between classes and they would just stop in to the store. When we moved down the road, all of a sudden Black Dog had to be your destination.”
Now Moroney is trying to decide what do next. Recently wed, he may look for another job or return to school to finish his degree in physical therapy.
Despite the unavoidable reduction of mom-and-pop record outlets, the Black Dog situation is still a bummer. Clemson no longer has a record store — even a chain. Finding new music is no longer a physical experience here — an unthinkable status for a college town. Local music fans can no longer peruse racks and stumble onto an obscure but fantastic record attracted by the album cover or title. Sure, Clemson music-heads can drive 20 minutes to Rainbow Records in Anderson or 45 minutes to Earshot in Greenville. But that takes the spontaneity out of the equation.
“I don’t think Black Dog was the corner stone of the music scene here, but it was certainly a block,” Moroney said. “Without a place to discover new music or local bands, it doesn’t send a good signal.”
However, WSBF station manager Cam Taylor doesn’t view Black Dog’s exit as apocalyptic. He cited the store’s high prices and lack of involvement with local music events as the main reasons Black Dog won’t leave a gaping hole.
“I honestly don’t think that Black Dog added much of anything to the scene here,” Taylor said via e-mail. “It sucks they closed because it was great to have an independent record store here, but we must keep in mind this happening across the country. Aside from the actual availability of music product in Clemson, the quality and quantity of bands coming to this area has only increased.
“Of course, there are still tons of shitty bands that look at Clemson as a ‘target college market’ and stop by to play at ClemsonLive events or at bro-bars downtown. But many other bands are realizing that it is both a convenient place to tour, and a great place where we have a strong musical following and treat bands very well.”
WSBF has given music fans in Clemson something to get excited about by booking much more appealing bands at the radio station’s events, such as the Bowman Block Party and its annual Spring Concert at the Clemson Amphitheatre. Elf Power and Akron/Family are among the higher-wattage, yet indie acts WSBF has brought to town.
Taylor commended the Blue Heron for bringing quality club shows back to Clemson.
The city’s ability to attract regional touring bands — and occasionally rising national-level artists — took a huge hit when The Joint closed in early 2006. Say what you will about the defunct club’s tendency to book jam bands, it was a venue dedicated to music, with the infrastructure to do so.
In 2005, By’r Lady drummer Jason Walter turned to the Blue Heron when he was having trouble lining up a farewell gig for his previous band, The Lavernes. The owner of another Clemson haunt, which Walter declined to name, repeatedly gave him the run-around. When he contacted the Blue Heron, not only did the venue oblige him, but their management’s willingness to do so blew Walter away.
“It reminded me of what happened in the late-70s when Television came to Hilly Krystal of CBGB’s in NewYork City and asked to play on Sundays,” Walter said via e-mail. “CBGB’s as we know it today was born.”
The drummer would later reciprocate. Beginning last spring Walter began booking shows for the Blue Heron — for free. Although the Blue Heron had previously hosted shows sporadically, the venue’s lineup and organization improved tremendously under Walter’s guidance.
Walter makes it a point to set up local acts with a monthly gig at the Blue Heron. Clemson-area bands in rotation include: By’r Lady, GoodE J, The Wildlife Series, Battlecock, Together By Death, Today We Escape and Dirt Pretty. In addition, Walter has brought in groups from regional hot spots, like Athens, Ga. and Chapel Hill, N.C. He wishes Clemson’s other bars would take some cues from the Blue Heron’s musical makeover.
“My favorite thing about the Blue Heron is that people who come to the shows are coming to see the band,” Walter said. “Whenever I go somewhere else downtown, the band is background music. However with every other bar in Clemson, you have to be in the same room as the band, and, therefore, be blasted out by them. At the Blue Heron, there’s a bar area and there’s a room for the band. Therefore, if you don’t feel like dancing or listening to the band and just want to socialize, then you can go to the bar and still hear the band, but you’re able to not have to shout to have a conversation.”
However the Blue Heron isn’t completely idyllic. The venue doesn’t have a house P.A. system — an essential facet for a serious music club. In addition, Blue Heron shows are for ages 21 and up, thereby eliminating a large number of young music fans. Taylor believes if Clemson could sustain an all-ages venue, the city could host amazing gigs on a weekly basis. To make up for the lack of an 18-plus room, Taylor is taking matters in his owns hands — he books shows at his house.
“People in Clemson have never thought about having touring bands play house shows, but it’s an excellent alternative to dealing with bars and promoters,” Taylor said. “The bands usually make more money in the end, and it’s an all-ages environment so kids can get into music earlier. Clemson has always catered to the older crowd, but we must realize that if we are truly interested in building a solid, lasting music scene here, we must reach out to teenagers who will eventually reach their 20s and start playing in bands, booking shows and making stuff happen.”
For more information on the Blue Heron’s line-up, WSBF shows and other Clemson music events, go to www.myspace.com/clemsonshows.
