My favorite music venue is closing and by sheer coincidence I was able to say goodbye in person instead of from 3000 miles away
Art Boutiki Re-Revisited, or 'When tragedy in personal life allows a weird sense of closure on something completely unrelated'
The large cargo door on the side of Race Street (that white paper on the left is an 8x11 for scale purposes)
Last week I wrote a pretty heartfelt blog about the Art Boutiki - San José, California’s premiere all ages music venue that has acted as a 'home base' for me and my band over the years. I won't retread cuz you should just read that post if you haven't, but to sum up; the place is incredibly important to me despite no longer living in that city, and it's closing up for good at the end of the year.
The other Race Street sign, this one on the Comic Shop portion's window
One of the things that really hit me while writing the blog was the distance factor; I haven't been there in years due to living out of state, and given the sudden nature of the closure announcement it'd be highly unlikely I'd be able to say goodbye other than with remote pinings, sorting through photos taken over the years and blog posts.
Well, then some deeply upsetting family shit happened that (long story short) resulted in me being in San José, California for a few days within a few days of my initial blog post. I spent the majority of the time dealing with family things, but I did have some open windows (and east coast internal clock) so one of the first chances I had, I went over to Dan’s place to say thank you to the man in person.
The man, the legend, now in gif form
After the initial "wait what the fuck are you doing here don't you live like really far away" we got to sit down and check in. He told me it’s been like a goddamn wake with past performers coming in DAILY to pay their respects to him and the place. Note: this is not a competition but I'm accidentally winning the 'repeat performer most miles traveled to say goodbye' award unless the members of Bent Knee (Boston) or Snowapple (Amsterdam) make it in lmao
Tables set up for an upcoming 'Drink and Draw' event - the place is pretty modular, clearing out all the chairs and tables for punk nights, arranging smaller tables and chairs for jazz nights, etc
He had a phone call to take so he gave me run of the place to grab some photos even though the venue itself wasn't open; happy to say it's mostly as I left it which is saying something since I've not been in the building since 2017. Only real changes are the equipment has been improved, the vinyl wall has expanded, and the infamous 'Garage door' to the green room has been absolutely plastered:
The way Dan used to tell it, when he was younger there was this guy Craig who created a sort of refuge for young noisemakers, and musicians who hung out at Craig's would sign things onto his garage door. Craig passed on, and when Dan opened the boutiki it felt kind of like a spiritual successor, so he started asking bands to 'sign' the door of the green room in honor of Craig, a guy none of us ever met.
There's a LOT of history on this door; I see band names on here that don't exist anymore, people who I completely forgot about, names of numerous artists who have since transitioned - it's wild. I forgot to get a shot but it's spread onto the inside wall of the green room also.
I went back into the green room and it hasn't changed TOO much, but what warmed my heart is to see our old After the Lights Failed album release poster still up there in a place of honor in the center.
Whole lotta names I haven't thought about in years on this wall
Also I'm definitely gonna need a print of this poster which I do not believe existed before I moved:
There’s a lot of things iconic about this place but the main Boutiki mural at the side of the stage is definitely up there; it was painted by Dan's wife Michelle and when they close this place up, it’ll be gone for good outside of pictures.
In an ideal world, someone with money to lose would come in and take over operations and keep it going, letting Dan have a break while also keeping this incredible thing he and his family built in (more or less) one piece. I'm not holding my breath because time and time again, the City of San José has proven hostile towards music venues that aren't primarily bars OR if they do cater to all-ages, aren't funded by some creepy evangelical project on the back end. The Boutiki truly was an oasis.
Remaining events on the books for August. Dan says he's honoring every event through December already scheduled and then 2026 will be the move out.
Before wrapping it up and heading back to family stuff, I got up on stage one last time. I couldn't be in my exact old spot since there's a DJ kit set up for the Drink and Draw event but it was pretty close. My pedalboard would be roughly here and that center monitor would be my lifeline.
A thing I like, can't really find a good way to explain is that despite the building having a tall ceiling and a confusingly open amount of space, every person who ran sound at this venue knew EXACTLY what they were doing. I never had any issues hearing myself or worrying that our sound was compromised to the crowd. It's unreal just how good the audio (and lighting!!) team at this place is.
Anyway, the most important thing I did (other than all the emotional shit described above) is take a selfie with Bob the penguin. I won't blame Dan for taking Bob home with him after closing time but if there's an auction of some sort I may have to bid. Bob is life. Bob is love.
