Dispatch from Crosstown Station
By BERRY ANDERSON
A couple of songs into the set, Jeff Pickman, guitarist for Action Figure proclaimed, “This place Crosstown Station kicks ass!”
He is right… It kicks ass in that squeaky-clean, new-place kind of way.
Scoring major points for sound quality, general stage appearance, and superfriendly staff (when was the last time a bartender called you “Love”?), downtown’s newest music venue/nightclub/bar opened this weekend to near-capacity crowds. Though I missed out on Friday night’s California Voodoo (covering all of Widespread Panic’s greatest jams), I threw down seven dollars to see what all the hype was about behind that tastefully done southfacing mural.
The evening’s bill included Lawrence’s genre-bending Volunteers, the powerpop foursome Action Figure, and sensitive balladeers Carmine Red. I arrived early enough to find myself in the midst of a complete sausagefest on both sides of the bar. I gravitated towards co-owner Melissa Mitchell, who was sitting at the end of the bar going through what appeared to be job applications. Would the hiring of hot “rock” chicks to open assloads of Bud Light bottles be in CtS’s near future?
