The Gypsy Lounge Closing Soon

We all know it's raining harder than a cow peeing on a flat rock out there, and so, first and foremost, we want to say: PLEASE BE SAFE. Leave more than enough following and stopping distance, keep your hands on the wheel (hold steady if you fishtail), and turn your headlights on, even during the day! We want you all to stay safe out there! There's also a lot of flooding going on, so if you can, park on high ground if you're leaving your car for hours at a time.

Secondly, it is with sad, sad news that I write this post. Our beloved local venue, The Gypsy Lounge, which has been an established music hotspot for years and years in our own Lake Forest, will be closing its doors at the end of this month. It's rumored that the venue will be relocating to Los Alamitos, which is good news for the residents of Los Alamitos, but sad, sad news for OC locals. It seems there's a trend to new-ify OC- put in strip malls and Panera Breads and shiny new nail salons on every corner- which, in itself, isn't so terrible (who doesn't love Panera, after all?); but when it's at the expense of the businesses and venues that make OC unique and provide an outlet for art on all levels, I have to stop and wonder if we realize what sort of monster we're creating. Imagine, ten years from now, the streets of OC being nothing but pre-planned neighborhoods, Yogurtlands, Best Buys, Starbuck's, and Curves gyms. Again, there's nothing inherently wrong with those things (God bless the inventor of self-serve froyo!), but when every store and business is a nation-wide chain, we're robbing our county (the one our children will grow up in, and their children) and ourselves of culture. We're also wounding the entrepreneurial spirit of local residents and business owners. We're saying, "Entrepreneurs? Musicians? Artists? Mom and Pop Thai diners? No thanks!" We've got it all backward.

I didn't mean to get up on a soap box, and before I get off it, I should say that the views expressed are my personal views and The OC Gazette as a company cannot be held responsible for my opinions. Ok, now I'll get off it.

Would you consider joining Amy and I tonight at one of The Gypsy Lounge's last shows? It's going to be a good one, with a killer lineup of some rad local musicians:

9:15pm: Jay Buchanan
10:00pm: Chris Hanlin from The Dibs
11:00pm: Jameson
11:45pm: Chris Paul Overall
 
Don't miss one of your last chances to see great live music at one of OC's most loved music venues before it slips away from us!


-Blythe


on Grooveshark: "The Unicorn" by Dr. Dog