N.L. MEETS DOWNTOWN RECORDS AND GIGANTIC - BY N.L. BELARDES February 19, 2005 7:27 pm - Heading to Gigantic I decided to pop in on the record store next door. Downtown Records has been around for three years. Jake Chavez heads it up; he’s quiet, determined, and with a record store straight from High Fidelity. I told him, “Whoah man, you’re the Andy Noise of the post modern age.” Yeah I was around in the 80’s when Andy Noise hung records out on the façade and was the place of all places to pick up cool U2 posters, Morrissey tapes and punk hits. Jake said that Andy Noise wanted to partner with him. But that’s not to be done. It’s a new era folks and I heartily recommend stopping in to say hi. I really like what’s going on. Jake also mentioned that on Sundays at 4pm there are shows for new bands. It’s great for all ages and parents to see if their youth has what it takes to rock!

I hadn’t really met the Gigantic folk until last night. I met Alex his cohort in crime whose name escapes me (I really need to bring a notebook); Alex seems like a nice quiet fellow. You can’t miss the fro—he’s got it goin’ on. He handed out some fliers and I handed him one of my own. I felt much better at Gigantic this time around. For the most part the back lights were turned low, so the performances had more ambience and depth. Very nice touch. Only problems I saw were minor and had nothing to do with performances. Gigantic desperately needs to move the clothing racks during shows. Get them out of the way so folks can see from the doorway. And if they’re not doing refreshments, then get a hook-up going with the Syndicate. Say something like, “In between shows, run and get a coffee or water from the Syndicate coffeehouse.” Or, have all bands greet folks at the syndicate at an earlier hour.” Downtown businesses need each other to cross promote. That means less bands is better so bands have time to co-mingle and greet folks in a relaxed atmosphere. With so many bands last night, the shows went on to 1am... slow it down and socialize. Other than that, it was a lovely evening at a Gigantic venue with great people, great artists and musicians. I really enjoyed myself.