The familiar sites of Wilmington after long, long day of driving
Living in the shadows of NYC, I have been exposed to the concept of urban sprawl all my life. However, nowhere have I seen sprawl as blatantly out of place as in my years visiting Wilmington, NC. Not only is it a college town, but there is a booming tourist business thanks to the movie industry and nearby pristine beaches.
There was some talk several years ago about widening Market Street below 17th Street. This would have essentially destroyed classic homes and history while expanding the ugliness of chain-store commerce all the way to the Cape Fear River. Thankfully the tiny, historic downtown area has so far been spared.
Many folks who visit incorrectly consider this area to be the whole of the city. Mainly I think because it is in such harsh contrast to the rest of it. In actuality, Wilmington has become about 15 square miles of Targets, Harris Teeters, Waffle Houses and many, many hotels making it look like any other part of the US. I often get confused when driving on Market or Oleander or College.
I circled around and around looking for parking. Finally I settled on a spot several blocks away. After all, I live in an area where I walk all the time. So this was not a big deal. I came upon the Soapbox Laudro Lounge (255 N Front St., Wilmington, NC) and was blown away. I thought it was going to be a simple little laundromat with a lounge attached for music and booze. It was quite the opposite.
The Soapbox is basically four clubs in one that just happens to have a laudromat in the back. In the basement there is a small dance room with a DJ. On the street level is a wine/beer only lounge adorned with art of all kinds. The have a pool table, arcade games, pinball, internet access and of course a stage for bands to play.
The top floor has a full scale stage, lights, sound and bar with a quiet room in the back. Any one of these rooms would be considered a prime spot in NYC. The middle floor houses the club’s offices. This would also turn out to be a brilliant use of space to buffer the sound between the floors. One night there would be our show on the first level and an all out, hardcore show on the top floor and the two sounds never interfered. In fact, other than the people walking up and down the stairs, you’d never know there were two shows going on.
The sound was handled masterfully upstairs by Ron (house) and Daniel (monitors). Downstairs for one night, Chuck turned all the right knobs. Sound checking was a simple case of get up there, play a note, move on. This made a few of the bands nervous considering the diversity of sounds. But, when they started to play and realized everything was fine, they just let go and rocked.
