When my roommate Harald went back to Germany I stopped going to the Gallery so much. It had been his find and his hangout, and he had reveled in it. “It’s…it’s ze Gallery!” he would crow, basking in the triumph of discovery each time the place revealed some new quirk.
Despite his distractions, Ken still remembers the group of Greenpeace activists that Harald hung out with. “My biggest fans from Greenpeace all moved away to Portland and Seattle,” he says wistfully. “Those Greenpeace kids were real partiers. Now it’s another bunch, but they don’t party as much.”
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Ken relies on these intermittent infusions of young blood to augment his core of regulars, the loose group of musicians of varying degrees of talent who show up to play and clap for each other on the Gallery’s open-mike nights. Officially scheduled only for Sundays and Thursdays, open-mike nights can break out anytime someone’s in the mood. They’re the trademark of the Gallery Cabaret, and even more than the jazz and rock bands Ken books, the monthly art openings, and the collection of Ken’s own paintings that hangs behind the bar, they represent the fulfillment of his ambitions for the place.
Nothing like that could ever happen at the Gallery. There’s always room on the bill, and no matter how bad the act nobody criticizes and someone always applauds.
Like A.Z., the emcee, who may or may not have gotten his nickname in an Arizona jail years ago, C.J. has a past she’s trying to forget. She talks vaguely about the Chicago riots of ’68 and prohibits me from telling anyone about her career before she became a musician. “I’m kind of an underground figure. I don’t like to have my credentials talked about. You can just say I’m an anarchist revolutionary–I mean, I want to legalize pot today.”
Over an afternoon beer with Ray, a musician and an old friend, Ken is talking about other bands who’ve gone on to bigger and better things. “Red Red Meat played here a number of times–it was their favorite place to play,” Ken says. “But now that they’re real successful, well…”
“Ray’s been a big part of this place,” Ken says. “He’s been here since we opened. He used to run the open-mike nights, back when we first started doing them, and now he plays for the art openings sometimes. I’ll have to ask him to play for you–it’s a real treat.”
