Ohio Bassists Question

Some sites for finding bands, posting classifieds:
cringe.com
cowtownmusic.com
columbus.craigslist.org/muc

A good site to chat with local musicians is Done Waiting (like any message board, there are some elitists looking for a flame war, so watch out!)
www.donewaiting.com (go to message boards, then scroll down to Columbus Music)

Some venues to try (assuming you're not looking for metal. If you are, there's a different set of venues to try)

Rumba Cafe- www.columbusrumbacafe.com - a lot of the music scene folks hang out there.

The Treehouse- Formerly Andyman's Treehouse. Andyman is head DJ at the local alternative radio station, CD101. He just sold it, but it's still got the indie hideaway vibe. It's not unheard of for some national musician to pop in and do an acoustic set (Evan Dando, Kyle Gass!).

Bernie's Bagels/ The Distillery is the campus bar for original bands. Good place to get the word out on campus. Has an underground CBGB's vibe.

Ravari Room- Regional touring bands play there (Clutch, Nashville Pussy, Thrill Kill, etc.) A good place to check out some bands and meet some music people.

There are more places, but these are some of my top recommendations.

 

For metal, there's the Villa Rosa(?). It's the club where Dimebag Darrell was shot. There are a lot of little joints all over the city if you do covers. Metal might go over in The Thirsty Whale on the west end. There's Whiskey Dick's, and there's Skully's (up on High, and probably one of the better indie original places). Tons of places and the American Legion Halls, if you do old country and classic rock.

 

Delaware is 20 miles north of Columbus. Great prices, and a growing community, but not exactly close. I would recommend Hilliard on the west side or Blacklick and Gahanna on the east side if you want to be closer to OSU and have good prices.

Alrosa Villa is actually the club gweimer was referring to. It's a staple of the metal scene, and seems to be back in operation after the Dimebag incident.

Whiskey Dicks is kinda dead nowadays. I've played there with my country band and rock band, and there's no crowd. It's more for regional touring bands. They can't fill the place in between big shows.

Skully's is great, but don't expect an easy time to get booked there. It's very clicky to get in, due in part to the fact that they don't have a full band schedule. The booking guy is also very flaky. My old band had to reschedule a CD last minute, 'cause they double booked. This is after newspaper ads were paid for and running!

 

Central Ohio is a great place to live anymore. Growing communities and lower cost of living makes it pretty easy to settle down here. There's lots of little suburbs around here that are within driving distance from Columbus and still country enough to have a party without being shut down. It seems that the north end and east ends are the 2 fastest growing areas. I live in Sunbury which is about 15-20 minutes from Columbus, also in Delaware county, and it's a cool area to settle down. Plenty of country but enough city to make life easy.

 

For music stores, you gotta start at Uncle Toad's Fifth Avenue Fret Shop!

www.fretshop.com

It's owned and operated by one of the most respected names in the music scene, and also here on TB! Along side Phil (Uncle Toad), Shawn is the other tech/luthier. His work is also highly regarded, and he is a bassist as well.

 

I gigged in Columbus for a long time, and though I live in NY now, I'm still modestly active there.
Columbus has a great scene, and I second looking into most of the clubs mentioned (Ravari Room, Skully's, the Treehouse--which pretty much everybody I know still calls Andyman's, Rumba Cafe, Bernie's). There's also Cafe Bourbon Street, which is a dive, but fun. Also Oldfield's on High can be quite good. Victorian's Midnight Cafe has a lot of folk stuff and some open mics.
If you're willing to do covers, there are a lot of bars in the region to gig at. Many will be depressing and/or empty, though.
Unfortunately, some of the great stuff in Columbus has gone away recently. Little Brother's is the big example, but also Larry's (which had bands on Saturdays) and the String Shoppe, which was a nice music store right near campus.
Should also mention that Columbus has Comfest, which rules in some ways and sucks in others (a lot of their selections are completely inane).
Great place to live, all told. Cheap, relaxed, and a lot more culture than you might expect.

 

+1000000

Phil's a cool cat and both of those guys in there are good at what they do.

 

Good place for metal, industrial, etc... is Outland. They're in the process of moving to a new location somewhere in the Arena District last I heard though, so they're not open at the moment.

If you do covers and standard rock as well, check out the thirsty scholar and the library. Both places are north of OSU campus, and very close (few blocks) away from Hounddog's Pizza/Ravari Room (hounddog's is the best pizza in the city, btw...).

 

I didn't know the Thirsty Scholar or Library had bands. (I do like the Library a lot, though). Another place to remember, for jazz, is Dick's Den.

Columbus is districty to the max. I think Clintonville rules. The Short North used to be cool, but now it's way overpriced. Italian Village seems to be on the rise, but it's mostly these new condos, which may or may not be your thang.

OSU doesn't really have much to offer by way of music made by locals, though the radio station sponsors occasional outdoor concerts. Just remembered--the Newport, across the street from campus, also sometimes has locals.

 

Just try to avoid certain areas... Livingston Ave. just east of the courthouse is known for violent crime. Same as Cleveland Ave. from the fairgrounds south. It's a small strip that straddles the columbus and bexley borders. There were a few other bad areas, but for the most part columbus is pretty tame.

Out in reynoldsburg there are a few places of interest, one is screamin willies, another is thirsty turtle, and then there's a bar (can't remember the name) next to a pawn shop at the corner of brice rd. and livingston ave. I'm sure there are a few more places out here, but can't think of them off the top of my head.

 

Uncletoad does custom basses and modifications, maybe he is the person you are thinking of. Pete Skjold recently moved to ohio and is out east, north of zanesville. Other than that I haven't heard of any local bass manufacturers.