When Big Kev and I started thinkin about forming this band, or what we imagined the band might sound like, jammin out for our fellow Blue Raiders, right away, the first bar that popped into my head was The Boro Bar and Grill.
Maybe because it was located right across from the the Murphy Center, MTSU's arena/concert hall, where superstar acts from Phish to Springsteen might play, or maybe that we'd spent so many nights there watching countless random college bands slug it out, coupled with occasional legends like Roland Gresham (rumored to have tutored Hendrix). Maybe it was the wings, maybe it was just the fact that there was something about the place that simply oozed "We were here first".
Whatever it was, The Boro was and always has been cemented in my mind as THE MTSU college bar, and an absolute rite of passage for a local band, which is weird 'cause they don't even have a sound system!
We'd been trying to get a show there since our inception, and found it surprisingly tough to get in, so you can imagine my excitement when we landed a slot on their annual BOROSTOCK™ festival (yeah I just found the trademark button, and I'm rockin it).
It's a fri-sun event, (P.A., check.) with probably like, 20/30 bands playin. We got a pretty sweet slot: Saturday, 9:00.
When I walked in, I was glad to see that little had changed. It looked good. Dark. Stoic. Timeless.
Yes!
The stage was set: (No pun intended)
See, as I stated earlier, when I think about Murfreesboro music, I think about playin in that bar. In my imagination, it's always goin down, in The Boro.
So we took the stage.
The lighting, the sounds of clinking glass, the smell of the stage, the burning hot stage lights, 8 inches from our faces,..
It was EXACTLY like I'd imagined it!
Awesome.
When we were finished, we got to meet a lot of super-cool people, like Amanda, who'd helped organize and execute the event. She had a real passion for the music. That's crucial.
I really enjoyed just walkin around, talkin to random people, sippin beers. If you're one of them folks I kicked it with, I wanna say thanks for the kind vibe and the good conversation. Yall know who you are.
We really appreciated you coming out and making my imagined mental picture actually HAPPEN, right down to numbers of butts in seats!
And of course, thanks to The Boro Bar and Grill. For the sights, the sounds, the history,
And the shit-ton of free beer.
