One of my fondest memories from a show I attended took place at urbanXchange. This was about three years ago when, along with my fellow under-agers, I watched the Blakes perform.

What made this memory special wasn't so much the band that I was watching - I can't even remember who made up the rest of the bill - it was the experience. It was standing among the racks of clothes, drinking booze out of a Sprite bottle, dancing like I didn't care who was watching, then realizing that I did care who was watching (and so ceasing to flail like an idiot), and so on.

This is what all-ages venues are about. Short of drinking in a park or going to some lame party, the weekends are tortuous for under-agers because they lack anything to do that is as awesome as a show. I was in agony for years (like everyone) before turning 21, not because it meant easier access to alcohol, but because I missed out on amazing shows that everyone else I knew could go to.

But all-ages venues are awfully fickle, and Tacoma is becoming notorious for not being able to keep them going. Every time a new one opens, another closes. Recently, this situation became a little more dire with the closing of the Viaduct, which has left hardcore youth without a rock ‘n' roll home.

The only game in town is The Den.

How it all started

Though urbanXchange had been hosting intermittent shows for a while, the used clothing store sealed the deal as a real venue in February of last year - and succeeded in knocking it out of the park on the first swing.

Dubbed "The Den," the venue's first show featured local legends Calvin Johnson, Mount Eerie and Karl Blau. Over the next year The Den continued to feature impressive bookings in a cool space that catered largely to the SOTA crowd. In fact, the first bookers were a couple of SOTA students.

It was a pleasure for me, as a writer, to pick out an interesting Den show nearly every week to highlight in this here rag. Under-agers could count on finding a cool booking that might have otherwise slipped under the radar. The bills were often diverse, usually featuring unique touring acts. Almost as often, there was a completely new band (usually one from SOTA) making their debut on The Den's stage, which was always exciting.

Overall, the vibe emanating from The Den was one of creativity and experimentation.

I spoke with Julie Bennett, the owner of urbanXchange, about the genesis of The Den:

"In urbanXchange, we always let people play music," says Bennett. "It was fun and very DIY ... but I always wanted to offer people a better space for people to do that."

When a space adjacent to urbanXchange opened up, Bennett jumped at the opportunity to expand:

"I wanted to move into it," says Bennett. "I had the vision that (The Den) could be a space that could be used for playing music and ... just like a gathering place, which is why I started the Tea Room. You know, since Black Water went out of business, there's just getting to be few good gathering places for the arts community."

Where it's at

I have no desire to beat up on The Den, urbanXchange and especially not Julie Bennett. Bennett clearly has nothing but the best intentions, and should be commended for her work trying to create a fun and culturally vital space where artistic minds can collect.

However, The Den - while continuing to be awesome in theory - has been suffering over the past few months from inconsistent bookings and scattered management, and it is starting to develop a bad reputation among out-of-town bands.

Promotions have been a persistent problem for The Den.  Up until very recently there was no online show calendar for The Den; an oversight that resulted in many shows going nearly unheard of. Having impressive bookings - such as their Jaguar Love show from a while back - is great, but if no one knows about it, then it doesn't matter much. And the shows they do have are becoming fewer and further apart.

Some out-of-town bands, mostly from Seattle, have spoken of a scattered, hectic vibe in The Den. Some have said that they would not play there again, part of the reason being that payment is unreliable.

I sat down with Alease Frieson, booker for The Den, to discuss the problems the venue has been facing.

"I was booking at Bob's Java Jive a little bit," she says. "I became involved (with The Den) just by talking with Julie Bennett and after a while there was a window of opportunity to help out ... And then, all of a sudden, she had a need."

Frieson had a big success with a Colonies show, and that served as a stepping-stone to becoming The Den's permanent booker. Being new to the game, she is learning as she goes, and there are many things to consider.

Of the complaint by some bands of unreliable payment Frieson says, "We don't provide guarantees. It's just like anywhere else, like the Java Jive. You know, say it's a $5 cover, and then whatever percentage goes to the door. But I don't work off of percentages."

She tells me, though, that a band can get paid as little as $20 for driving down from Seattle to play a show.

Some people, like Tristan Marcum of Kilcid Band, say that's the way it should be. It's like how it works with stand-up comedy: you don't start out getting paid. You work for free, and your payment is exposure, experience and the opportunity to sell merchandise.

Other people like Sean Alexander - the booker and organizer of the successful Squeak & Squawk Festival - believe in guarantees, and that a band, especially one from out of town, should be well taken care of.

While obviously opinions differ, if a band believes that paying its dues is just part of the game, then more power to them. But if the aim is to promote good will and convince bands from outside of Tacoma that The Den is a place they'd like to play again, then perhaps more attention should be paid to appreciating the time and effort bands put in to making something special happen in our town.

What needs to happen

The Den is full of promise and I have every hope the venue will soon find its footing. It's not easy to book great bands; Frieson's proven she can do that.  Now it's all the other stuff that needs straightening out.

The Den needs to embrace its standing as a hangout for SOTA kids and other youth searching for a venue.  Local, live rock ‘n' roll is now virtually unavailable for those under 21, so it's more important than ever for The Den to not rest on its laurels - there's already too much of that in Tacoma.

A good all-ages venue doesn't require much. You can make a memory dancing amongst some racks of clothes.

The Den

1932 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.572.2280