Photograph by Caitlin Abrams
First Avenue
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the Twin Cities’ music scene. Fifth Element, Rhymesayers’ record store and hip-hop hub in Uptown, closed its doors in March. In May, we held vigil for Honey, the beloved Northeast basement club that hosted underground artists, poetry slams, and the metro’s best dance parties. Musicians are struggling to make ends meet, and venues that haven’t folded yet are barely scraping by: in July, many local indie venues came together to form the National Independent Venues Association (NIVA), the national lobbying group that is fighting for independent venues by pushing for #SaveOurStages legislation on Capitol Hill. The legendary stage in Minneapolis, First Avenue, is struggling to make it out of 2020 like so many others.
The prospect of a Minneapolis without First Avenue is bleak. This week, however, a group of defiant fans has taken things into their own hands: the Committee of Concerned Citizens, a group of well-connected First Ave vets headed by Mary Beth Mueller, has announced a benefit album featuring music from local and national artists. First Love Project is available via Bandcamp: a one-time $25 subscription gets you access to all 19 tracks, plus all future releases. All of the album’s proceeds will be donated to First Ave.
Mueller, the founder of nonprofit Kill Kancer and widow of Soul Asylum bassist Karl Mueller, said she channeled her despair at watching venues struggle into action. “I got tired of signing ‘Save our Stages’ petitions and decided to do something,” Mueller said in a statement. “Many of us simply cannot imagine this city or the national music landscape without First Avenue. We started emailing bands, and every single one of them responded, ‘Yes.’”
The first round of tracks from First Love Project has some real gems: Fugazi contributed a live version of "Repeater" recorded at First Ave in 1992. Minnesota’s own Semisonic added "Basement Tapes," one of the first songs they’ve made after a nearly two-decade hiatus. The album also features Har Mar Superstar, Atmosphere, Dessa, The Hold Steady, Molly Maher, and more. What all these artists seem to have in common, though, is a deep appreciation for First Ave as the musical heart of the Cities. They don’t want to see it shuttered.
“I was probably 20 when I competed in a poetry slam on First Avenue’s smallest, upstairs stage. I lost. And got to see what mastery of craft really looked like. Years later, I got to jump on stage to rap at the 7th Street Entry,” wrote Dessa in a testimony on the project’s website. Years after that, she sang backup in a GAYNGS show and watched Prince play guitar in the wings. Just last year, she gave her most recent sold-out performance in the Mainroom. “First Avenue cares about music. And artists. And the culture of our city. That’s not true of everyone in this business.”
Mueller says that First Love Project’s mission is two-fold: to support First Avenue, but also get concert-starved fans through a dark winter. “Yes, this is a fundraiser for First Avenue, but it’s also a love letter from artists to fans in Minneapolis and St. Paul. And the reason why it’s a $25 subscription is that we’re all broke,” said Mueller. Artists donated these tracks for free, and the project is being run on an all-volunteer basis.
Dayna Frank, First Ave’s owner and NIVA president, said in a statement: "We are blown away by the incredible support from this community and these amazing artists. It's a very special thing to know that First Avenue means so much to so many, especially this year—our 50th Anniversary and the most challenging time in the history of the club. It's heartwarming, to say the least."
First Love Project will add new tracks from other artists on a monthly basis in the coming months to keep up support for First Avenue (expect 15 more to drop around the end of January). The venue has now been shut down for nine months—though vaccines on the horizon offer hope for the live music scene, indoor venues like First Ave are in a vulnerable place, as they’ll likely be among the last to return. Though NIVA has gained bipartisan support at the national level, their proposals are currently caught in gridlock alongside other federal relief efforts. Subscribe to the First Love Project and show your support for First Ave.
