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		Points of View April 27, 2003 Guest Column: Text © 2003 Adam Johnson. Photos © 2003 Adam Johnson and Bernie Larsen, as indicated. Photo of Melissa Davis © 2003 Melissa Davis. Reprinted with Permission.

Bernie Larsen keeps local music alive at ExUrban

HOUGHTON -- If names like Cry on Cue, The Muldoons, The Jeyds, Jampot, Scram, Mudslinger, Patchwork Apple, Psylocubik, Fat Cow, and The Englemanns sound familiar to you, most likely you spent a considerable amount of time trying to sip coffee while dodging colorful, bouncing hippies in the darkness, watching bands play their hearts out on the stage of the SubUrban Exchange in downtown Houghton, MI.

Since 1995, this eclectic club had been the gathering place for many local bands until owner, creator, and driving force behind the SubUrban, Bernie Larsen, left Houghton in 1997, after which the club changed hands and eventually closed in 1999. Guitar toting Bernie is back in town now, and after three months has wasted no time in opening his latest project, ExUrban, the evolution of the SubUrban.

Bernie Larsen relaxes with his guitar in his studio. (Photo by Adam Johnson)

The ExUrban's founder, Bernie Larsen, has his roots in the Copper Country and returned to this area after a few years in Los Angeles.

Bernie Larsen moved to Houghton in 1993 and set up a small recording studio at his home in Toivola, near Misery Bay. It was from here that Bernie began the Misery Sessions. The Misery Sessions yielded four albums of local bands playing original music. With a humble beginning of ten tracks on the first 1994 album, the second year included twenty-three, and had turned into an annual musical event at the Calumet Theatre. Feeding off the growing music scene, Bernie Larsen and Emily Smith started the SubUrban Exchange which was initially located underneath the MotherLode coffee house in downtown Houghton. As the number of audience members grew, Bernie wanted more exposure and more room for the SubUrban and moved it from its small underground space to the vast second floor above Superior Music a few blocks up the road.

Melanie Joy Beck opens the show on the opening night of the new ExUrban. (Photo courtesy Bernie Larsen.)

The SubUrban Exchange was more than a stage for weekend bands. At its height, the SubUrban contained a full recording studio, stage, light and sound system, and sold coffee, art, furniture, music and clothes.

"It was my goal just to have an alternative mall for freaks," says Larsen.

The smoke-free, alcohol-free SubUrban also offered a healthy alternative to the bar scene and allowed an audience of all ages to watch and listen to local music. Bernie had no master plan and allowed his place to grow and transform with the culture around it. This gave him the opportunity to record fifty-five records in the four years he lived in the Keweenaw; however, running a small recording studio and an "artist co-op" that charged only a small cover for its weekend entertainment was a hard way to make a living.

"I was still driving a car I bought for fifty bucks! We just couldn't get beyond zero," Bernie explains.

Houghton's cold, long winters also were getting to him, as was his desire to make records in the thousands instead of the hundreds. It was then that Larsen sold the SubUrban Exchange and returned to the greater opportunities of Los Angeles, the city he had left four years before.

"L.A. was unsatisfying," summarizes Bernie. "It was the same struggle with the same obstacles." While able to tour, record three records, and hear his guitar work in Budweiser commercials -- all while mingling and playing with some musical heavyweights -- Larsen found living the spoiled life under the Hollywood sign unsettling. "I felt like it was a country club that I was never really a member of," he notes.

Although Larsen returned to the Upper Peninsula two or three times a year for local performances and benefits, it was not until a recent mind-clearing, introspective, cross-country drive that Larsen found himself back in Houghton, a place he affectionately describes as six months of living in the ice age.

"I wanted a hub for community again," Bernie said emphatically. 

Erik Koskinen, local musician and songwriter, performs  on the opening night of the new ExUrban. (Photo courtesy Bernie Larsen.)

Don't expect the new ExUrban to be identical to its predecessor. Don't expect it to be all that different either. Bernie Larsen's simple goal is to expand his talents and interest in video, photography and music and share it with his friends using the ExUrban as a means to facilitate this. The new ExUrban again features local musicians and their original music with weekend shows on the new stage, complete with new lights and sound system. The ExUrban will also showcase local photography and art, but will not have a store aspect. Look for a small, informal, vegetarian Mexican restaurant soon as well.

With a few shows already under the ExUrban belt, the response has been nothing but positive, especially from the ExUrban's primary breadwinner, local musicians. Local singer, songwriter and social artist, Melissa Davis, having just opened to a packed house for Larsen's popular reggae band Cry on Cue, describes the ExUrban as a "cultural mecca" and compliments it for being, "the only place in town where young people can come to a place that is just about the music."

Melissa Davis, local musician, was one of the first artists to perform at the ExUrban. (Photo courtesy Melissa Davis)

Opening solo, isolated from the crowd by the blinding stage lights, Melissa said she felt alone enough on stage to really get into her music; and she was very appreciative of the dedicated crowd.

These thoughts were echoed by Cry on Cue guitar player Mike Labeau, who noted that the ExUrban really fits into a niche market.

At the ExUrban, Rhythm Kitchen's Mike Labeau lays down tracks for the upcoming Misery release. (Photo by Adam Johnson)

"The ExUrban is an accessible platform for a musical community," says Labeau, who appreciates Larsen's effort in providing a concert environment for music that is not rooted in a bar scene. 

Larsen has set up his studio and has already begun recording tracks for the next Misery album. Promoting Larsen's own record label, Spinout Records, will be important for Bernie, as well as playing his own music. This doesn't mean you won't see an album entitled "Killer Accordions of the Keweenaw," however, as Larsen wants to keep a focus on regional music. Bernie is not sure at this point if there will be another day-long concert with local musicians at the Calumet Theatre. 

Bernie Larsen fine tunes recordings in his studio. (Photo by Adam Johnson)

"Maybe a concert benefiting the Animal Alliance," Bernie hinted. Look also for an open mic night, which might alternate weeks with a night of spoken word, as well as a D.J. night during the week.

While the details are sketchy, the the ExUrban's mission is clear: to provide a positive environment for local music with professional recording and sound. Bernie is looking for original, creative music to take the stage at ExUrban.

"I do the work, you bring the people," he says. The ExUrban is a work in progress for Bernie, who is currently restoring and finishing what he hopes to be a community hub for local musicians and artists, open to all people of all ages.

Adam Johnson of Rhythm Kitchen, author of this article,  records for the next Misery album in the ExUrban. (Photo by Adam Johnson)

This weekend you might have stopped in at the ExUrban on Saturday night to hear June Panic from Bloomington, Ind., and his "acoustic oriented indy rock."

On Sunday, Apr. 27, the ExUrban hosts Mercury Program -- a mostly instrumental, spacey, groove-based rock band currently on tour from Gainesville, Fla. They're a four piece -- guitar, drums, bass and vibes. This will be their only Michigan show and one of only three or four in the Midwest. Some local bands will open, beginning at 7 p.m. ($5 cover). The ExUrban is located above Superior Music at 416 Shelden Avenue in Houghton's downtown.

Musicians on deck for ExUrban performances include Erik Koskinen, Melanie Joy Beck, the Muldoons, Bernie's own Cry on Cue, Rhythm Kitchen, and carp.

To contact Bernie Larsen, call 906-482-7162 or visit www.spinoutrecords.com.

To keep up to date on local music in the Keweenaw, visit the Local Music page of Brockit.com and add yourself to the mailing list or email lists@brockit.com  for more information.

Learn more about the author of this guest column, Adam Johnson.

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Note: Views expressed by our guest columnists are not necessarily the views of Keweenaw Now.