-by Fally Afani
My local music cup runneth over. Local concert creators Eleven Productions is celebrating a major anniversary this year, and we the people get to reap the benefits.
On 11/11/11, they’re celebrating ten years of rocking existence with dozens of local, regional and national bands spread across just about every venue in town. The idea started when Jacki Becker, the head honcho over at Eleven Productions, put her love of number patterns into motion. “If anybody knows me, they know I kind of like number patterns,” says Becker. “With 11/11/11 I just thought ‘whoa, this is perfect.'”
Here are the bands on the roster as of right now:
Murder By Death
The Casket Lottery
Reflector
Matt Pryor
Lazer Sword
Six Percent
Fourth of July
Approach
Ricky Fitts
The Dead Girls
Mansion
Katlyn Conroy
Sean Bergman
Baiowolf
1,000,000 Light Years
Jabberjosh
Drop a Grand
Thunder Eagle
Powerlifter
Horseweapons
Me For Radness
Dry Bonnet
The University
Generals
LWA
The Sluts
Ponyboy
Datagun
Suzannah Johannes
Living Ghost
Raw Space
DJ Alan Paul
Various Blonde
Spirit of the Stairs
Rumor has it that even more bands will be coming. Right now they’ve got The Granada, The Bottleneck, The Replay, The Jackpot, The Taproom and even Love Garden set to host the bands.
Years of building a good rapport with Murder By Death paid off for Eleven Productions. The headliners were set to start cutting a new album, but will now find themselves in Lawrence. “They were going to start recording that week,” says Becker. “They decided now they’re going to do the show instead.”
Tickets are more than reasonably priced. A $15 advance ticket will be available through the Granada, which can then be traded in for a wristband on the day before the show.
You can also just buy tickets to a single venue for a smaller price:
Granada – $10 advance / $15 day of
Bottleneck – $10 advance / $12 day of
Jackpot – $5 day of show
Replay $3 day of show
Taproom – $3 day of show
Love Garden – FREE
The cherry on top for this entire smorgasbord of music would be that it’s a charity event. Proceeds from the celebration will be going towards health care access and music in schools. Anyone who has ever played in a band, worked as a doorman or run the sound at a show knows that health insurance isn’t always at reach. “If we can have a party and raise a little bit of money for healthcare and for those who are in the industry, it’s a win win situation,” says Becker. Considering the government’s recent cuts to the arts and schools in Kansas, Becker is looking forward to giving musicians-in-training a boost as well. “They keep cutting music back in schools, we wanted to make sure that extra money from this event can help,” says Becker.
Tickets go on sale Saturday. I, for one, am looking forward to a night that will leave my ears happily ringing for days; and keeping the local music community going strong is something any Lawrencian can get behind. “I realized I’ve lived in Lawrence now for quite a long time,” says Becker. “I love the community I live in. You can see shows going more towards larger cities, and I think it’s important to see what our city has to offer.”
To see what our local rockers have to offer, keep 11/11/11 clear; and get ready to turn it up to 11.