It had been rumored for the longest time, but a few months ago it was officially confirmed in an article in the Chicago Reader: the Fireside Bowl would indeed be closing its doors. Many people either raised their fists in anger or just felt sad about the whole matter. Me personally, I don't know what to think. I'm pretty indifferent about the whole matter. The Fireside is closing since the city of Chicago wants to expand an adjacent park. The Fireside is in the way the city claims. Many people may ask, "There’s tons of parks in the city, why can't they just leave this one alone?". The answer to this simple question is complex. The park in question is (according to the city of Chicago) the busiest in the city, thereby the reasons to expand the park is "justified". Who would question a city's initiations to further aid smaller kids in these times, instead of helping out "trashy punk rockers"? I really have to question this reason. I have been to the Fireside a million times it seems, and have hardly seen any kids playing there at all. Maybe I just haven't been there at the "peak" hours, I don't know. To make matters worse, the city of Chicago has held several meetings to discuss possible solutions to the matter. Allegedly, the Fireside’s owner did not attend any of these meetings nor did he protest this unfortunate situation in the least. Usually when a business is cleared for "other renovations" the owner of the land is paid (for a profit) a significant sum. To me this is just the nail in the Fireside's coffin; plain and simple the owner does not care. He inherited the Fireside from his deceased father. At that time (as everyone knows) it was a bowling alley. He then went around and changed it into one of the most respected and well-known independent music venues in the country. Like I stated before, the owner stands to make a good profit with the Fireside closing (more than he has made in all these years of running shows). A lot of people don't realize this, they just think that "big brother" has way too much power and we cannot do anything about this, but this is simply not true. Many of the opinions I have expressed really aren't totally my own. What I am doing is in turn with my own thoughts, speaking for the loyal Fireside goers that I have discussed this with at length. The most important thing in independent music is the DIY attitude. There are countless venues/bands/labels who never make a profit but are just so happy with their jobs and what they are doing. To me, the owner does not care about this DIY notion, only looking to take a wonderful opportunity and run with it even though it'll disappoint many kids out there. I really don't think that people realize what a huge loss this will be to the independent music community. I can't tell you how many bands across the country will be shut out of coming here and playing. Sure, people have talked about all the shows moving to the Metro, but I think that's bull. True, the Metro has hosted many great punk shows, but that venue in question is way different than the Fireside. The Metro's show lineup is very diverse. One night there may be a punk band, but then the next day there will be a jazz band or something to that effect. There’s no way with the Fireside closing that the Metro is just going to go out and book punk shows saying "sorry everyone else (other genres) we will not book you due to the demand of these other bands who have no place to play". At the Fireside, it was different. Everyday there’s a show (sometimes two different shows a day) and all of it is underground/independent music. Because of this, every band on the planet has virtually come around and played there, there’s tons of shows. The Metro, yes, will continue to host good shows, but you will not get that everyday show sense that the Fireside has. Instead of "daily" or perhaps "weekly" shows to go to, the Metro offers "monthly" shows to go to. The best weapon we have as Americans is our free speech. We all need to go out and let our feelings and thoughts be known throughout the area. Since we are not getting any help from the people at the Fireside, it seems that it’s all up to us to save this beloved venue. I think that's what has hurt this situation the most: there are countless of people that will be affected, but they are all just sad and moping around doing nothing. I invite these people to get off their asses and do something about this. Let your opinions be known to the management at the Fireside and anyone else in the Chicago wards or government. I can assure you that by writing one letter to the city of Chicago, it will not stop the Fireside closing, but if more than one person does, more people in turn will be listening. Myself, I wrote an open letter to Richard Daley. I got a response back saying, "We are aware of this situation, but there has been virtually no response from young people like yourself to make this a meaningful issue to address further." See what I mean? If more people became active something positive may come out of this. Please take the advice I have given and think hard about what I have said. I think many people will not understand the repercussions of this until its been virtually closed down, and there’s fewer shows to go see. Only then will people wake up I imagine, and it will be a shame.

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