I've noticed recently that Common Grounds, already one of Baylor's most popular hangouts, seems to be gaining popularity as a gathering place. For one thing, I can think of multiple occasions when the backyard was somewhere between delightfully, jovially semi-crowded to absolutely shoulder-to-shoulder packed.
I went to see Mutemath at CG in October, but didn't arrive early enough to have any chance of seeing the stage it was so jammed with concert goers. A similarly large crowd was on hand on a couple of other occasions when I happened by the weekly event, Vertical, when some friends of mine were providing the music. The Sunday after Baylor homecoming, I stopped in to do some reading on a beautiful afternoon and found the backyard full of folks to the extent that I assumed there must be some event happpening. As it turned out, it was just friends winding down the homecoming weekend and I was lucky enough to find some of my own buddies to pass a pleasant hour.
It could be that I'm just stopping by at busy times, but I think there's more to it than that. For one thing, I think Common Grounds is doing a great job of giving people a reason to come in on a weekly basis and also bringing in special events like Mutemath, last week's Gungor show and Shane & Shane later this month.
For me, though, I would almost rather just see my pals play music there, even if they don't draw a packed-out backyard.
On Wednesday night, my friend Bob Johns played a little birthday show during open-mic. This is getting to be an annual deal as Johns got a band together to play some songs on his 60th birthday last year. He repeated the ritual for his 61st birthday and I can only hope this tradition continnues for a couple of decades. It would be awesome to see an 80-year-old Bob up there belting out all of his 1960's favorites.
And again, the backyard was mostly full. It wasn't impossible to find a place to sit, but it wasn't easy either.
To the delight of my WacoFork-ness, Bob's band closed with "The Breakfast Blues" on Wednesday night. It included classic lines like "What'd you eggs benedict me to do?" and "I donut love you/Igot them old breakfast blues."
Magnificent.
Tonight I'm back at Common Grounds to see another buddy, Tye Barrett, play music. I'm excited because its the first time Tye has played there in a while and I'm interested to see what he'll do. More than anything, it's a chance to chill out among friends on a cool evening at one of Waco's hottest places to be.
