by oliviastern
Why is Higher Ground over there? Why is it, you know, like that? For a town filled with pretentious Boston and NYC suburbanite children, whose music taste is largely predicated on whatever combination of tumblr blogs and sexual deviance they engaged with at age 14 (speaking from experience here)I expected the one and only quirked up concert venue to be… downtown? Or perhaps the Winooski circle? And yes, I am familiar with the Flynn, Nectar’s, and the much-beloved R*d Squ*re patio, but whenever a “real” band makes their regrettable detour to Vermont, why should they be forced to experience the horrors of Williston Road? The whole goddamn, gorgeous, green mountain state, and they’re expected to perform in a matrix of slushy parking lots, in a building that’s not even visible from the road. Who in their right mind would build a supposedly “cool concert venue” behind a wildly overpriced “Dick’s Sporting Goods” with fake “cabin” decor and a store that sells moldy expired cheese? It’s simply outrageous. Higher Ground looks like some kind of ethically questionable textiles warehouse, or perhaps a crossfit gym. If I was part of some quasi-famous band with one viral TikTok sound and 2.5 minor sexual assault allegations, I would throw in the collectively-owned crusty cum towel and become an accountant after being asked to perform there.
We, the people of Burlington, can do better. We must do better. We must commit ourselves not only to virtue signaling (basement DIY shows) but to lasting, meaningful, systemic change (destruction of the Higher Ground building and perhaps demolition of Williston Road in its entirety). Listen, my head is as far up my ass as every other out-of-state white girl reading this. I love Burlington. I will defend Burlington to my last breath saying it’s the greatest place on earth even though I know it’s grimy and overhyped, just because I chose to live here. Which is why we must pop the enormous pimple of our beautiful, radiant culture that is Higher Ground.
Categories: April 12, around town, b.s.