The Nomad World Pub turns 5
Listen up, kids: It wasn't always waffles and gravy here in the Twin Cities. As recently as six years ago, there was no 89.3 The Current to bring you commercial-free indie rock 24 hours a day, every bar you went into was enveloped in a cloud of secondhand smoke that left your clothes all but unwearable the next day, and the Varsity Theater was as vacant as a car dealership on University in St. Paul.
That all started changing in 2005, which also saw the opening of the Nomad World Pub on the West Bank in the old location of the 5 Corners Saloon. The 5 Corners was mostly known as a haven for jam bands, but the Nomad has broadened its calendar considerably, hosting hip-hop, jazz, rock, electronica, and outdoor festivals like Ruckus on the West Bank.
On Monday, March 15, the Nomad is celebrating its fifth anniversary with an appropriately diverse bill beginning at 7 p.m. with Communist Daughter, which recently hit number one on the aforementioned Current's Chart Show with "Not The Kid" and which will be releasing its debut album, Soundtrack To The End, at the Fine Line on April 2. Jazz violinist Regina Carter—who's playing the Ted Mann Concert Hall that night—will be stopping by for a meet and greet, and then the night will close out with music from gypsy jazz trio Sidewalk Café beginning at 9 p.m.
If the forecast holds up and we get highs in the mid-50s, expect bocce ball to break out, but don't show up fashionably late: Early birds will get free apps from 3–5 p.m. No word yet on the availability of waffles and/or gravy.
