Church not just for choirs and hymns
September 22, 2008
Rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay and church is no longer just for Sunday services.
Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Westen Ave. , which got its start in 1992 as a bar in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village, is expanding its number of music venues with the addition of Epiphany, 201 S. Ashland Ave., an Episcopalian church by day and the newest addition to Empty Bottle’s list of music venues by night.
Epiphany provides an opportunity for Empty Bottle to present events that showcase artistic expression in an unconventional way, for non-believers and believers alike.
“It’s a beautiful old church and the people who are running the church are like-minded to how we feel about the arts. [They] would like to see the arts come into [the church] and have people be able to use the space for artistic endeavors,” said Bruce Finkleman, owner and manager of Empty Bottle. “It just seemed like the perfect union.”
Empty Bottle does outside events at alternative venues, Finkleman said, to further the relationships they’ve built through the years.
“As artists grow up, get bigger and change, they’re always looking for different situations,” Finkleman said. “What we’ve tried to do is find different spaces where we could kind of create a special event and keep in mind what the artist wanted to do.”
Finkleman asked Cameron if there was any kind of music that the church would not allow in the space in order for Finkleman to know what parameters he had to work with.
Cameron said she trusted Finkleman to choose artists that would use the space well, which didn’t necessarily mean that they were going to be Christians.
Epiphany has already hosted acts like American indie-rock band, Low on Sept. 17, and girl-scout leader-turned alternative country singer Jenny Lewis on Sept. 19.
“I don’t know if it has to do with churches more than just finding spaces that are conducive to artistic shows and events,” Finkleman said. “I think that as far as this was concerned, it was more about the vibe that the church gave, more than the fact of it being a house of worship.”
Kelsi Williams, an advertising product coordinator who attended the Low show on Sept. 17, said she thought the show was amazing and that Epiphany was one of the best venues she’s been to.
“The style of their music matched the venue. Their style of music is very slow and mellow,” Williams said. “I think it was definitely a better venue than any other regular concert.”
Epiphany Episcopal Church had also been looking to use their space to host some shows with emerging artists when Finkleman approached the Rev. Meigan Cameron, the church’s head minister, about his interest in using the space as an alternative venue for music.
“Our scriptural understanding is God created, saw all creation and said ‘It’s great, it’s good, I like it.’ He endowed us with creativity,” Cameron said. “It’s like in Psalm 1:50 where we praise the Lord with timbrel, dance and song, and everything that we do that celebrates creativity, in some sense praises our creator.”
Upcoming shows at Epiphany include the two-day Baltimore Round Robin tour, Oct. 10 and 11, featuring Beach House, Dan Deacon and other artists. Tickets are $8. Mirah and No Kids will play on Oct. 15 , tickets are $15.