Nada Intern Makes the Big-Time; Letter Printed in The Stranger
(This was originally posted on NadaMucho.com on January 2, 2004. In honor of Neumos 10th anniversary, we thought it would be fun to share. Also: we are dumb.)
NadaMucho.com Intern Paul Broderson’s recent letter to the Stranger about the newly named Capitol Hill live music venue, Neumo‘s, ran in this week’s issue of the popular Seattle arts and entertainment magazine.
The club is located in what used to be Moe’s, and more recently, Aerospace, and then even more recently some other crappy clubs that didn’t last long enough for us to remember what they were called at press time.
Paul makes some good points in his letter, but it should also be pointed out that the club is located in a GREAT space and stands to quickly regain its glory as one of the city’s best live music venues. The club’s owners are experienced individuals who had the foresight to steal Jason Lajuenesse from Graceland to book the venue. If you despise the actual physical space that is Graceland as much as we do, you know what an amazing job Lajuenesse did in getting great acts to play there, and his skills and experience should lend themselves well to the newer, bigger venue. It should also be pointed out that the club’s name is clearly meant to be pronounced “New Moe’s,” in reference to the most successful club to occupy the space.
Paul’s letter appears below. Also included is information on how to submit letters to the editor at the Stranger. Of course, to tell us off or comment on this article, simply click the “post comment” function at the end of this article. And finally, please keep in mind that Paul is an idiot.
Originally published in The Stranger, Volume 13, Number 15, January 1 – January 7. Reprinted without permission.
Like the fish?
TO THE EDITOR: Great piece on that new club going up in Capitol Hill [“Moe’s Is Back,” Hannah Levin, Dec 25]. After a string of disappointments since Moe’s closed in ’97, it sounds like it might again be returned to greatness through an attention to detail and atmosphere not shown by the club’s last few owners. Perhaps these lofty expectations worried the club’s owners, though. It’s the only reason I can think of that they decided to give it the WORST… NAME… EVER.
I’ve tried to come up with one redeeming or useful quality in the name “Neumo’s” since reading the last Stranger and… NADA. Allow me to summarize the handle’s primary faults:
(1) Impossible to remember.
Now, I’m just an intern, but when you name something you want people to remember and buy/use/patronize, isn’t it usually recommended that you pick something memorable? I’ve talked to at least 10 people about the new club since your article came out and every single one of them said, “Yeah, the old Moe’s–what’s it called again?” Each time, we had to grab The Stranger and look it up. Even today I had to look it up just to write this damn complaint letter. And I’ve got a mind like a steel trap, bee-yotch.
(2) No one can pronounce it.
I polled a dinner party the other night and nearly everyone had a different guess on how to pronounce the word. No one felt certain enough about their guess to put money on it, not even the smart people. Worse yet? Not only will 9 out of 10 people not know how to pronounce it correctly, and therefore be less likely to say it and hype it to their friends, but 10 out of 10 people will be pissed off that they had to pronounce it at all, ’cause you can’t say it without sounding like an asshole.
(3) Anyone who knows the correct pronunciation, for sure, is a fucking dick and shouldn’t be going to cool rock shows.
Ultimately a name alone won’t keep me from going to a good club to see music. But the owners of the former Moe’s (sorry, forgot the name already) are starting out with a BIG handicap.
Paul Broderson, Intern
NadaMucho.com, Crappy Zine
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