Enemy was a fantastic venue in Chicago. In fact, it is one of my favorite venues that I have encountered during my travels. Here is an article discussing the death of Enemy after its 7 year run of setting up great performances of experimental music. As the article notes, Mike Shiflet, Jesse Kudler, and I played their inaugural show in 2005. Also at that show, LSDuo and Jason Soliday played. It happened that we performed in the un-air-conditioned space on one of the hottest days of that Summer. I played an un-amplified set huddled over on the floor. Sweat was dripping off of me to such a degree that I clearly remember sliding around in a puddle on the wooden floor while playing. After the show, Shiflet and I slept out on the roof. We were at eye level with the train tracks, rolling around in the dirty, black, roofing all night as the train passed periodically, waking us. At least it was cooler than sleeping inside. It was a terrible night's sleep, but an awesome and weird memory. Shortly after that night, the access to the roof was closed off for safety reasons.
I played there a number of other times over the next few years: with KBD, Soliday, Olivia Block, Adam Strohm, Startless (my Duo with Blake Edwards), and a number of others. Most recently, Shiflet and I drove out to play a fest that soliday set up this past Spring.
Chicago will miss Enemy I am sure. The rest of us will miss the familiarity of stopping there on the road. I feel fortunate to have been given the opportunity to spend so much time at this beautiful venue.
Thanks, Jason, for the good times.
