The ROX-TV crew hits Detroit to catch P.O.D. live at the historic St. Andrew’s Hall
Welcome back to the ROX-TV website. As always we try to stay on top of the happenings going on in Detroit as well as the Murder Mitten and beyond. As many of you may know, St. Andrew’s Hall in the Motor City is legendary for great music that matters. I have been there many times in the past and never turn down a chance to grace the hall with my flesh and soul. Music is basically a form of religion for me and places like St. Andrew’s Hall are temples for me to worship.
That may sound a bit heavy but I have no other way to describe it. Music has been with me my entire life and I would not wish to continue without it in my life, its that important. Sometimes I get stuck on a group, artist, a particular song, or an album for days, weeks, or even years in some cases. I use the music to remember the days long past, clock my progress in life, and in general just to enhance my human experience.
Although these days, I spend plenty of time in solitude, enjoying the sounds, I still get up to the challenge of taking it all in, in a live situation. Recently I was at the Gathering of the Juggalos in Ohio for almost a week, covering the event for ROX-TV, and after a prolonged exposure to the massive overload of people, music, and debauchery I often times need some serious downtime to recalibrate.
Sometimes life works like that and gives me the time to rest up, other times, the music finds me and requests that I materialize in the flesh. When this happens, I can very rarely say no and normally I don’t want to anyway. We are only here for a set amount of time and it is up to each of us to take full advantage of our time in this life. You can piss it all away if you want, I guess that’s what free will is about, but I don’t recommend it.
I’m not sure what happens when we die, but I’m assuming we will be held accountable or reminded of all that wasted time. We are here for a reason, that much I believe, and when we find a path that feels correct and familiar, I say roll with it. So for all the rest I surely needed, when the opportunity to roll with the ROX-TV crew to Detroit for a P.O.D. concert, during what appears to be a never ending pandemic with the government toying shutdowns forever, I could not pass the experience up. Everything could be shut down tomorrow by little people in high places, from either side of the government or indirectly from across the pond, so fuck it. I was heading eastbound and down.
Built in 1907 to house the St. Andrew’s Scottish Society of Detroit, it continued to operate in that function until membership numbers began to dramatically drop after World War II. The St. Andrew’s Scottish Society of Detroit was founded by thirty five Scotsman and descendants of Scottish history on November 30th, 1849. It is reported in the early days of the society, regular meetings were held up to four times a year in homes and businesses of members. Between 1864 and 1894 the member registry included members listed as bookkeepers, stonecutters, boilermakers, carpenters, machinists, tinsmiths, store clerks, a blacksmith, several doctors, one undertaker, and of course…a few liquor dealers. As membership grew, the first permanent home of the society was on the corner of Woodward Avenue and State Street (the southwest corner).
The society took over the third floor of a former church from 1867 to 1883, until the building was demolished. In 1883, the Society moved to the Masonic Hall (located on Jefferson Avenue east of Shelby). In 1890 the group moved to Merrill Block, which is now the present home of the City County Building. The meetings continued in several other downtown locations before a meeting was held in April of 1906 to address a permanent location. On August 3rd, 1907 the first cornerstone was laid at the Congress location and the first meeting took place at 431 E. Congress on January 18th, 1908.
As the years rolled on, the membership dropped and the society eventually moved to Troy Michigan. The actual hall though, had a long way to go because the journey was not over. Over the years, many groups would rent out the hall for various functions and the site became known for amazing indie music rolling into the city. The 1990’s saw some amazing artists, who would go on to conquer the music world. For more information on the history, please visit the following link (also a great source for this article, so props to them for documenting history and making it available to the public). If you don’t know your history, anyone can lie to you and things I’m afraid, are not always what they seem or sold as. Read fucking books, take an active interests in history, or you may find yourself lost forever.
So back to P.O.D. and the night in question. I rolled down to Southwest Detroit and met up with DJ Carlito, The Rude Boy, and The Hood Picasso himself. We were excited for the show and within a few hours had mobilized for the the ROX-TV takeover of St. Andrews Hall (not really a takeover as much as a friendly visit, but takeover tends to sound more dynamic than a friendly visit, so do what you want with that).
It was going to be a great night for music history as P.O.D. was celebrating the 20th anniversary of the album Satellite. I first remember the group from the 1999 release of “The Fundamental Elements of Southtown” and also remember them having a few videos on MTV. “Southtown” was the first song that the boys from San Diego put on my radar.
On September 11th, 2001, the fourth studio album “Satellite” was released (kind of a crazy day to drop in regards to American history, with the Terror Attacks on the World Trade Centers happening the same day, which I also remember watching in real time on the news that day. After the first plane hit, it was initially reported as a possible air accident, but when the second one hit everything changed. It was no longer an accident. Regardless of anyone’s political theories, feelings, or whatever on that incident, I will say this: I remember where I was that day, and as young people get older, I’m sure there will be a feeling in their lifetime similar to that, all though I hope it is for a joyous occasion not associated with pain and suffering.
The album produced a few fire tracks including “Alive” and also the song “Youth of the nation”. “Youth of the nation” was another piece inspired by events that were taking off across the country. School shootings had really started to rock the country with their frequency and devastation, even if they had been going on for many years. The media started to focus on the trouble during this time period with lots of coverage (which I might argue actually inspired more violence but it isn’t really for me to decide, just an opinion). Like I’ve said before, if you want something to go away, ignore it and it will vanish eventually, want something to last forever and all you have to do is keep talking about it forever. I wish our society on a whole could recognize that and maybe it would change our opinions about the message bringers and media outlets. A divided house will always be conquered, a united house can never be defeated).
Arrival
We cruised into the event and walked into the amazing old building, bursting with energy and good vibrations. It was a packed house and everyone was in a great mood. Sometimes crowds can feature a few knuckle heads, but I saw nothing but a small sea of humanity, enjoying the show and being together to celebrate great music. I will admit that St. Andrew’s Hall was looking pretty good inside, and had obviously been sinking some money into the place on upgrades and all round upkeep. It was a glorious place to see a show, and that’s exactly what we did. P.O.D. was sounding as good as I remember them from twenty years earlier. It’s always a dope surprise to see time treating bands well, and they were in fighting shape.
As the music washed over me, I again reflected back on my first experiences with the music, so many years ago and really let my age sink in for a minute. I began to silently reflect on my time here on earth and memories came rushing back like the tide.
Like I’ve talked about in the past, I also took the time to really absorb the building, both in doors and outdoors for all time. As we get older, memories can serve as welcomed passengers until our last days and I wanted as many images stored up as I could take in, given the relatively short amount of time before the evening was to end. DJ Carlito was all over the place grabbing pictures for the article including all the still shots you see today.
Before any of us new it, the night was coming to the end of the line. We walked out into the night air and found some cool shit on a side street before trekking back to Southwest Detroit. Shout out to P.O.D. for a great show and to the ROX-TV road crew for tackling another event for the readers.
Next week we will be back on the clock covering the Daniel Jordan show at Simon’s After Dark (September 11th) and the following week covering another dope event called “Chicano Fest 2021” at the Michigan Squeeze Station. Stayed tuned for more details and great coverage.
Signing Off,
Mike Shepard
ROX-TV Head Writer
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