Live music by Chris Ocmand
BLDG 5
Baton Rouge
Oct. 29; live music every Wednesday at this location, not necessarily with the same artist
Across the city, at least a dozen live music performances happen at restaurants on any given night. Some are solo acts trying to make rent money. Others are side hustling or chasing a passion. But regardless of what you know about them, if at all, they are the soundtrack of your dinner.
At BLDG 5, an eatery, marketplace and bar by the Perkins Overpass, they have live music at least every Wednesday night outside. On the week of Halloween, the performer was Chris Ocmand, performing covers on the patio.
Her selections Wednesday included mostly mid-tempo songs from the '90s-2010s, mainstream enough that you’ve heard them before but maybe wouldn’t be top of mind for karaoke. Songs like “Ho Hey” by The Lumineers, “Gravity” by John Mayer, and “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis.
The live music filled the heated patio at BLDG 5. There was something therapeutic about being outside on what is probably Baton Rouge’s first genuine week of fall weather, among so many plants listening to it. I watched people as they were led to their tables. There was a couple on a date— not a first date but they looked to be early on enough in their relationship where you’re still counting how many dates you’ve been on. Across from me was a group of three women about the singer’s age who loved the nostalgia of the songs.
I was alone. Solo dining is a skill I had to train after graduating college, and I’m still not that good at it partially because I love to yap and partially because I avoid it when I can. But with the live music, it felt like I wasn’t just showing up to dinner randomly by myself. There was a comfort in having another person play a set that they picked especially for that night. Ocmand wasn’t doing a ton of crowd work or chatting with people. But just being there listening to her play the song she listened to growing up and comparing them to the songs of my formative years felt like enough of an event that eating by myself didn’t feel weird. I had my karrage in peace.
The performance was occassionally interrupted by some minor technical difficulties. Ocmand would play a little, unplug her guitar from the sound system and plug it back in, but she persisted. And people didn’t mind.
Unless you’re often at places that have live music, you’re probably listening to algorithmically recommended music for much of your time in public. If you’re like me, that extends into private listening as well. Algorithm driven music apps like Spotify mean that people are often listening to music within a safe “taste bubble,” potentially shrinking people’s view of the music world as a whole. It’s like Ashton Kutcher’s character observed in the movie “Vengeance.” These algorithmic playlists are like “the dating app for music.”
“You're not hearing other people's voices,” his character says in the movie. “You're just hearing your voice get played back to you.”
If the playlists are the dating app for music, listening live is like meeting in person. You hear music a real person chose, and there’s no autotune, oftentimes just one instrument and the occasional mess up. As Ocmand sings “Brass in Pocket” by Pretender, I felt like I’m hearing someone else’s voice even as I was dining alone.
