Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart

One of the things I like best about music is experiencing with others, especially people watching a band they are not familiar with. On Thursday night, we kicked off Fixture, a new monthly music series at Fuse in downtown Wilkes-Barre. One thing about Weekender readers -- and Weekender staff members -- is that we are very diverse. Suffice it to say that most of my coworkers were not familiar with the two bands on Thursday's bill, the Orner Brothers and The Moneynotes. But they opened their minds -- and ears -- and could not help but like what they heard.

I'm going to single out Nicholette, our ad/marketing associate here. During The Moneynotes' set, she asked me, "What genre are these guys?" I said, "Everything." She countered, "They're contagious." And I agree. Great word. If you were up front during some of the band's more up-tempo tunes, you couldn't help but be moved, especially with eight musicians crammed into a tiny performance space, singing and playing with reckless abandon, seemingly threatening to explode. These guys played like they had something to prove, and maybe they did, considering a sizable part of the audience was from the Wilkes-Barre area (both bands are Scranton-based) and maybe unfamiliar with their work. Everyone I talked to walked away impressed.

We'll be doing this the first Thursday of each month, moving forward. On Feb. 7, come out and see the Charles Havira Band and The Sw!ms. Music starts at 10 p.m., and it's $5 to get in. The Weekender is working with Prairie Queen Records on presenting Fixture, and we have some cool plans in the works. We'll be announcing the March lineup soon.