Hopkins: it spits out indie kids
A few nights ago I couldn’t contain my star struck excitement when I ran into Adam Lempel from Weekends. I was holding a bottle of wine in my arm and ordering a falafel from the Hopkins dubbed late nightspot, uni mini. I noticed a hipster to my right wearing blue skinny jeans, accentuating his emaciated frame and his bobble head with a messy hair. A moment went by before we recognized each other. Adam, being the sweetie he is, said hello, introduced me to the other band member, Brendan Sullivan, and remembered that I was interested in conducting an interview.
Adam and Brendan were grabbing a bit to eat before leaving for New York City to perform more shows. So I took advantage of my run-in to ask a few questions. I didn’t record the answers so I’m not going to claim accuracy but I do remember the answer I got for the question, ‘How did Hopkins spit you out?’
Adam understood what I was talking about. Hopkins is far from liberal-artsy. We have one arts building that the majority of the campus makes sure to avoid (they think the building is ugly). We are a research institution and everyone acts accordingly.
Adam’s answer was that he didn’t really spend a lot of time at Hopkins during his days here. His experience reminded my of one of my classmates’ – He’s a DJ who has infiltrated the Baltimore scene and brings influences from the west coast, from his home state down south and more. Adam was also a DJ for some time – frequenting Baltimore venues. But according to him, he got sick of playing other people’s music and decided to bring his own to the table. Luckily, he already had the skill, being a trained guitarist from a young age.
I guess being indie at Hopkins kind of makes you an outcast. It’s unlike other scenes where everyone is in a competition to be the weirdest kid on the block, to the point where being weird is no longer weird. Here, you hear stuff like, ‘They’re playing that Collective Animal shit up there.’ I’m not saying Hopkins is unique, but it sure is a different environment – a research oasis in the middle of the funky, indie, creepy Baltimore desert.
I think this pushes kids like Adam stand out and rebel to new levels not found elsewhere. Once he’s pushed the boundaries, he also find welcome in the city around him that has spit out artists like Beach House, Animal Collective and Wye Oak.
Tags: weekends
This entry was posted on Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 at 3:07 PM and is filed under Baltimore, Larissa's Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 24th, 2010 at 3:50 AM
Alex says:Seriously? You’ve been avoiding, like, every theater geek on campus. I have met only two people involved in Witness or Barnstormers who weren’t on a quest to seem like the strangest, indiest person alive.
I guess maybe science majors don’t have time for good music?
May 24th, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Larissa says:haha not true – I know a few thespians. And I’m a science major. But the point is, if you compare hopkins to a small liberal arts school, or a trendy school in NYC, we just don’t have that same hipster-spirited vibe. Sure, there are clumps of us who push the boundaries (the thespians), but we truly stand out against the rest of our classmates.
July 19th, 2011 at 6:34 PM
punkneverdie says:hehe ran into this article when I googled “Did beach house ever play in Baltimore?” I didn’t find the answer but being a hopkins student myself, I feel the same way as you do.
October 6th, 2011 at 7:46 PM
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