With a bag filled with markers, ears protected with ear plugs, and my body buzzing with excitement, I was always amped and ready to go to Goo Lagoon on the weekends. The house venue was a place filled with great music, Ithaca College students (like me!), and walls that soon became an audience curated museum. It was a living breathing space, both in its artwork and music that reverberated inside of it.

Goo Lagoon has since expanded and outgrown its attic. Their shows became so popular, that they would often meet their capacity and still have lines of people waiting to experience the magic. Wanting to still share their love of bringing live shows to Ithaca, they connected with Ithaca Underground! 

“Ithaca Underground has provided all of us with some awesome shows to attend over the past few years living here,” members of Goo Lagoon shared with me. “We always loved the community of people that the shows brought together and how inclusive and safe the space was that Ithaca Underground created. Melanie had also attended the volunteer information session that Taimur held on campus [at Ithaca College], which is how they met. Taimur reached out to Melanie after we could no longer host shows in our house, which is how our collaboration began!”

Bringing live music to the community is something that both Goo Lagoon and Ithaca Underground create for Ithaca, NY. There something about being packed in a room full of people, feeling the thumping bass in your heart, and having performers share their energy directly with the audience that is magical. 

“We love live music because it is a 4D way of experiencing art that other mediums can’t always offer to its audience,” Goo Lagoon says. We love how it never fails to gather a certain community of people who take the time to support and participate in the arts in a way that they cannot with movies or paintings. You can get your whole body involved. It both relaxes and excites people in a way that we see as an almost mandatory engagement of energy for everyone.”

Having a space where you can both relax and be electrified by the music is what Goo Lagoon’s original space excelled at. In the attic, there was the main floor in the middle and two little safe havens where you could tuck yourself away if you needed some personal space. As someone who needs processing room when attending live shows, having a space where I could curl up and doodle (but still be within the same room as the music and the crowd) was really special. 

Even though this physical space no longer exists, the energy that Goo Lagoon created inside of it still does. 

“A world without music is unimaginable to us and that’s why we are so excited that we are able to not only keep going with the Goo project, but that we are able to reach wider audiences that previously weren’t accessible to us. We have had up-and-coming musicians thank us for giving them a safe space to share their art with an audience, which is our main goal of this endeavor. We want to bring live music to the Ithaca community to not only create a fun enjoyable night, but to create a safe and inclusive space for music lovers and artists of all kinds.”

As a musician and someone who performed at Goo Lagoon earlier this year, I couldn’t agree more. I always felt appreciated, loved and safe to express myself as I am without judgement. Performing with Ithaca Underground has always made me feel the same way, which makes this collaboration even sweeter. 

“We are so thankful for this partnership because it allows us to continue our shows and continue bringing great bands together. We are very excited about this partnership because we think it will create a very interesting crowd of students and Ithaca locals. Our shows at our house were mostly students and we are excited to bring these two communities together. We think it is important for us students to know the people of the city we live in and what better place to mix these communities than an awesome music show.” 

Goo Lagoon and Ithaca Underground have since put on two shows in town; one at the Sacred Root Kava Bar and, most recently, at the Chanticleer (which you can read about here). May this new chapter bring immense joy and even brighter memories!

Kyra Skye can be reached at kyraskye19@gmail.com or via Twitter @skyewalker0