Paste Magazine Colors Us Confuzzled

Like just about anyone who thought their love of music was aptly captured onscreen by John Cusack in "High Fidelity," the folks over at Paste Magazine are fond of The Music List. So we weren't terribly surprised to see (via Stereogum) that the mag created a list of the nation's best music venues, broken down into regions.

The criteria, as Paste spells it out in their June issue (Parkey Posey on the cover!): We weighed history, setting, sound, character, comfort, atmosphere, vibrancy, uniqueness, and their roles in helping launch careers.

When we saw "Cambridge, MA" in the Northeast list, we fully expected to see the words "The Middle East" next to it, but those crafty Paste folks sprung a surprise on us.

It is Club Passim that represents the Boston metro area in the Northeast (the other Massachusetts, Bostonist-approved nod was given to the Iron Horse Music Hall over in Northampton).

Really? Nothing against Passim, but the best venue in the Boston area? Jay Sweet, editor-in-large at Paste (and a local guy), sat in with Fox 25 to talk about the local locations (video here), so we watched the video to see what his justification would be. Turns out, even HE said he wanted to see Middle East on the list.

Here's what he said about Passim:

You know it's a place to see rising folks stars. ... Boston is a rock and roll town and it's good to know that there is this one community that has a home here.

That's awesome. We're proud to provide a home to the folk community. But Boston is a rock and roll town and you picked the folk space, Jay? Really?

We don't often hear local bands or those trying to make it on the road say "I know I've made it when I've played Club Passim." It's "I know I'm onto something when I've played the Middle East Downstairs" or "I can't believe we sold out Paradise" or "Man, that was a crazy show at TT's the other night."

With the multitude of spots in Boston, it seems like a no-brainer that folks will give Passim the credit it deserves. It continues to foster the folk scene but takes visitors back to a time when a little space near Harvard Square was the place to go to see - or be seen - in the independent, creative environment that hosted some of the defining musical names of the day.

But Boston's top spot in 2007? We must respectfully disagree.

Image from flickr user georgie_grd