Rhino’s Youth Center

Fifteen at last

The kids are alright at this club — Rhino's a home away from home for 15 years, and counting

By Andy Graham
Originally published in The Scene
May 24, 2007

Rhino's Youth Center has showcased several significant national acts over its 15 years, rising artists who are now stars in the alternative rock firmament such as Bright Eyes, moe and Modest Mouse. Executive director Brad Wilhelm has booked some personal favorites, too, such as Monty Python and Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band songsmith Neil Innes.

But when asked to name his favorite shows at Rhino's, Wilhelm says this:

"My favorites are always the ones where it's 14- or 15-year-olds doing their first show, their first time with real microphones and real monitors, and all their friends are there, and their parents are there, grinning from ear-to-ear and filming. And those young people on stage are just so genuinely and truly joyous.

"I remember that feeling, when you get together and play some chords and it actually seems like something, it somehow clicks, and then get to present that to an audience. And then at the end of the night, I get to pay them a bit of money, and you'd think they just got accepted to Cornell or something. I know all that might sound maudlin, but that is honestly my favorite thing. It makes me very happy and proud that we're doing what we're doing."

Just one of the many things Rhino's is currently doing involves celebrating its 15th anniversary with a Rhino's Resurrection Concert Series, intended to reunite local bands from the club's early days for one-off reunion shows throughout the calendar year.

The series' first show is set for 8 p.m. Saturday with The Walking Ruins — local punk rockers featuring drummer John Terrell, who designed Rhino's new logo branding with Tom Hirons (after having created the original logo 15 years ago) — Bubblegum Nightmare, with ex-Nicotone and Applecore members, and Kids Who Rock, the Loyal family's band.

The night before, Friday, MTV will film footage during a Battle of the Bands night at Rhino's for an episode of the "MTV Made" series. Bloomington High School North student Jeremy Gotwals and his band, Paradigm Shift, is vying with BHS South student Chelsea McKrill and her band, The Impressionists, to be "made" into a rock star.

More than rock

This Rhino's threesome pauses for a pic as they get set for the weekly show, "Youth Radio", on WFHB. File photo.

Rhino's also continues to do quite a variety of things these days consistent with its role as a division of Harmony Education Center, and consistent with its original vision of engaging and empowering young people with a sense of direction and a sense of ownership.

In addition to its weekly concerts, the youth center also provides four after-school programs providing local youth various means of media access. There are more than 70 registered participants in Rhino's Youth Radio program, which produces a weekly five-hour program on WFHB-FM, 91.3. Rhino's also helps facilitate "Rhinoplasty," a monthly half-hour TV series airing on CATS local cable, and The Antagonist, a monthly youth newspaper, and sponsors a Youth Mural Arts program offering an alternative avenue for aspiring graffiti artists.

One of those mural artists was Cindy Swoape, who married her husband, Mason, at Rhino's in 1998. Wilhelm conducted the ceremony at the club's original location at 123 S. Walnut St., just down the road from its current site.

"We met at South, and our first date was at Rhino's to see a movie about grunge rock," Cindy said. "My husband was 15 and I was 16, and neither of us had a car, but our parents drove us there — they knew it was a safe place.

"The nicest thing about Rhino's is that it is like a home. That's always been true. There were always people I knew there, and the door was always open. It didn't matter if people were doing the mural project I was doing or not. They'd come on over and just start painting. Or somebody would pick up a guitar and, suddenly, people were playing a tune. It encourages the kids. And when they have a place like that, they want to give back."

Mason and Cindy Swoape did just that by attending Rhino's 15th Birthday Bash, the April 27 fundraiser at Oliver Winery. "We're still in our 20s and have two kids and not that much money to give, but we'll always want to help Rhino's as much as we can," she said. "There have definitely been some times when it needed people to pull together, and it's so worthy of support.

"We have two girls and, when they get a little older, they'll be at Rhino's. I already encourage my 15-year-old niece to go there all the time."

Crispian Elliott first started visiting Rhino's at age 14, and got involved in the radio program. He soon had his own monthly show, titled "Cultured, Sophisticated, World Music Hour-and-a-Half," which was tongue-in-cheek since the show featured punk rock. Now, at 18, he's the production manager for Rhino's Youth Radio.

"People came and went and, before I knew it, I was the oldest guy there," Elliott said with a laugh. "Kids and tastes are always changing, which keeps the radio program fresh and interesting."

Elliott, a 2006 North graduate, said he was inspired to start playing in bands after watching young, local musicians at Rhino's 2003 New Year's show. He helped Rhino's move to its current site at 325 S. Walnut St. and said he has a proprietal feeling about the place that has inspired and motivated him.

"The new place is something I feel I've contributed to, and it's been great to be involved," Elliott said. "It's kid-driven. Rhino's is a way that Harmony can outreach to kids that attend public schools."

Harmony Education Center executive director Steve Bonchek agrees.

"Several (Harmony) students came to me with the idea, which was to create and establish a downtown location where kids from all the different schools in the area could feel a sense of ownership, a proprietal interest, and have an outlet for live band performances," Bonchek said. "It was also to be a safe place they could do that with limited adult involvement.

"It is certainly consistent with Harmony Education Center's philosophy, and we get as many inquiries about establishing an adolescent-run youth center as we do about helping to establish new school environments. Rhino's is as an important a part of HEC as any. That, I would say, was something we didn't necessarily envision when we started. We're very proud of it."

Wilhelm remembers some friends and colleagues advising him not to take the Rhino's job, replacing original director Lisa Sorg.

"It's not that we haven't had challenges," he said. "The original space where the Cinemat is now, for example, we shared with The Knights of Columbus, which is probably not the most natural pairing. But now we own the building we're in.

"We have state-of-the-art lighting and good sound. We have a great staff. We have partnerships with the city and with the parks and recreation department, and we're a United Way agency. We have, in WFHB and CATS, two of the very best community media outlets you'll find anywhere. We're honored to be working with both of them. We're not just music anymore, though music remains the foundation for what we do. I couldn't be happier, and I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way."