The Schoolhouse

The Schoolhouse is a mid-19th century public school building that was used as a performance space from 2001–2005, it is located at 30 West Street in the farming town of Hadley, Massachusetts in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. The building was originally referred to as "Hadley District School House No. 2". When the space was in use as a performance space it was colloquially referred to as "The Schoolhouse". While in operation, the space hosted a variety of experimental and avant-garde music events featuring local, national, and international artists. Over this period, The Schoolhouse became a major venue in the noise, freak folk, and New Weird America scenes of the mid-aughts.

The Schoolhouse was originally constructed as a one room school building in the middle of the 19th century. The main performance area at the space was in the original classroom of the building. Two-thirds of the wall space in the room were still covered with chalkboards. Performances in this space were described as having a "homey atmosphere cos it's their living room." At some point, there was a second floor addition to the building's original structured that, according to resident George Myers, was "hastilly added" and "very poorly insulated." During The Schoolhouse's run, the second floor included a recording studio/practice room housed in a closet where, again according to Myers, "everything was recorded with very, very bad equipment." The second floor also contained two bedrooms and an attic-like space that was often used for storage or as a guest bedroom. The attic-like space was once used for a performance/installation by The Doo Man Group, because of space restrictions the performance was simulcast throughout the house from hand held video cameras to televisions in the main performance space.

On Sunday, May 23, 2004, a veritable avant-garde supergroup performed at The Schoolhouse when Brooklyn drone-artists Double Leopards were joined by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, noted independent music producer and Wilco/Sonic Youth collaborator Jim O'Rourke, and free jazz duo Paul Flaherty & Chris Corsano all performing together under the name Double Dream/Action Leopards Unit. Openers that night included noise band Yellow Swans from Portland, Oregon, San Francisco's Sharon Cheslow, Scott Foust’s Idea Fire Company, and Western Massachusetts’ avant-pop trio Yonk Yonk.

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