Rest in Peace to Sean Kopp-Reddy
I had heard in the past couple months about difficult health news for a former co-worker from McNally Smith College of Music. I ran summer programs over at McNally for a number of years and I had the honor to hire and work with a lot of students at McNally. Sean Kopp-Reddy was one such students and he was always game to pick up shifts and always had great chemistry with the high school students that came to the programs. I will always remember Sean ambling into a room, sporting the Doomtree No Kings hat that rarely came off his head and very casually saying hello. He always said hello to me like we were two musicians, he never greeted me like I was his boss (I was). He was an accountable, dedicated employee but he always treated me like a friend in the best possible way. We talked a little bit about records, about upcoming shows et cetera. It was clear Sean cared deeply about music and loved making music with his bands. Now that Sean has passed at a criminally young age (I believe he was in his early 30s) I’m not going to pretend that he was a close friend. We worked together, we said hi to each other when we ran into each other at the 331 Club. I cared for him.
I have one little memory about Sean that reminded me about the cycle of life in the Twin Cities music world, something I seem to be thinking about as of late. STAY WITH ME.
Probably around 2000 a gentleman named Allen Estevez was in charge of booking the Bryant-Lake Bowl in Uptown. My band Heiruspecs and related projects had been drawing pretty good crowds for maybe about a year at the venue. Allen called me and said something to the effect “I’ve got a hell of an opportunity for you Sean and I’m not sure if you’re ready for it but it’s yours if you want it. . .The Fourth of July is a really good bar night, everybody’s out, looking to have some fun, take in a show, keep the summer energy going. . .and I think Heiruspecs would be the perfect act to play that night over at BLB. Folks will be out, plus you’ll bring your people, we’ll have a great show, it’s a big opportunity”.
Now I’ll translate that speech into what Allen was actually thinking:
“Hey 20 year old sucker, the boss just told me they want entertainment on the Fourth of July even though the staff told em they should just close because let’s be honest the 4th. . .it’s one of the shittiest bar nights on the calendar. Everyone is sun burnt and drunk by 3pm and the only people who do want to see music on the Fourth probably don’t want to go get a hummus plate from Bryant-Lake Bowl and take in your forward thinking hip hop project. But, you, dumbass, don’t know the rules of the game yet and I’m going to get you to take this gig for a door deal and my boss will be happy that the 35 hardcore Heiruspecs fans who would come to see you on Christmas morning all came and that the 15 of em that are over 21 bought one beer a piece”.
It was like three years later that I was working the door over at the 400 Bar and the head bartender said “Fourth of July is a terrible bar night, nobody comes out” and it was then that I realized I had gotten screwed.
Flash forward to the summer of probably 2010 I’m working over at McNally Smith and Sean Kopp-Reddy tosses me a flyer for a show at the 400 Bar on the Fourth of July. I took the flyer and I said, “cool you got a gig coming up” and I shit you not Sean said “yeah, the booking guy called me and told me that the Fourth of July is a great bar night. . .built in crowds, people just want to be out and enjoy the music”. I didn’t tell Sean he was kind of getting scammed, cause he was only lightly getting scammed, and I had only gotten lightly scammed some ten years ago. Some people came to my show and he said plenty of folks came out to his show. But it was just that cycle, that circle of young musicians filling up an old booker’s calendar. And because Sean died too early, way too early, he won’t get the chance to take a flyer from some young student of his at the School of Rock and find out that they’re playing at the Midway Saloon on the Fourth of July to complete the circle. But Sean will be remembered and honored by his friends, a musician and friend who was making his way through the Twin Cities music scene. Sean, I’m thankful to have shared some time on Earth with you, I appreciate you and I hope you are in a better place, still wearing that Doomtree hat surely.